Concurrent Validity of the Gambling Functional Assessment (GFA):Correlations with the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS)and Indicators of Diagnostic Efficiency

Abstract

Concurrent validity of the recently introduced Gambling Functional Assessment (GFA) was assessed by comparison with the long-used South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) in two nonclinical adult samples (N = 201, 49% female; N=101, 74% female). Correlations between GFA total scores and its four content scores with SOGS scores were promising (r = .04 to .61), with the content score relating to Escape yielding the highest correlations (.45, .61) and the score relating to Attention yielding the lowest. Performance in the second sample, where the SOGS-defined base rate of pathological gambling (28.7%) was high, was best for Escape scores, which efficiently categorized SOGS-defined cases. The present data suggest that the GFA content area of Escape shows promise at classifying pathological versus nonpathological gambling, while the GFA as a whole may be a useful treatment tool, allowing clinicians to identify the mechanisms that may be maintaining gambling in their patients seeking treatment for pathological gambling.