Moving Away from Individual Responsibility: A Comment
AbstractIn this comment, we suggest there has been a crusade among some gambling stakeholders to move the field away from personal responsibility influences and toward social setting effects. This perspective disproportionally attributes gambling-related negative consequences to the social setting rather than the gambler. We argue that personal responsibility is a pivotal issue during the emotional maturation of healthy adults and remains essential to understanding intemperate gambling. This comment explores this movement away from personal responsibility and briefly discusses some of the iatrogenic consequences that this ...
Source: Journal of Gambling Studies - June 17, 2021 Category: Addiction Source Type: research
Concurrent Disorders and Decision-Making in Electronic Gaming Machine Gamblers
This study aimed to investigate the self-reported measures of concurrent disorders (stress, social anxiety, anxiety, depression and alcohol use) among electronic gaming machine (EGM) gamblers with varying levels of gambling severity and to examine its relationship to decision-making. This cross-sectional study in New Zealand involved an online survey that utilised validated questionnaires to assess self-reported measures of concurrent disorders and the Iowa gambling task (IGT) to analyse decision-making. The study comprised of active EGM gamblers (n = 153) who were divided into two groups: non-problem gambling (NPG, n...
Source: Journal of Gambling Studies - June 14, 2021 Category: Addiction Source Type: research
Pay-to-Win Gaming and its Interrelation with Gambling: Findings from a Representative Population Sample
AbstractPay-to-Win gaming describes a common type of video game design in which players can pay to advance in the game. The frequency and value of payments is unlimited, and payments are linked to players ’ competitiveness or progress in the game, which can potentially facilitate problematic behavioral patterns, similar to those known from gambling. Our analyses focus on assessing similarities and differences between Pay-to-Win and different forms of gambling. Based on a survey among 46,136 German adult internet users, this study presents the demographic and socio-economic profile of (1) Pay-to-Win gamers who make purcha...
Source: Journal of Gambling Studies - June 9, 2021 Category: Addiction Source Type: research
Do Gender Norms Matter? General Strain Theory and a Gendered Analysis of Gambling Disorder among Chinese Married Couples
This study addresses this research gap by applying general strain theory to gambling disorder across genders. The objectives of this study are twofold. First, we examine the role of gender norms in the social strain —gambling disorder relationship across genders. Second, we explore the extent to which males and females who conform to traditional gender norms are likely to express strain-induced negative emotions that result in gambling disorder. These relationships are examined with data from a cross-sectiona l survey of 1,620 Chinese married couples in Hong Kong. Our results indicate that gender norms function different...
Source: Journal of Gambling Studies - June 7, 2021 Category: Addiction Source Type: research
Gamblers ’ Perception of the Playscan Risk Assessment: A Mixed-Methods Study
AbstractResponsible gambling (RG) tools are globally widespread; they aim to prevent or decrease the harm caused by gambling. However, existing research suggests that several included features do not decrease gambling or significantly reduce the subsequent harm. Most of the previous studies have used gambling data to understand the changes in gambling behavior. However, the literature lacks research regarding gamblers ’ experience and perception of RG tools, which may provide insight into increasing the usage and effectiveness of RG tools. This mixed-methods study aimed to explore gamblers’ perception of their risk ass...
Source: Journal of Gambling Studies - June 5, 2021 Category: Addiction Source Type: research
Higher Trait Levels of Guilt may Protect Against Gambling, Whereas Higher State Levels Lead to Riskier Behaviour
We report two studies investigating the relationship between negative SCEs, gambling, and risky behavior. In the first study, we investigated shame, guilt and self-disgust in a group of problem-gamblers and control non-gamblers. In the second study, we investigated if experimentally manipulating state levels of guilt, using a narration-induction paradigm, in students with different levels of gambling behavior, would influence their behavior in the Balloon Analog Risk Task. We found that problem gamblers had significantly lower trait-levels of guilt when we adjusted for the influence of depression and anxiety symptoms (p ...
Source: Journal of Gambling Studies - June 3, 2021 Category: Addiction Source Type: research
The Identification of Low-risk Gambling Limits for Specific Gambling Activities
AbstractAn emerging literature has identified optimal low-risk gambling limits in an effort to reduce gambling-related harm. Concerns have, however, been raised about the construction of aggregate low-risk limits that are applied to all gambling activities and there is support from gambling experts and the general public in Australia for the identification of low-risk limits for specific gambling activities. The study ’s aim was to identify and evaluate a set of empirically-based activity-specific limits (gambling frequency, gambling expenditure, gambling expenditure as a proportion of gross personal income, session expe...
