Development of the Canadian Adolescent Gambling Inventory

In July 2010, the Manitoba Gaming Control Commission (MGCC) released the Canadian Adolescent Gambling Inventory (CAGI) in collaboration with the inter-provincial consortium of gambling regulatory and research organizations that funded and oversaw its development.

The CAGI is a 24-item instrument that measures gambling-related harm and consequences in adolescent populations. It is the first instrument designed specifically for use with adolescent populations – previous instruments were developed for adults and adapted for youth, which led to widely varying reported prevalence rates. The CAGI was developed simultaneously in English and French, rather than being developed in one language and translated, which also leads to a much stronger instrument. The CAGI will allow Canadian jurisdictions to conduct valid, reliable and comparable baseline studies of gambling risk and problems among adolescents and to monitor changes over time.

The CAGI was developed in three phases. Phase I began in 2003 and consisted of an extensive review of the gambling literature and focus groups with adolescents to conceptualize how adolescents experience harm from their gambling. Phase II involved testing the reliability and validity of a preliminary CAGI instrument through a series of school-based surveys and clinical interviews in Manitoba and Quebec, and Phase III consisted of an extensive validation study with a sample of adolescents at greater risk of experiencing gambling-related harm than those in the general secondary school population.

This development project did not measure actual rates of adolescent problem gambling, as rates can only be calculated by using the CAGI in large-scale surveys of adolescents. Still, the CAGI development was significantly delayed by difficulties finding sufficient numbers of adolescent problem gamblers with whom to test the instrument, which suggests that actual prevalence rates are likely lower than some previous studies have indicated. 

The MGCC does not conduct problem gambling prevalence research, though it is committed to ensuring that valid and reliable tools are available for prevalence researchers. The MGCC encourages Manitoba prevalence researchers to use the CAGI instrument, which is included below in the Phase III report.

Links:

• Phase III Report (2010)
• Rapport Phase III (2010)

• The Canadian Adolescent Gambling Inventory (CAGI): Phase II Final Report (2007)
• L’inventaire canadien des jeux de hasard et d’argent chez l’adolescent (ICJA) : Rapport final de la Phase II (2007)
  
  
• Measuring Problem Gambling in Adolescent Populations: Phase I Report (2005)
  
  
• An Annotated Bibliography of Youth Gambling and Problem Gambling and Related Literature in Substance Abuse, Risk-Taking and Youth Development (2004)