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Background and aims
Recent research suggests that youth problem gambling is associated with several factors, but little is known how these factors might influence or interact each other in predicting this behavior. Consequently, this is the first study to examine the mediation effect of coping styles in the relationship between attachment to parental figures and problem gambling.
Methods
A total of 988 adolescents and emerging adults were recruited to participate. The first set of analyses tested the adequacy of a model comprising biological, cognitive, and family variables in predicting youth problem gambling. The second set of analyses explored the relationship between family and individual variables in problem gambling behavior.
Results
The results of the first set of analyses demonstrated that the individual factors of gender, cognitive distortions, and coping styles showed a significant predictive effect on youth problematic gambling, and the family factors of attachment and family structure did not reveal a significant influence on this behavior. The results of the second set of analyses demonstrated that the attachment dimension of angry distress exerted a more indirect influence on problematic gambling, through emotion-focused coping style.
Discussion
This study revealed that some family variables can have a more indirect effect on youth gambling behavior and provided some insights in how some factors interact in predicting problem gambling.
Conclusion
These findings suggest that youth gambling is a multifaceted phenomenon, and that the indirect effects of family variables are important in estimating the complex social forces that might influence adolescent decisions to gamble.
Background and aims
Over the last decade, worldwide smartphone usage has greatly increased. Alongside this growth, research on the influence of smartphones on human behavior has also increased. However, a growing number of studies have shown that excessive use of smartphones can lead to detrimental consequences in a minority of individuals. This study examines the psychological aspects of smartphone use particularly in relation to problematic use, narcissism, anxiety, and personality factors.
Methods
A sample of 640 smartphone users ranging from 13 to 69 years of age (mean = 24.89 years, SD = 8.54) provided complete responses to an online survey including modified DSM-5 criteria of Internet Gaming Disorder to assess problematic smartphone use, the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Narcissistic Personality Inventory, and the Ten-Item Personality Inventory.
Results
The results demonstrated significant relationships between problematic smartphone use and anxiety, conscientiousness, openness, emotional stability, the amount of time spent on smartphones, and age. The results also demonstrated that conscientiousness, emotional stability, and age were independent predictors of problematic smartphone use.
Conclusion
The findings demonstrate that problematic smartphone use is associated with various personality factors and contributes to further understanding the psychology of smartphone behavior and associations with excessive use of smartphones.
Background and aims
The Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) is one of the most widely used screening tools for problem gambling (PG). However, to date, no empirically validated adaptation of the instrument to Spanish-speaking countries exists.
Methods
A sample of 659 sports bettors (M age = 35.1 years, SD = 10.12, 74.2% males) were recruited through an online research panel. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to confirm its construct validity. The participants were administered the Spanish version of the PGSI, along with the adaptation to Spanish of the DSM-IV PG instrument for convergent validity.
Results
The CFA of the Spanish PGSI showed satisfactory construct validity. The internal consistency (αordinal = .97) as well as its convergent validity with the DSM-IV scores (r = .77, p < .001) was good.
Conclusion
The Spanish adaptation of the PGSI offers satisfactory validity and reliability properties, and is a good psychometric instrument for exploring the social consequences of PG in Spanish-speaking contexts.
Background
Impulsivity is currently more commonly regarded as multifaceted, comprising both motor and cognitive subdomains. However, it is less clear how distinct these subdomains are, and the extent to which they interact and draw upon the same psychological resources.
Methods
The present experiment comprised 70 regular (non-problem) gamblers, and investigated the potential to induce impulsivity transfer effects within an electronic gambling context. Original and existing harm-minimization approaches were tested for their efficacy in inducing motor cautiousness during an electronic slot machine simulation. Participants were exposed to a forced discriminatory motor choice procedure, or pop-up responsible gambling messages that either contained emotive or non-emotive responsible gambling content. The subsequent impact these interventions had on delay discounting and reflection impulsivity was also measured using the 27-item Monetary Choice Questionnaire and Information Sampling Task, respectively.
