Numerical Reasoning Ability and Irrational Beliefs in Problem Gambling

Figures & data

Table 1. Descriptive statistics for age, gender and tertiary education across the three gambling groups

Group	M (SD) Age	n (%) Male	n (%) Female	n (%) Tertiary educated
Pathological gamblers (n = 44)	43.48 (11.5)	22 (50.0)	22 (50.0)	3 (6.82)
Regular gamblers (n = 46)	41.11 (12.8)	23 (50.0)	23 (50.0)	5 (10.87)
Infrequent gamblers (n = 45)	32.71 (12.9)	23 (51.1)	22 (48.9)	21 (46.67)

Table 2. Mean (SD) knowledge and numerical reasoning scores

	Pathological gamblers (n = 44)	Regular gamblers (n = 46)	Infrequent gamblers (n = 45)	F(2,132)	η^2
	M (SD)	M (SD)	M (SD)
Knowledge of gambling odds	1.57 (1.50)	1.61 (1.48)	2.13 (1.50)	2.00	0.03
Numerical reasoning ability	13.52 (0.72)	12.30 (0.90)	16.82 (0.91)	7.74	0.11

Table 3. Mean (SD) scores for the 3 irrational belief subscales

	Pathological gamblers (n = 44)	Regular gamblers (n = 46)	Infrequent gamblers (n = 45)	F(2,132)	Post hoc	η^2
	M (SD)	M (SD)	M (SD)
Predictive control	48.77 (15.6)	41.98 (15.4)	28.2 (14.7)	21.3	1 > 2–3, 2 > 3	0.24
Illusion of control	16.8 (11.3)	9.65 (7.7)	4.33 (5.6)	24.3	1 > 3 2 > 3	0.27
Personalisation of the machine	14.34 (9.1)	8.89 (6.0)	4.60 (6.1)	20.4	1 > 2–3 2 > 3	0.24
Note. All F-values significant at p < 0.001 and post hoc tests significant at 0.05 level. Predictive control (nine items), illusion of control (five items), personalisation of the machine (three items). Score range for each subscale = 0 – 10 × Number of items.

Table 4. Pearson correlations of SOGS scores and the cognitive belief scores

	Predictive control	Illusion of control	Personalisation of machine
SOGS	0.37	0.43	0.45
Predictive control		0.57	0.42
Illusion of control			0.54
All correlations significant p < 0.001.

Table 5. Summary of hierarchical regression analysis for variables predicting total irrationality score (sum of the three subscales)

Variable	B	Adj R ^2	Δ Adj R ^2	β	t-value
Step 1
Education	− 2.18	0.05	0.05	–0.12	1.43
Step 2
SOGS score	46.33			0.41	4.97*
Gambling experience (yrs)	0.007	0.20	0.14	− 0.22	< 1
Step 3
Odds total score	− 0.02			− 0.02	< 1
Numerical reasoning score	− 0.07	0.20	0.00	− 0.08	< 1
*p < 0.001.