An Assessment of the Psychometric Properties of Italian Version of CPGI

The aim of this study was to adapt to the Italian context a very commonly used international instrument to detect problem
gambling, the canadian problem gambling index (CPGI), and assess its psychometric properties. Cross-cultural adaptation of
CPGI was performed in several steps and the questionnaire was administered as a survey among Italian general population (n = 5,292).
Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient was 0.87 and can be considered to be highly reliable. Construct validity was assessed
first by means of a principal component analysis and then by means of confirmatory factor analysis, showing that only one
factor, problem gambling, was extracted from the CPGI questionnaire (an eigenvalues of 4,684 with percentage of variance 52 %).
As far as convergent validity is concerned, CPGI was compared with Lie/Bet questionnaire, a two-item screening tool for detecting
problem gamblers, and with both depression and stress scales. A short form DSM-IV CIDI questionnaire was used for depression
and VRS scale, a rating scale, was used for rapid stress evaluation. A strong convergent validity with these instruments was
found and these findings are consistent with past research on problem gambling, where another way to confirm the validity
is to determine the extent to which it correlates with other qualities or measures known to be directly related to problem
gambling. In sum, despite the lack of a direct comparison with a classic gold-standard such as DSM-IV, the Italian version
of CPGI exhibits good psychometric properties and can be used among the Italian general population to identify at-risk problem
gamblers.