Results
Findings demonstrated that only original harm-minimization approaches, which force the gambler to engage in discriminatory motor choice procedures during gambling, were successful in inducing motor cautiousness. However, both the discriminatory choice procedure and emotive message harm-minimization approaches were successful in facilitating cognitive choice, even though the emotive message intervention was unsuccessful in facilitating motor response inhibition, suggesting both an indirect motor cautiousness route, and a more direct route to improved cognitive choice during gambling.
Conclusion
This study demonstrated that decision-making during gambling can be improved by making simple structural changes to slot machine platforms, by encouraging active engagement in motor processes, which result in a transfer of cautiousness to wider cognitive domains.
Background
Over the past two decades, problem gambling has become a public health issue and research from many countries indicates that a small but significant minority of individuals are problem gamblers. In Norway, the prevalence of problem gambling among adults is estimated to be just less than 1%. To help minimize the harm from gambling, the Norwegian government’s gambling operator (Norsk Tipping) has introduced several responsible gambling initiatives to help protect players from developing gambling problems (e.g., limit-setting tools, voluntary self-exclusion, personalized feedback, etc.).
Aim
The aim of this study was to determine whether the receiving of personalized feedback exceeding 80% of a personally set monetary personal limit had an effect on subsequent playing behavior compared to those gamblers who did not receive personalized feedback.
Methods
Out of 54,002 players, a total of 7,884 players (14.5%) received at least one piece of feedback that they had exceeded 80% of their personal global monthly loss limit between January and March 2017.
Results
Using a matched-pairs design, results showed that those gamblers receiving personalized feedback in relation to limit-setting showed significant reductions in the amount of money gambled.
Conclusion
The findings of this study will be of great value to many stakeholder groups including researchers in the gambling studies field, the gambling industry, regulators, and policymakers.
Background and aims
Responsible gambling (RG) tools and initiatives have been introduced by social RG operators as a means to help prevent problem gambling. One such initiative is the use of mandatory play breaks (i.e., forced session terminations). Recommendations by RG experts for gambling operators to implement mandatory play breaks appear to be intuitively sensible but are not evidence-based.
Methods
The present authors were given access by the Norwegian gambling operator Norsk Tipping to data from 7,190 video lottery terminal (VLT) players who gambled between January and March 2018. This generated 218,523 playing sessions for further analysis. Once a gambling session reaches a 1-hr play duration, a forced session termination of 90 s comes into effect. This study evaluated the effect of mandatory play breaks on subsequent gambling.
Results
Compared to similar sessions identified using a matched-pairs design, results demonstrated that there was no significant effect of the forced termination regarding the amount of money staked in the subsequent gambling session or on the time duration of the subsequent gambling session.
Conclusions
Although expenditure was higher in the subsequent 24 hr for terminated sessions, this is likely due to higher intensity gamblers being more likely to trigger mandatory breaks. Implications of these findings are discussed.
Abstract
Background and aims
Online gambling participation is increasing rapidly, with relatively little research about the possible effects of different gambling activities on problem gambling behaviour. The aim of this exploratory study was to examine the participation in online gambling activities and the relationship with problem gambling among an international sample of online gamblers.
Methods
An online gambling survey was posted on 32 international gambling websites and resulted in 1,119 respondents over a four-month period.
Results
Poker was the most popular gambling activity online. A number of online activities were associated with problem gambling, including: roulette, poker, horse race betting, sports betting, spread betting and fruit (slot) machines. Not surprisingly, those that gambled on these activities regularly (except poker) were more likely to be a problem gambler, however, what is interesting is that the reverse is true for poker players; those that gambled regularly on poker were less likely to be a problem gambler compared to the non-regular poker players. The majority of the players also gambled offline, but there was no relationship between problem gambling and whether or not a person also gambled offline.
