Explaining the High False Positive Rate of the South Oaks Gambling Screen

Abstract

The South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) has been used extensively in estimating the prevalence of pathological gambling but produces a large number of false positive classifications. Ladouceur et al. (2000, Journal of Gambling Studies, 16, pp. 1–24) claim that misunderstanding of SOGS items is responsible for the high false positive rate. However, their study is open to a number of methodological criticisms. The current study, where clinical and non-clinical gamblers complete the SOGS with and without clarification, overcomes these problems. Results suggest that clarification does not have a significant overall effect on SOGS scores. This implies that item misunderstanding is not responsible for the false positive rate of the SOGS.

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance of Dr Clive Allcock, Manya Scheftsik and Fadi Anjoul in obtaining clinical subjects for this study.