Gambling studies often use the nine-item Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) to measure the severity of problem gambling. The researchers evaluated whether the PGSI was appropriate for use in older age groups. Gambling Research Exchange of Ontario (GREO) provided the researchers with access to data from the Quinte Longitudinal Study (QLS). The researchers used data from 571 older adults (aged 60–80+) to assess how suitable the PGSI was for use with older adults and any differences between how males and females answered the items. The researchers used a larger sample of 3206 respondents to examine differences in responses to the items across three age subgroups. The results supported that the PGSI measured a single dimension of problem gambling. But the PGSI could not distinguish older adults with lower levels of problem gambling severity. Three of the nine items did not fit the model well. Older adults did not often select “almost always” when responding to an item. There were no differences between how older adults answered the items by gender. But there were some items that differed between how older and younger adults answered them.
