SOGS and CPGI: parallel comparison on a diverse population

The Northern Territory of Australia, one of the most demographically andsocially diverse jurisdictions in the country, conducted its first population-based gamblingand problem gambling prevalence survey in 2005. Both the South Oaks Gambling Screen(SOGS) and the Canadian Problem Gambling Index (CPGI) were administered to the samesample of respondents. Using data from this survey, the current paper presents a parallelcomparison of the respective screens with particular reference to gender, region, and thesocio-demographic characteristics of respondents. The respective screens produced significantly different groups of problem gamblers as measured by their association with arange of socio-demographic variables. Specifically, the large number of SOGS itemsrelated to money issues may cause selective overrepresentation among low socioeconomicgroups, including Indigenous people, who exist in relatively high proportions in theNorthern Territory. In addition, there existed substantial gender-based differences withinscreens. Identified female problem gamblers were associated with household level variables (i.e. employment status, household type and marital status), while males wereassociated with socio-economic variables including language, education, and income.Further research is required to validate the use of problem gambling screens within theIndigenous population and to understand the role of gender in the experience and categorisation of problem gambling.