The aim of this quantitative study conducted with 5008 individuals aged 15 and above in 12 provinces across Turkey was to determine the prevalence and significant variables of gambling behavior in our country and to examine the gambling behaviors, perceptions, thoughts, and attitudes of this population towards gambling. The goal is to generate concrete, original, culturally sensitive, feasible, and effective recommendations for preventive and risk-reducing policies. It is the first and only comprehensive investigation into gambling behavior in Turkey, offering guidance in this field. In this study, which was conducted with an epidemiological cross-sectional design, a stratified random sampling technique was employed, and data were collected using computer-assisted faceto-face interviews. Individuals to be surveyed in households were randomly selected using the Kish method. Three hundred forty-one participants (6.81%) reported having gambled at least once (GALO) in their lifetime, while the remaining participants stated they had never gambled (NG). Among the GALO group, 100 individuals (29.33%) reported regular participation in gambling activities during the data collection period. The most commonly played types of gambling were sports betting (55.4%), national lottery (42.2%), numeric lottery (34.6%), and bingo (30.8%). The ages of first-time gambling ranged from 6 to 41. Tobacco, alcohol, and substance use were significantly more common in the GALO group compared to the NG group (P < .001). Understanding the prevalence of gambling behavior and underlying motivations is crucial for creating awareness and implementing effective preventive measures. We must determine its prevalence, examine societal attitudes, highlight its presence, and prioritize solution-oriented strategies.

Life satisfaction is an important factor for mental health and has many positive effects on people. Considering its importance, different measurement tools were developed over the last 5 years. Among these tools, the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) is the most prominent one and adapted to diverse populations including university students. On the other hand, all these studies were conducted with classical testing approach while item response theory was rarely preferred. Regarding this gap, the aim of this study was set as evaluating the psychometric properties of Turkish the version of SWLS by using a graded response model (GRM), which is a member of broader family of modern psychometric approach called Item Response Theory (IRT). For this purpose, the data were collected from 471 university students (male = 83, female = 388) aged between 17 and 37 years (M = 21.23, SD = 2.32). IRT based analysis provided satisfactory results on the psychometric properties of the SWLS. It was found that the reliability of the scale was acceptable across a wide range of ability spectrum, items fit the GRM well and did not show gender-based differential item functioning. As a result, the psychometric quality of SWLS was further proved in IRT context.

A thirteen-item cyberbullying sensibility scale (CSS), developed by Tanrıkulu, Kınay, and Arıcak (2013) and extensively used by researchers, was used to measure the cyberbullying sensibility levels of high school students. Unlike other similar concepts, such as cyberbullying and cyber victimization, there are no scales developed to measure the cyberbullying sensibility among university students. In this study, the data obtained from 727 university students were analyzed based on item response theory (IRT) techniques, and psychometric evidences were obtained to evaluate whether it is appropriate to use the scale on the university students. Accordingly, a parameterization of CSS items was performed by using the graded response model. Using the discrimination parameters and item fit statistics, some items were removed from the original scale and a seven-item CSS version was developed since preliminary exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses provide inadequate evidence for the validity of a one-dimensional structure of cyberbullying sensibility. However, an IRT-based item removal process yielded an acceptable improvement. In this way, despite the six items being removed from the original CSS form, the scale retained 64% of the information it provided. The reliability values computed based on the classical approach and IRT were above .8 after the item elimination process with only a minor drop. With the validation process, the CSS will be a valuable measurement tool to determine the level of cyberbullying sensibility among university students and allow academicians to conduct research with this population.