Design and Measurement Properties of the Online Gambling Disorder Questionnaire (OGD-Q) in Spanish Adolescents

Abstract

Gambling disorder is of great clinical and social relevance since it seriously affects people who suffer from it. More recently, the Internet has exacerbated the problem with online casinos, poker, and sports betting. However, there is little evidence of this problem, and we know of no diagnostic questionnaire. The main objectives of this study were to develop the Online Gambling Disorder Questionnaire (OGD-Q) for adolescents, evaluate its main psychometric properties, and establish diagnostic criteria to differentiate pathological from non-pathological online gamblers. We conducted a study in 16 schools across seven regions of Spain, sampling 2691 adolescents, 883 of whom had reported some online gambling experience. Of those, 602 were boys (68.2%) and 281 were girls (31.8%) Sampling was non-probabilistic and incidental. Mean age and standard deviation were 14.25 ± 1.55 (11–19 years). Confirmatory factor analysis yielded a one-dimensional model with a good fit. The reliability indicators were satisfactory (>0.94). The scores on the OGD-Q were related to other constructs, such as Internet gaming disorder, problematic Internet use, and nomophobia. Participants classified as having problems or being at risk of online gambling disorder presented significantly more stress, anxiety, and depression. Participants categorized as having online gambling disorder comprised 0.89% (n = 24) of the total sample and 2.71% of those who have gambled at some time. We discuss these findings and their practical implications in this article and propose future lines of research.

Spanish Validation of the Internet Gaming Disorder Scale–Short Form (IGDS9-SF): Prevalence and Relationship with Online Gambling and Quality of Life

“…Furthermore, the unidimensional factor model was found to be gender and age invariant across the metric level, which is considered a prerequisite for meaningful cross-group comparisons [80]. The present study adopted a similar procedure to studies conducted for different constructs, such as nomophobia [81][82][83], online gambling disorder [14], and previous validations of the IGDS9-SF in other languages such as Portuguese [67], Slovenian [61], and Italian [62], among others.…”

“…In relation to other validity indicators, the present study sought to evaluate the relationship between the IGDS9-SF and instruments assessing conceptually similar psychological problems such as the CERM [72] and the OGD-Q [14]. The results obtained indicated high correlations between these constructs, suggesting a convergent relationship with other relevant problems related to maladaptive use of technology and the internet such as problematic smartphone use and online gambling disorder.…”

“…Online Gambling Disorder Questionnaire (OGD-Q) [14]. This instrument was designed to evaluate online gambling disorder using a total of 11 items that are rated on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (every day).…”

“…This approach has been defined as the move from general problematic internet use (GPIU) to specific problematic internet use (SPIU) (e.g., [5]). Consequently, research has especially focused on internet gaming [10][11][12], online gambling [13][14][15], online sex/cybersex [16,17], and social media use [18][19][20].…”

“…It is relevant to relate IGD with online gambling disorder or other problematic behaviors such as problematic smartphone use, because these three behaviors occur via Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) and which typically meet addiction criteria similar to IGD (i.e., salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal, conflict, and relapse) when people present with a clinical problem. Currently, there are psychometric tests that evaluate online gambling disorder specifically in adolescent populations [14]. In addition, the most used device to play or connect to the internet is via smartphone.…”