The Relationship Between Gambling Problems and the Five-Factor Model of Personality: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Latent profile analysis of gambling

Early age of gambling onset, ease of gambling with technological developments and lack of controlling online gambling games have led to unmanageable risk of gambling. Individual-centered approaches play a significant role in managing the risk that gambling poses on public health and discerning the heterogeneity of gambling addiction. Therefore, this study employed Latent Profile Analysis (LPA), one of the individual-centered approaches, to model the interactions across the psychosocial characteristics of gamblers. The study aims to reveal the latent profiles of gambling addiction. Unlike variable-centered approaches, LPA is a contemporary technique that provides objective information regarding individual psychological processes and behaviors. The profile indicators of the study involve psychosocial characteristics such as resilience, motives to gamble (excitement/fun, avoidance, making money, socializing), purposefulness, responsibility and worthiness. Data were collected from 317 volunteers (M = 68.9%; F = 31.1%; mean age = 25.16 ± 6.46) through the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS), Gambling Motives Scale (GMS) and Personal Virtues Scale (PVS). The emerging profiles were defined as adventurous players (14.2%), social gamblers (9.8%), professional gamblers (32.8%), problem gamblers (24.6%) and avoidant gamblers (18.6%). The individual-centered modeling is congruent with the literature on gambling and provides a complementary perspective to understand the heterogeneous structure of gambling. The results are expected to assist mental health professionals in developing educational and clinical intervention programs for gambling behavior. Finally yet importantly, it is recommended that new LPA models be offered through the use of different indicators related to gambling addiction.

Appetitive and Aversive Motivation in Dysregulated Behaviors: A Meta-Analysis

Appetitive and aversive motivation are prominent in theories of dysregulated behaviors. The authors conducted a meta-analysis of the association between individual differences in appetitive and aversive motivation and several dysregulated behaviors (i.e., alcohol use, marijuana use, tobacco use, binge eating, aggression, gambling, and nonsuicidal self-injury). Alcohol use (r = .17, k = 141), marijuana use (r = .13, k = 23), aggression (r = .22, k = 52), and gambling (r = .08, k = 55) were all significantly positively related to appetitive motivation. Binge eating (r = .28, k = 34) and self-injury (r = .17, k = 10) were significantly positively related to aversive motivation. Effect sizes were similar to the median effect size in personality research. Together, these results provide some evidence that some dysregulated behaviors are more correlated with approach motivation, whereas others are more correlated with aversive motivation, which may indicate distinct etiological pathways.

Features Linked to Treatment Outcomes in Behavioral Addictions and Related Disorders

Behavioral addictions are incompletely understood with respect to their underlying etiologies. This incomplete understanding may contribute to the frequent relapse and dropout rate often observed with behavioral addictions. The present state-of-the-art review aimed to review the literature that explored sociodemographic and clinical factors that link to poor treatment responses. Despite multiple studies, the definitions and evaluations of relapse and dropout are heterogeneous, complicating comparisons across studies. A scientific consensus on the conceptualization of both terms would help to better understand psychological features linked to treatment outcomes in behavioral addictions.

Changes in sports gambling behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada

Sports betting is one of the most popular forms of gambling in Canada; recent prevalence estimates indicate that 7.9% of Canadian adults endorsed gambling on sports in the past year. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic led to the temporary closure of most major sports leagues worldwide beginning in March of 2020. These sudden closures created a dramatic decrease in the availability of sports betting opportunities in the early stages of the pandemic, followed by a subsequent increase in availability as most sport leagues returned during the summer of 2020. Using a retrospective self-report measure of gambling participation, the present study investigated how the gambling behaviors of N = 85 past-year sports gamblers changed over the course of the pandemic. It was hypothesized that sports gamblers would report an initial decrease in gambling behaviors from pre-pandemic baseline levels to the early stages of the pandemic in May of 2020 when the availability of sports gambling was heavily restricted, followed by an increase in gambling behaviors from May to August, in accordance with the re-emergence of live sporting events. The general pattern of results supported the hypotheses, though gambling behaviors did not completely return to baseline levels. Beyond quantifying the changes in gambling behaviors over the early stages of the pandemic in Canada, results may have implications regarding the utility of voluntary gambling exclusion programs as well as legislation concerning gambling access.

Alcohol Use and Gambling Associated with Impulsivity among a Swedish University Sample

Excessive alcohol use and gambling can have negative consequences. Across countries, the risk of excessive alcohol use is more common in university populations than in the general population. However, few studies have investigated the prevalence of both alcohol use and gambling in this group. This study explores these behaviours in a Swedish university setting. In addition, this study investigates how impulsivity affects alcohol use and gambling. In total, 794 Swedish students answered an online survey. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics to determine prevalence, and multinomial logistic regression was used to determine the contribution of impulsivity, age, and sex to alcohol use and gambling. Compared to the Swedish national prevalence, the prevalence was higher for excessive alcohol use, but the prevalence of gambling was at the same level or lower. High levels of impulsivity and male sex increased the risk of excessive alcohol use, while older age lowered the risk of excessive alcohol use and gambling. The results indicate that primarily young men could benefit from primary prevention in a university setting. Also, screening for impulsivity in men might be one way to identify risk groups in a university population.