Applying the Protective Gambling Beliefs Scale (PGBS) among Chinese gamblers and testing its association with responsible gambling

ABSTRACT

Accurate and rational gambling beliefs have been found to play a protective role against gambling disorder (GD) and add unique insights into the prevention and intervention of gambling-related harms. Adopting the Protective Gambling Beliefs Scale (PGBS) as a measurement tool of these gambling beliefs, this study tested its psychometric properties and whether these gambling beliefs were associated with responsible gambling (RG) behaviors with a probability community sample of adult gamblers (N = 464) in Macao, China. Consistent with the past studies, PGBS was found unidimensional with high reliability. The construct validity of PGBS was verified by its negative associations with gambling-related interpretive biases and GD symptoms. Moreover, we found a significant and positive association between protective gambling beliefs and RG behaviors after controlling for the effects of gambling-related interpretive biases and demographic variables. Conventional approaches to gambling harm reduction focus more on maladaptive cognition. Our findings may offer empirical evidence that protective gambling beliefs also help reduce gambling-related harms and enable gamblers to keep their gambling at a relatively safe level. PGBS is not only a valid and reliable instrument to measure gamblers’ protective gambling beliefs but also a potential means to promote RG practices.

KEYWORDS:

• Protective gambling beliefs
• problem gambling
• gambling disorder
• responsible gambling
• gambling-related cognition
• gambling intervention

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, [KKT]. The data are not publicly available due to the privacy of research participants.

Ethics approval statement

This research was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the affiliated institution of the corresponding author.

Informed consent

All participants provided verbal informed consent to participate in the study.

Acknowledgements

Mr. Mu HE was responsible for data analysis, result interpretation, and original draft writing. Ms. Hong Mian YANG was responsible for literature review, result interpretation, and original draft writing. Dr. Juliet Honglei CHEN was involved in result interpretation and manuscript revision. Prof. Kwok Kit TONG was responsible for project administration, research conception, and manuscript preparation. Ms. Le DANG was responsible for data collection and involved in manuscript revision. Prof. Anise M. S. WU was involved in research conception and manuscript revision. All authors approved the final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the University of Macau [MYRG2020-00106-FSS]; Research Services and Knowledge Transfer Office, University of Macau [MYRG2022-00144-FSS].

Notes on contributors

Mu He

Mr. Mu He is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Psychology, University of Macau. He investigates health-related behaviors from a social psychological perspective. His research interests include health-protective behaviors and behavioral addictions.

Hong Mian Yang

Ms. Hong Mian Yang is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Psychology of the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Macau. Her main research interests are topics of addictive behaviors such as gambling and gaming.

Juliet Honglei Chen

Dr. Juliet Honglei Chen was a postdoctoral fellow at University of Macau, and has recently joined the Department of Psychology at Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, China. Her research focuses on addictive and maladaptive behaviors, attitude and behavior change, and intergroup relations.

Kwok Kit Tong

Dr. Kwok Kit Tong is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Macau. His research interests include gambling disorder and gambling harm reduction measures.

Le Dang

Ms. Le Dang is currently a Ph.D. candidate in University of Macau, she is also a lecturer in Pingdingshan University. She has a background of psychology, and now focused on the research about healthy behaviors and addictive behaviors.

Anise M. S. Wu

Dr. Anise M. S. Wu is currently a full professor at the Department of Psychology of the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Macau. Her research is concerned with both individual and public health, with particular emphasis on behavioral addictions.