Preface/Editorial for the Special Issue
The prevalence of problem gamblers in the general population is one o f the few growing areas of research into gambling. The n u m b e r o f studies completed, the funding to support such research and the number o f different countries, world-wide, in which these studies have b e e n conducted has grown. This Special Issue provides the first edited overview of this burgeoning literature. Individual authors each summarized several studies, comprising reports of one hundred or more pages to a government or agency. At times this has been at the cost of losing some details of methodology which, as editors, we felt was acceptable given that the extent and breadth of the research was more readily presented to the reader. As in other emerging research arenas, the methods by which "cases" of problem gambling are identified has been a matter for debate and critique at conferences and in the literature. As the only acceptably validated screen for pathological gambling, the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) has inevitably been the target o f much of this criticism. None-the-less, as the reader will become aware, use of the SOGS in the majority of studies completed world-wide provides a unifying link that facilitates comparisons of different prevalence levels in different countries. To a lesser extent, the same holds for those studies which have used the DSM-III-R classification in interview or survey studies. In the absence of either the SOGS or the DSM-III-R, and now DSM-IV, interstate or cross-cultural comparisons of the negative impacts of gambling on the individual would be almost impossible to evaluate. Given the fact that most of the authors in this issue share many of the previously argued reservations about the SOGS, the refinement of this measure and Journal of GamblingStudies VoL 12(2~ Summer 1996 9 1996 H u m a n Sciences Press, Inc.
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JOURNAL OF GAMBLINGSTUDIES
the development of internationally acceptable alternatives must be seen as a priority. The first five articles in this Special Issue are reviews o f the major prevalence studies completed in Australia, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the United States. This foundation is supplemented by three additional papers. In reviewing prevalence studies among adolescents, Howard Shaffer and Matthew Hall have completed the first metaanalytic approach to synthesizing the results of prevalence studies based o n different methods. An international comparison of treatment developments highlights the fact that, where governments have funded prevalence studies, the funding of services for problem gamblers has often followed with some rapidity. The final paper in this Special Issue reviews the major methodological criticisms that have been raised about the prevalence studies conducted to date. The authors of this paper identify some of the strengths and weaknesses o f the research completed so far and speculate upon some alternative research strategies for the future. This Special Issue is a truly international collection of related research into problem gambling. We acknowledge our debt and express o u r thanks to the contributing authors who made this issue a reality. Mark G. Dickerson Rachel A. Volberg
The prevalence of problem gamblers in the general population is one o f the few growing areas of research into gambling. The n u m b e r o f studies completed, the funding to support such research and the number o f different countries, world-wide, in which these studies have b e e n conducted has grown. This Special Issue provides the first edited overview of this burgeoning literature. Individual authors each summarized several studies, comprising reports of one hundred or more pages to a government or agency. At times this has been at the cost of losing some details of methodology which, as editors, we felt was acceptable given that the extent and breadth of the research was more readily presented to the reader. As in other emerging research arenas, the methods by which "cases" of problem gambling are identified has been a matter for debate and critique at conferences and in the literature. As the only acceptably validated screen for pathological gambling, the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) has inevitably been the target o f much of this criticism. None-the-less, as the reader will become aware, use of the SOGS in the majority of studies completed world-wide provides a unifying link that facilitates comparisons of different prevalence levels in different countries. To a lesser extent, the same holds for those studies which have used the DSM-III-R classification in interview or survey studies. In the absence of either the SOGS or the DSM-III-R, and now DSM-IV, interstate or cross-cultural comparisons of the negative impacts of gambling on the individual would be almost impossible to evaluate. Given the fact that most of the authors in this issue share many of the previously argued reservations about the SOGS, the refinement of this measure and Journal of GamblingStudies VoL 12(2~ Summer 1996 9 1996 H u m a n Sciences Press, Inc.
109
110
JOURNAL OF GAMBLINGSTUDIES
the development of internationally acceptable alternatives must be seen as a priority. The first five articles in this Special Issue are reviews o f the major prevalence studies completed in Australia, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the United States. This foundation is supplemented by three additional papers. In reviewing prevalence studies among adolescents, Howard Shaffer and Matthew Hall have completed the first metaanalytic approach to synthesizing the results of prevalence studies based o n different methods. An international comparison of treatment developments highlights the fact that, where governments have funded prevalence studies, the funding of services for problem gamblers has often followed with some rapidity. The final paper in this Special Issue reviews the major methodological criticisms that have been raised about the prevalence studies conducted to date. The authors of this paper identify some of the strengths and weaknesses o f the research completed so far and speculate upon some alternative research strategies for the future. This Special Issue is a truly international collection of related research into problem gambling. We acknowledge our debt and express o u r thanks to the contributing authors who made this issue a reality. Mark G. Dickerson Rachel A. Volberg