Source: Journal of Gambling Studies - June 1, 2021 Category: Addiction Source Type: research
Gambling by Young Adults in the UK During COVID-19 Lockdown
AbstractGambling is a common activity amongst young adults in the UK, and was a behavior of interest during the early mitigation against COVID-19 (first lockdown). The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) was used to investigate attitudes, moods and behavior during lockdown in England. ALSPAC participants were invited to complete online questionnaires in May 2020, including a set of questions about frequency of gambling and gambling activities which had been asked three years previously. Mental health and wellbeing data and alcohol use were also collected as part of lockdown questionnaires. Gambling que...
Source: Journal of Gambling Studies - May 17, 2021 Category: Addiction Source Type: research
Impulsivity, Consciousness and Defense Mechanisms of the Ego Among Pathological Gamblers
This study aims to find out whether there are differences between gamblers and the control group among the dependent variables (impulsivity, conscientiousness, and defense mechanisms). According to the literature, impulsivity and low conscientiousness are specific features to pathological gamblers. A second goal is to check if there are one or more defense mechanisms defining gamblers. A recent study (Waqas et al., Waqas et al., Psychiatry Research 243:463 –468, 2016) about the association of defense mechanisms and the problematic use of the Internet identified the following defense mechanisms: projection, denial, passiv...
Source: Journal of Gambling Studies - May 14, 2021 Category: Addiction Source Type: research
A Within-Subject Pilot Feasibility Study of a Gambling Specific SBIRT Intervention Delivered in an Urban HIV/Primary Clinic
ConclusionsA gambling specific SBIRT intervention was feasible to deliver and acceptable to participants. Gambling specific outcome measures were reduced at 1-month follow-up. A randomized control trial to evaluate the efficacy of the intervention is a recommended next step. (Source: Journal of Gambling Studies)
Source: Journal of Gambling Studies - May 12, 2021 Category: Addiction Source Type: research
Empirical Evidence Relating to the Relative Riskiness of Scratch-Card Gambling
AbstractScratch cards (SCs) or tickets are lottery-based games which are played by scratching to reveal numbers, letters or symbols to win prizes. Such activities have sometimes been likened to paper-based slot-machines, but relatively little systematic analyses have been conducted to examine the risk or harm associated with these activities. In this paper, we provide a narrative review of the peer-reviewed literature relating to the potential association between SCs and problem gambling and what is known from publically available data sources (e.g., prevalence studies and treatment data). Evidence is analysed within the c...
Source: Journal of Gambling Studies - May 10, 2021 Category: Addiction Source Type: research
Contrasting Mind-Wandering, (Dark) Flow, and Affect During Multiline and Single-Line Slot Machine Play
AbstractSlot machines are a very popular form of gambling in which a small proportion of gamblers experience gambling-related problems. These players refer to a trance-like state that researchers have labelled ‘dark flow’—a pleasurable, but maladaptive state where players become completely occupied by the game. We assessed 110 gamblers for mindfulness (using the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale), gambling problems (using the Problem Gambling Severity Index), depressive symptoms (using the Depressio n, Anxiety, and Stress Scale), and boredom proneness (using the Boredom Proneness Scale). Participants played both a mu...
Source: Journal of Gambling Studies - May 6, 2021 Category: Addiction Source Type: research
Financial Literacy and Gambling Behavior in the United States
AbstractProblem gambling is becoming a growing concern in the United States because of the proliferation of, and state support for, gambling opportunities. The economic cost along with the physical and mental health problems associated with problem gambling make it necessary to study how problem gambling can be reduced. Our study examines whether financial literacy could be a means to reducing gambling frequency in the United States. We use data from the Preference Parameter Study of Osaka University, Japan, and apply instrumental variable probit regression models. The results show that, generally, financial literacy does ...
Source: Journal of Gambling Studies - May 4, 2021 Category: Addiction Source Type: research
Depression Symptoms, Problem Gambling and the Role of Escape and Excitement Gambling Outcome Expectancies
This study tests the assumption that gambling for escape and excitement may either mediate or moderate the relationship between depression and problem gambling. To test these propositions, 282 adults who gambled at least once a month were recruited to complete an online survey that assessed depression severity, the gambling outcomes expectancies of escape and excitement and problem gambling. The study did not find evidence for a mediation effect for either escape or excitement, although escape moderated the relationship between depression and problem gambling. In particular, there was not a relationship between depression ...
Source: Journal of Gambling Studies - May 3, 2021 Category: Addiction Source Type: research
Protective Action and Risky Beliefs: The Relationship Between Religion and Gambling Fallacies
AbstractA number of studies have explored the relationship between religious beliefs and gambling (including gambling fallacies and gambling harm) but report seemingly contradictory findings. While some studies have found religious belief to be positively associated with gambling fallacies, others have found it to be a protective factor from gambling harms. One explanation for these differing effects is that gambling fallacies and metaphysical religious belief share properties of supernatural and magical thinking. Nevertheless, social support and moral strictures associated with religion might help protect against an unhea...
Source: Journal of Gambling Studies - April 29, 2021 Category: Addiction Source Type: research
