Validation of a Spanish translation of the Gamblers' Beliefs Questionnaire.

The U.S. Spanish-speaking population has rapidly increased in recent decades and there is a need for psychometrically supported assessment measures for researchers and clinicians who work with this population. A Spanish version of a self-report measure of gamblers' cognitive distortions [Gamblers' Beliefs Questionnaire (GBQ); Steenbergh, Meyers, Whelan, & May, 2002] was translated and psychometrically evaluated in a sample of 219 Spanish-speaking Hispanics residing in the southeast United States. The GBQ-S showed high internal consistency (α = .95). Factor analytic data supported a factor structure similar to the initial psychometric evaluation of the English version. Probable pathological gamblers reported significantly more cognitive distortions on the GBQ-S than nongamblers and nonpathological gamblers.