Abstract

This paper reports a series of analyses examining the predictors of gambling subtypes identified from a latent class analysis of problem gambling assessment data, pooled from four health and gambling surveys conducted in Britain between 2007 and 2012. Previous analyses have indicated that gambling assessments have a consistent three class structure showing quantitative and potentially qualitative differences. Bringing this data together is useful for studying more severe problem gamblers, where the small number of respondents has been a chronic limitation of gambling prevalence research. Predictors were drawn from sociodemographic indicators and engagement with other legal addictive behaviours, namely smoking and alcohol consumption. The pooled data was entered into a multinomial logistic regression model in which class membership was regressed along a series of demographic variables and survey year, based on previous analyses of gambling prevalence data. The results identified multiple demographic differences (age, general health, SES, being single, membership of ethnic minority groups) between the non-problem and two classes endorsing some problem gambling indicators. Although these two groups tended to share a sociodemographic profile, the odds of being male, British Asian and a smoker increased between the three groups in line with problem gambling severity. Being widowed was also found to be associated with the most severe gambling class. A number of associations were also observed with other addictive behaviours. However these should be taken as indicative as these were limited subsamples of a single dataset. These findings identify specific groups in which gambling problems are more prevalent, and highlight the importance of the interaction between acute and determinant aspects of impulsivity, suggesting that a more complex account of impulsivity should be considered than is currently present in the gambling literature.

Abstract

The present study explored the relationship between metacognitions, attentional control, and the severity of gambling in problem gamblers. One hundred and twenty six problem gamblers completed the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales 21, the Meta-Cognitions Questionnaire 30, the Attentional Control Scale, and the Problem Gambling Severity Index. Results revealed that negative affect, four out of five metacognitions factors (positive beliefs about worry, negative beliefs about thoughts concerning danger and uncontrollability, cognitive confidence and beliefs about the need to control thoughts), and all attentional control factors (focusing, shifting and flexible control of thought) were correlated, in the predicted directions, with the severity of gambling. The same metacognitions were also found to be correlated, in the predicted directions, with attention focusing, however only negative beliefs about thoughts concerning danger and uncontrollability and cognitive confidence were found to be correlated with attention shifting and flexible control of thought. A hierarchical regression analysis showed that beliefs about the need to control thoughts were the only predictor of the severity of gambling controlling for negative affect. Overall these findings support the hypotheses and are consistent with the metacognitive model of psychological dysfunction. The implications of these findings are discussed.