Measuring the pathways model through the gambling pathways questionnaire: the psychometric properties of the Italian version

ABSTRACT Over the last decade, gambling opportunities worldwide have increased significantly, providing continual access to more people. Thus, standardized measures to assess various facets of Gambling Disorder and holistic approaches to identifying sub-groups of disordered gamblers are needed. The Gambling Pathways Questionnaire (GPQ), based on the Pathways Model of problem gambling, is designed to assign gamblers to subtypes at intake and identify a variety of salient etiological factors. This study sought to validate the Italian version of the GPQ. After the translation and adaptation of the scale to the Italian language and culture, the GPQ was administered to 490 treatment-seeking disordered gamblers (84% males, M age = 43.77, SD = 13.25) who attended 54 treatment centers distributed across all of Italy. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) supported the six-factor structure and internal coherence coefficients showed good to very good reliability. Moreover, cluster analysis revealed that the three-cluster solution produced the best model fit, which generally corresponded with the Pathways Model. The Italian version of the GPQ evidenced good psychometric properties, and the Italian-adapted scoring corresponds to the cluster analysis.