Betting to deal: coping motives mediate the relationship between urgency and Problem gambling severity

Abstract

Background and aims: Elevated impulsivity traits, particularly negative and positive urgency, have been identified as robust predictors of problem gambling. However, the mechanisms that link urgency to problem gambling remain unknown. The present research examined whether self-reported gambling motives (social, coping, enhancement, financial) mediated the association between urgency and problem gambling severity.

Methods: The sample consisted of 564 community gamblers (52.1% female; M age =36.10, SD = 11.25) including 156 (27.7%) who were classified as moderate risk gamblers and 141 (25%) as problem gamblers.

Results: The mediation analyzes revealed that both negative and positive urgency were associated with problem gambling severity. Coping was the only motive that mediated these associations. The pattern of results remained the same when the analyzes were restricted to problem gamblers and when controlling for days gambled and money spent in the past 30 days.

Conclusions: The desire to alleviate strong emotional states (negative or positive) maybe an important determinant of problem gambling. Furthermore, results indicate that treatment initiatives for problem gambling may benefit from including training for clients in alternative and more adaptive coping strategies for the effective management of intense affective states.

Keywords:

• Impulsivity
• urgency
• gambling motives
• coping
• problem gambling severity
• mediation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).