Risk and protective factors in problem gambling: an examination of psychological resilience

ABSTRACT

Psychological resilience – successful adaptation when faced with adversity – is a product of the balance of risk and protective factors relevant to an outcome. This study examined if protective factors (perceived resilience; mindfulness; grit; self-efficacy) explained variance in problem gambling tendencies (assessed with the Problem Gambling Severity Index) beyond the HEXACO personality traits (honesty-humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience) and risk factors for problem gambling (gender; age; socio-economic status; high frequency gambling behaviour; harsh unpredictable childhood environments; sensation-seeking; impulsivity; self-control; stress). This study used a crowdsourced community sample (n = 469) recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk. Bivariate analyses showed that risk factors and some HEXACO traits (especially honesty-humility) were associated with problem gambling issues. Among protective factors, only trait mindfulness showed a bivariate association with problem gambling issues. Somewhat surprisingly, regression analyses revealed that protective factors did not explain variance in problem gambling beyond HEXACO traits and risk factors. However, in exploratory analyses, mindfulness and self-efficacy – both modifiable protective factors – moderated the relationship between high-frequency gambling (a key proximate antecedent of problem gambling) and problem gambling tendencies. These results suggest mindfulness and self-efficacy may serve as ‘buffers’ against the development of problem gambling issues and may be promising targets for clinical interventions.

KEYWORDS:

• Risk factors
• protective factors
• resilience
• grit
• mindfulness
• self-efficacy
• HEXACO

Conflict of interest

Acknowledgements

This research was directly supported by an Insight Development Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to SM. The funding source had no influence or involvement in any aspects of the research.

Competing interests

The authors acknowledge that they have no financial interests and benefits that arise from the direct applications of this research.

Constraints on publishing

The authors acknowledge that this work was not subject to any constraints on publishing.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada [430-2015-01202] and the Faculty of Business Administration at the University of Regina. In the past three years, SB has received funding from the Saskatchewan Health Research Federation.

Notes on contributors

Sandeep Mishra

Sandeep Mishra is an associate professor of business administration at the Hill/Levene Schools of Business at the University of Regina. He has published on diverse research questions in the areas of judgement and decision-making, personality and individual differences, health and well-being, and evolutionary theory. He has received research funding from multiple sources, including the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Centre, and the Alberta Gaming Research Institute, among others.

Shadi Beshai

Shadi Beshai is an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Regina, Canada. His research programme is focused broadly on personalized psychotherapy for adult depression. Specifically, he has published several articles on the adaptation and dissemination of cognitive-behavioural therapies (traditional and third wave) at home and abroad, and on examining socio-cognitive mechanisms (e.g. mindfulness; self-compassion; socio-emotional comparisons) of acute and recurrent depression. He is the recipient of several prestigious awards, scholarships, and grants from institutions such as the Canadian Psychological Association, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Canadian Institute of Health Research and the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation.

Amanda Wuth

Amanda Wuth is an experimental and applied psychology MA candidate at the University of Regina, Canada. Her research programme concentrates on the intersection between cognition, developmental environments, and risk-taking. She is the recipient of a masters-level Canada Graduate Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Nabhan Refaie

Nabhan Refaie is a graduate student at the University of Regina (Canada), currently completing an MA in experimental and applied psychology. His research interests focus on the comparative processes involved in decision-making, specifically under risky environments. He has received a major fellowship award from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.