The South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) is widely used in research as a screening tool of gambling addiction. The researchers analyzed whether the SOGS is a reliable measure and what study characteristics might affect its reliability. The researchers found 63 studies that applied the original version of the SOGS. Some studies recruited more than one sample of participants. Thus, there were 65 samples with a total of 26,743 participants. The results show that the SOGS is a reliable measure for use in research. Several study characteristics could affect its reliability. The continent in which the study took place, whether the SOGS was applied in person or online, whether the participants were recruited from a clinical population, and the standard deviation of the SOGS score all had an effect. Standard deviation is a statistic that measures how widespread participants’ scores are from the average.
