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Measuring the adverse consequences from gambling

Read how we have developed new questions about adverse consequence from gambling which are included in the GSGB survey.

Published
25 July 2024

Last updated
25 July 2024 - Changes

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  1. Contents
  2. Survey development, testing, and selection of items
  3. Refining items

Refining items

To refine the measure for the pilot phase of the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB), the Gambling Commission conducted a principal components analysis (PCA) using data obtained from the online tracker. This analysis helped identify the most important items and reduced the number of questions to a smaller subset. To ensure sufficient breadth of coverage across different domains of harm, the final selection of items was not solely based on the results from the PCA, but also included questions that captured a wide range of potential negative impacts.

The refined set of questions were reviewed by Nation Centre for Social Research's (NatCen) Questionnaire Development and Testing Hub. The decision was made to retain questions that were most frequently reported during the initial testing phase, along with questions about more severe consequences , such as crime, violence and significant financial loss.

The final list for the GSGB pilot phase consisted of 14 items, 6 of which were adapted from the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-IV) due to the similarity of some of the statements being used. Additional questions were also included to assess whether people had accessed various support service access due to gambling (mental health, financial advice) as further indicators of potentially negative experiences. One of the more severe harms covered was that of suicide attempts and suicide ideation caused by one’s own gambling. Questions relating to suicide attempts and ideation were adapted from the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Study (AMPS).

Questions relating to adverse consequences from gambling included in GSGB pilot survey

Health

These are the health questions included in included in GSGB pilot survey:

  • felt that gambling has caused any health problems including stress or anxiety1
  • felt guilty about the way you gamble1.

Financial

These are the finance questions included in included in GSGB pilot survey:

  • reducing or cutting back your spending on everyday items such as food, bills, clothing
  • having to use your savings to fund your own gambling
  • increasing use of credit, overdrafts and loans
  • committed a crime in order to finance gambling or to pay gambling debts2
  • asked others to provide money to help with a desperate financial situation caused by gambling2
  • have you borrowed money or sold anything to get money to gamble1
  • have you lost something of significant financial value such as your home, business, or been declared bankrupt.

Relationships

These are the relationship questions included in included in GSGB pilot survey:

  • have you lied to family or others to hide the extent of your gambling2
  • has your relationship with someone close to you broken down
  • experienced violence or abuse
  • experiencing greater conflict or arguments
  • feeling isolated.

References

1 Question derived from PGSI.
2 Question derived from DSM-IV screening tool.

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Pilot study
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