Measuring Gambling Outcome Expectancies in Adolescents: Testing the Psychometric Properties of a Modified Version of the Gambling Expectancy Questionnaire

Abstract

The Gambling Expectancy Questionnaire (GEQ; Gillespie et al. 2007a) is a 23-item scale assessing three positive outcome expectancies (Enjoyment/Arousal, Money, Self-Enhancement) and two negative outcome expectancies (Over-Involvement, Emotional Impact) related to gambling. It is the most used instrument to assess gambling outcome expectancies in adolescents and it has good psychometric properties. To allow a greater and more useful application of the scale, the present study aimed to modify the GEQ to make it usable with all adolescents, regardless of their gambling behaviour and to verify its psychometric properties. To that aim, the items were modified and the response scale was reduced from a seven-point to a five-point Likert scale. To verify the adequacy of the modified scale, two studies were conducted among Italian adolescents. In the first study (n = 501, 75% males, Mage = 16.74, SD = .88), after having removed four items and relocating another through explorative factor analysis, the original five-factor structure of the scale was confirmed by applying a confirmatory factor analysis. Reliability and validity evidence were also provided. The second study (n = 1894, 61% males, Mage = 15.68, SD = .71) attested its invariance across gambling behaviour status and gender. The modified version of the GEQ (GEQ – MOD) can be profitably used for research and preventive purposes with youth.

Optimizing large-scale gambling prevention with adolescents through the development and evaluation of a training course for health professionals: The case of PRIZE

“…First, in line with national and international data [ 3 , 6 , 56 ], the large majority of adolescents resulted to be past-year gamblers, and they especially gamble on Instant scratch-cards, bingo, and private bets with friends. Most of them preferred land-based gambling activities, even if online gambling is widespread [ 57 – 59 ].…”

“…Most of them preferred land-based gambling activities, even if online gambling is widespread [ 57 – 59 ]. Following previous studies [ 3 , 6 ], there was a considerable part of adolescents showing at-risk gambling and problem gambling, in particular male adolescents [ 60 , 61 ] and youth with a migration background [ 62 , 63 ].…”

“…Positive expectations towards the economic advantages related to gambling was assessed through the Money subscale of the Gambling Expectancies Questionnaire (GEQ) [ 49 ], revised in a modified form and adapted for Italian adolescents (GEQ – MOD) [ 6 ]. In comparison with the original scale, the GEQ – MOD can be administered to all adolescents, regardless of their gambling behavior, and it is composed of Likert-type items with a 5-point scale (rather than a seven-point Likert scale).…”

“…Concerning Italy, in which the amount wagered in the gambling market from 2015 to 2019 has increased from 88.2 to 110.54 billion euros [ 4 ], gambling prevalence among adolescents is estimated to be 32% in 2019 considering the last 12 months, with Italy that is the third European country for gambling among youth [ 5 ], despite the law banning gambling for minors. More recent data indicate a higher prevalence of gambling, with 75% of young past-year gamblers, engaging mostly on scratch-cards (52%), bingo (38%) and sports bets (35%) [ 6 ]. Moreover, a survey carried out by the Italian Institute of Health in 2017 evidenced that 6.5% of students (14-17 years old) were at-risk or showed problems related to gambling [ 7 ].…”

“…In detail, we aimed at implementing a large-scale a school-based universal intervention, i.e., PRIZE [Prevention of gambling risks among adolescents], in the school year 2019-2020, after having designed, realized, and evaluated a training course for the intervention providers. We implemented the intervention in Tuscany, where , it has been found that 11% of young gamblers were at risk gamblers and 8% were problem gamblers [ 6 ].…”