Validity of a gambling scale for the addiction severity index.

This study assessed the validity of an adaptation of the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) for evaluating severity of gambling problems. Participants (N = 597) from four different populations (pathological gamblers enrolled in a treatment study, pathological gamblers initiating outpatient treatment at a community-based program, frequent gamblers recruited from advertisement, and substance abusers) completed the ASI, along with a supplemental gambling subscale (ASI-G). Internal consistency of the ASI-G was good (alpha =.90), and a principal components analysis indicated a single factor explained 73% of the variance in responses. ASI-G scores demonstrated excellent convergent validity with other measures of gambling and convergent validity with external sources, including collateral informant and clinician-rated reports. ASI-G scores discriminated among the samples tested. Temporal stability of ASI-G scores was high during a 1-month period for patients with substance abuse disorder who were not seeking gambling treatment. For treatment-seeking gamblers, the number of treatment sessions attended was significantly associated with reductions in ASI-G scores. Together, these data suggest that the ASI-G subscale may be a useful tool for assessing severity of gambling problems in a variety of populations.