The Brief Addiction Science Information Source (BASIS)

The WAGER Vol. 5(34) - Considering Sensitivity and Specificity: When is a Case a Case?

In the last WAGER, we noted that prevalence estimates across major studies were relatively reliable, suggesting that the problem gambling construct under investigation in these studies was similar. However, in spite of this reliability, we also raised the important question of whether this construct was actually what it has been thought to be. While most commonly used, the concordance among various measures is only one index of validity (i.e., convergent validity). Although rarely assessed, screening instruments also should provide very different estimates when they measure conceptually different constructs (i.e., discriminant or divergent validity). In this issue of the WAGER, we... Read more →

The WAGER Vol. 5(33) - Prevalence and Validity: Toward Multi-trait-Multi-method Strategies

In the last WAGER, we examined the recent prevalence estimates of disordered gambling among the British. As Table 1 reveals, using different research strategies, the British study generated estimates similar to those reported by NORC (Gerstein et al., 1999), the National Research Council (National Research Council, 1999), Harvard Medical School (Shaffer & Hall, 2000; Shaffer, Hall, & Vander Bilt, 1999), and Kallick et al.'s first na-tional estimate generated more than 20 years ago (Kallick, Suits, Dielman, & Hybels, 1979). Although the estimates are not identical-after all these are estimates-the similarity provides an increasing degree of confidence in the reliability of... Read more →

The WAGER Vol. 5(32) - The Prevalence of Problem Gambling: The British Experience

As the United States was closing an important chapter in its gambling history by completing a review of the impact of gambling on American society [1, 2], the British were gearing up for a national prevalence survey. During June of 2000, the results of the British gambling prevalence survey were released [3] . Since the British have had a longer relationship to legalized gambling than the Americans, this report is of great interest and might portend the future of gambling in the United States. British men and women gamble regularly and participate in varied forms of gambling. Table 1 illustrates... Read more →

The WAGER Vol. 5(31) - Pathological Gambling among Cocaine and Opiate Users

In their recent study of 313 cocaine-dependent outpatients in Maryland, Hall, Carriero, Takushi, Montoya, Preston, and Gorelick (2000) found the prevalence of pathological gambling to be 8.0% [1]. When compared with the estimate of 1.5% for the general population of the state, it becomes clear that dependent cocaine users are at an increased risk for having a comorbid gambling disorder. This finding echoes the conclusions of other studies of psychiatric comorbidity reviewed in the WAGER. But Hall et al. delved beyond the assessment of concurrent disorders; they also considered age of onset and illness duration (see table 1). It may... Read more →

The WAGER Vol. 5(30) - It's Not Easy Being Green

Jonathan Harrington Green published Gambling unmasked in 1844 as a "warning to the young men of this country." [1] The original pocket-sized edition cost 25 cents. The publisher offered a quantity discount to make the volume attractive to Sunday School administrators. A self-described reformed gambler, Green peppers his autobiographical narrative with crime, punishment, fraud, and loneliness. As a boy, Green begins gambling to fill the emotional void created by his father's absence. The years pass, and Green finds himself living in a web of vice and deceit. Later in life, he despatches the habit altogether and writes his didactic treatise.... Read more →