Discussion
Problem gambling is associated more with certain online gambling activities than others, and those gambling on two or more activities online were more likely to be a problem gambler.
Conclusion
This paper can help explain the impact different online gambling activities may have on gambling behaviour. Consideration needs to be given to the gambling activity when developing and implementing treatment programmes.
Abstract
Aims
Video games provide opportunities for positive psychological experiences such as flow-like phenomena during play and general happiness that could be associated with gaming achievements. However, research has shown that specific features of game play may be associated with problematic behaviour associated with addiction-like experiences. The study was aimed at analysing whether certain structural characteristics of video games, flow, and global happiness could be predictive of video game addiction.
Method
A total of 110 video game players were surveyed about a game they had recently played by using a 24-item checklist of structural characteristics, an adapted Flow State Scale, the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire, and the Game Addiction Scale.
Results
The study revealed decreases in general happiness had the strongest role in predicting increases in gaming addiction. One of the nine factors of the flow experience was a significant predictor of gaming addiction — perceptions of time being altered during play. The structural characteristic that significantly predicted addiction was its social element with increased sociability being associated with higher levels of addictive-like experiences. Overall, the structural characteristics of video games, elements of the flow experience, and general happiness accounted for 49.2% of the total variance in Game Addiction Scale levels.
Conclusions
Implications for interventions are discussed, particularly with regard to making players more aware of time passing and in capitalising on benefits of social features of video game play to guard against addictive-like tendencies among video game players.
Background and aims
Research examining problematic mobile phone use has increased markedly over the past 5 years and has been related to “no mobile phone phobia” (so-called nomophobia). The 20-item Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) is the only instrument that assesses nomophobia with an underlying theoretical structure and robust psychometric testing. This study aimed to confirm the construct validity of the Persian NMP-Q using Rasch and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) models.
Methods
After ensuring the linguistic validity, Rasch models were used to examine the unidimensionality of each Persian NMP-Q factor among 3,216 Iranian adolescents and CFAs were used to confirm its four-factor structure. Differential item functioning (DIF) and multigroup CFA were used to examine whether males and females interpreted the NMP-Q similarly, including item content and NMP-Q structure.
Results
Each factor was unidimensional according to the Rach findings, and the four-factor structure was supported by CFA. Two items did not quite fit the Rasch models (Item 14: “I would be nervous because I could not know if someone had tried to get a hold of me;” Item 9: “If I could not check my smartphone for a while, I would feel a desire to check it”). No DIF items were found across gender and measurement invariance was supported in multigroup CFA across gender.
Conclusions
Due to the satisfactory psychometric properties, it is concluded that the Persian NMP-Q can be used to assess nomophobia among adolescents. Moreover, NMP-Q users may compare its scores between genders in the knowledge that there are no score differences contributed by different understandings of NMP-Q items.
Background and aims
The latest (fifth) edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders included Internet gaming disorder (IGD) as a disorder that needs further research among different general populations. In line with this recommendation, the primary objective of this was to explore the relationships between IGD, sleep habits, and academic achievement in Lebanese adolescents.
Methods
Lebanese high-school students (N = 524, 47.9% males) participated in a paper survey that included the Internet Gaming Disorder Test and demographic information. The sample’s mean average age was 16.2 years (SD = 1.0).
Results
The pooled prevalence of IGD was 9.2% in the sample. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis demonstrated that IGD was associated with being younger, lesser sleep, and lower academic achievement. While more casual online gamers also played offline, all the gamers with IGD reported playing online only. Those with IGD slept significantly less hours per night (5 hr) compared with casual online gamers (7 hr). The school grade average of gamers with IGD was the lowest among all groups of gamers, and below the passing school grade average.
Conclusions
These findings shed light on sleep disturbances and poor academic achievement in relation to Lebanese adolescents identified with IGD. Students who are not performing well at schools should be monitored for their IGD when assessing the different factors behind their low academic performance.
