Adaptation and validation of the Gambling Motives Questionnaire-Financial (GMQ-F) in a sample of French-speaking gamblers

Abstract

Previous research has identified specific gambling motives and linked them with both healthy and disordered gambling. The Gambling Motives Questionnaire (GMQ) is currently the most widely used measure for these motives. The present study aimed to offer a French validation of the latest version of this scale, the GMQ-Financial (GMQ-F), which measures four distinct motives (enhancement, social, coping, financial). The French GMQ-F was completed by 278 gamblers from the community and 22 treatment-seeking pathological gamblers, along with scales assessing gambling cognitions, impulsivity, disordered gambling symptoms and psychopathological symptoms. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the expected four-factor model. The GMQ-F subscales have good internal reliability. Validity of the GMQ-F is supported by specific correlations with the other constructs measured. Pathological gamblers differed from gamblers from the community on all but one (social) of the GMQ-F subscales. The French GMQ-F presents good psychometric properties and constitutes a reliable instrument for measuring gambling motives in research and clinical practice.

Keywords:

• GMQ-F
• gambling motives
• problem gambling
• gambling disorder
• confirmatory factor analysis
• gambling cognitions

Notes

1. A potential explanation to the lower test-retest correlation observed for the coping subscale is that the situations in which gambling is displayed as a coping strategy can be transient (e.g. a temporary dysphoric state that can be relied to a specific negative life event).