Reliability and validity of the gamblers anonymous twenty questions

Abstract

One of the earliest instruments to screen for problem gambling, the Twenty Questions (20Q), was developed within Gamblers Anonymous. This instrument has not received serious research attention, however, and its psychometric properties are generally unknown. This study reports reliability and validity data for this instrument in 3 independent samples totaling 456 participants: two samples of problem gamblers in treatment and a non-treatment sample of problem gamblers. The Twenty Questions was shown to possess high reliability as measured by Cronbach's alpha. Concurrent, convergent and predictive validity of the 20Q supported the use of this instrument as an acceptable screening instrument. Classification analyses indicated that the 20Q is comparable to the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for pathological gambling in specificity, sensitivity and rates of false negatives and false positives. The 20Q appears to be a reliable and valid measure of problem gambling and warrants continued research attention. © 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.