Assessing the Impact of Cue Exposure on Craving to Gamble in University Students

We recruited a sample of university student gamblers (n = 48) to complete a web-based battery of instruments in a study designed to assess the impact of imagery-based versus photographic cue exposure on acute craving to gamble using the multi-item Gambling Urge Scale (GUS; Raylu and Oei 2004). Although self-reported craving increased following both forms of cue exposure, the imagery script had a more pronounced impact than did examination of photographs of gambling-related stimuli. We also evaluated the association of the post-cue exposure GUS with other relevant measures, and found it correlated highly both with other questionnaires assessing craving to gamble and with other gambling-relevant characteristics (e.g., gambling-related problems, preoccupation with gambling, distorted gambling beliefs, gambling refusal self-efficacy, sensation seeking), but was not associated with social desirability bias. These findings support the use of the GUS—a brief multi-item scale that shows several key elements of construct, convergent, criterion and discriminant validity—to study the experience of craving in university student gamblers.