At the end of May, Professor of Psychology David Richard and students Megan Joyner and Mai-Han Nguyen will present two papers at the International Conference on Gambling and Risk-Taking at Lake Tahoe, Nev.  The conference is hosted by the University of Nevada at Reno.

The first paper examines the content validity of different screening tools for pathological gambling and concludes that the construct of pathological gambling is not represented consistently in existing measurement instruments. These findings led to the second paper, a description of preliminary focus group work to develop a coherent definition of pathological gambling by surveying gamblers, non-gamblers, and therapists regarding critical behaviors associated with the problem. The ultimate goal is to develop a norm-based self-report measurement tool that provides comprehensive assessment of pathological gambling behaviors and its correlates and consequences.

Joyner and Mai-Han plan to conduct honors research in pathological gambling. Joyner will pursue the development of the instrument described above, while Nguyen will look at physiological responses in individuals as they engage in gambling behavior.