It is generally accepted that the gauche effect is due to hyperconjugation. Indicatively, see below:
The Fluorine Gauche Effect: A Brief History, Israel Journal of Chemistry, 57(1-2), 92-100, (2017)
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ijch.201600038/fullThe C–F bond as a conformational tool in organic and biological chemistry, Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry, 6(38), (2016), e-article, doi:10.3762/bjoc.6.38
https://www.beilstein-journals.org/bjoc/content/pdf/1860-5397-6-38.pdfBut let’s take a look to the issue from another point of view:
In general, anti-conformation is more stable due to energy minimization by zeroing of the dipole moment. But if dimers are formed via H….F bond, then the dipole moment of anti- conformation is not zero any more. Remember that H….F bond is very strong (≈ 40 kcal/mole), compared to H-bonds of other heteroatoms (3-7 kcal/mol). On the other hand, dipole moment is a question of angle, which might explain why the monomer conformer of ≈ 60o is more stable than the dimer anti-conformer.
Besides, strong O...H attractions also appear in electronic calculations of 1,2-dimethoxyethane, which is also susceptible to the gauche-effect:
Conformations of 1,2-Dimethoxyethane from ab initio Electronic Structure Calculations, J. Phys. Chem., 1993, 97 (49), pp 12745-12751, 97(49), (1993)
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/j100151a020?journalCode=jpchaxhttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/231399875_Conformations_of_12-Dimethoxyethane_from_ab_initio_Electronic_Structure_Calculations