Reliability, Validity, and Cut Scores of the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) for Chinese

We examined the reliability, validity, and classification accuracy of the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) when adopted for use in Chinese. The DSM-IV criteria for pathological gambling served as the standard against which the classification accuracy of the SOGS was tested. A total of 283 Chinese adults in the community and 94 Chinese treatment-seeking gamblers were recruited. The internal reliability of the SOGS was satisfactory for the general sample and acceptable for the gambling sample. The SOGS was correlated with the DSM-IV criteria items as well as psychosocial and gambling-related problems. Relative to the DSM-IV criteria, the SOGS tended to overestimate the number of pathological gamblers in both samples. In general, we were relatively confident that individuals were not pathological gamblers if the SOGS scores were between 0 and 4 and were pathological gamblers if the SOGS were between 11 and 20. There was about 50–50 chance of being pathological gamblers if the SOGS scores were between 8 and 10. However, the probability of individuals being pathological gamblers was about 0.30 if the SOGS scores were between 5 and 7. We proposed a SOGS cut score of 8 to screen for probable pathological gambling in Chinese societies

Subcortical gray matter volume abnormalities in healthy bipolar offspring: potential neuroanatomical risk marker for bipolar disorder?

ABSTRACT Objective A growing number of structural neuroimaging studies have shown that bipolar disorder (BD) is associated with gray matter (GM) volume abnormalities in brain regions known to support affect regulation. The goal of this study was to examine whole-brain regional GM volume in healthy bipolar offspring (HBO) relative to age-matched controls to identify possible structural abnormalities that may be associated with risk for BD. Method Participants were 20 youths (8-17 years old) with at least one parent diagnosed with BD, and 22 age-matched healthy individuals. All of them were free of Axis I diagnoses. High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging structural images were acquired using a 3-T Siemens scanner. Voxel-based morphometric analyses were conducted using SPM5. Results Relative to controls, HBO had significantly increased GM volume in left parahippocampal/hippocampal gyrus (p <.05 corrected), following whole-brain analyses. This increase was correlated with puberty but not age in HBO. Region-of-interest analyses on the amygdala and orbitomedial prefrontal cortex did not yield any significant group differences after conducting small volume correction. Conclusions The pattern of increased GM volume in parahippocampal/hippocampal gyrus in HBO suggests a potential marker for risk for BD. It can also be considered as a potential neuroprotective marker for the disorder because HBO were free of current psychopathology. Prospective studies examining the relationship between changes in GM volume in these regions and subsequent development of BD in HBO will allow us to elucidate further the role of this region in either conferring risk for or protecting against the development of BD

Views on luck and winning, self-control, and gaming service expectations of culturally and linguistically diverse Australian poker machine gamblers

Despite an increase in social diversity in recent years, the role of culture in gambling cognition and behaviour is not fully understood. Qualitative interviews examined subjective views of Australian poker machine (electronic gaming machine) gamblers from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds. A total of 49 Australian poker machine gamblers from CALD backgrounds (20 Chinese, 15 Vietnamese and 14 Greek Australians) were interviewed regarding their views on the concept of luck and winning, self control, subjective meanings of gambling and gaming venue service expectations. The current findings showed that the majority of poker machine gamblers from CALD backgrounds believed that the payout of poker machines occurred randomly. Luck was defined, therefore, as being at the right place at the right time when the poker machine pays out. However, a small number of interviewees maintained an optimistic view about achieving gambling wins by using a certain system. While experienced gamblers and those with secondary school qualification or lower regarded poker machine gambling as a random potluck, a few young players with university education subscribed to a more elaborate endorsement in favour of their own systems to win on the poker machine. Australian CALD gamblers valued friendly professional service from gaming venue staff (e.g., courteous customer service, affordable, quality food and drink, personal greetings using first names) but disliked intrusive or over-friendly interactions. Implications of the findings on the role of superstition and cognition on gamblers’ beliefs are discusse