Competitiveness Facets and Sensation Seeking as Predictors of Problem Gambling Among a Sample of University Student Gamblers

Abstract

Understanding the factors that contribute to problem gambling (PG) is imperative. Individual differences in sensation seeking (SS), as measured by the Sensation Seeking Scale Form (SSS-V), have been found to be predictive of PG among university student samples. However, what is less clear, is if the four SSS-V subscales capture unique facets of SS that are particularly predictive of PG. Much less studied than SS, competitiveness has also been found to be predictive of PG. The Competitiveness Orientation Measure (COM) is a newly developed measure of competitiveness, comprising of four facets. The main purpose of the current study was to examine if these four facets of competitiveness predicted variance in PG over and above the variance predicted by the four SSS-V subscales. Participants included 158 university student gamblers. Sequential regression analysis showed that after accounting for gender, age, and the four SSS-V subscales the only facet of the COM found to be a significant predictor of PG severity was Dominant Competitiveness. Dominant Competitiveness predicted an additional 11% of PG severity. These results provide support for the Dominant Competitiveness subscale of the COM as having utility in predicting PG over and above the predictive utility of the SSS-V subscales. Practical implications for the current findings are discussed.

Latent Class Analysis of Gambling Activities in a Sample of Young Swiss Men: Association with Gambling Problems, Substance Use Outcomes, Personality Traits and Coping Strategies

“…This finding is consistent with the results of a previous study, showing that individuals gambling only in casinos had a less negative risk profile than those who combined casino gambling with other activities (Franco et al 2011). Yet, casino gamblers were closer to extensive gamblers than to rare or non-gamblers with regard to levels of aggression/hostility, sensation seeking and sociability (traits related to gambling problems, see Harris et al 2013;Zuckerman and Kuhlman 2000), but had lower levels of anxiety/neuroticism and avoidant coping and higher levels of problem-focused coping than extensive gamblers. This may indicate that casino gamblers may gamble rather for recreational purposes than extensive gamblers, possibly because they are less prone to anxiety and stress (associated with neuroticism/anxiety) and use more adaptive coping strategies.…”

“…One of the reasons to that may be that some personality traits related to gambling problems and substance use (Harris et al 2013;Zuckerman and Kuhlman 2000), such as high levels of aggression/hostility and sensation seeking, may predispose private gamblers to negative gambling outcomes and substance use comorbidities. An alternative explanation may be that gambling activities in private settings are subject to no policy regulation.…”

“…With regard to personality traits, higher neuroticism (Bagby et al 2007;Blaszczynski et al 1986;MacLaren et al 2011), higher impulsivity (Steel and Blaszczynski 1998;Lawrence et al 2009), higher sensation seeking (Harris et al 2013;Gupta et al 2006), higher sociability (Zuckerman and Kuhlman 2000), higher psychoticism (Blaszczynski et al 1986), higher hostility (MacLaren et al 2011;Petry 2000), higher aggression (Slutske et al 2005) and lower agreeableness (MacLaren et al 2011) scores were found in excessive gamblers compared to non-problem gamblers. With regard to coping, gambling problems were found to be positively associated with the use of avoidant and emotion-focused strategies, and negatively associated with the use of problem-focused strategies (Bergevin et al 2006;Gupta and Derevensky 2001;Lightsey and Hulsey 2002;Nower et al 2004a).…”

The Influence of Locus of Control and Sensation Seeking Among Undergraduate Texas Hold’em Players

“…The SSS is split into four subscales: thrill and adventure seeking, experience seeking, disinhibition, and boredom susceptibility. Unfortunately, SSS subscales are rarely reported separately (Harris, Newby, & Klein, 2015). In one of the few studies that has distinguished between subscales, Fortune and Goodie (2010) found that the disinhibition and boredom susceptibility factors of sensation seeking, as measured by the SSS, were related to pathological gambling but experience seeking and thrill and adventure seeking were not associated with pathological gambling.…”

Gambling Among Adolescents and Emerging Adults: A Cross-Cultural Study Between Portuguese and English Youth

“…Similarly, Donati et al (2013) in a study with Italian adolescents found that sensation seeking was a significant predictor of problem gambling. Furthermore, a more recent study conducted by Harris et al (2015) with a sample of college students showed that the total score on sensation seeking was significantly correlated with problem gambling severity. Overall, these findings suggest that youth problem gamblers are more inclined to be socially disinhibited and easily bored with routine, and highlight the need to further examine the mechanisms of this variable in order to better identify personality characteristics that can facilitate the development of gambling-related problems, which may also have a preventive value for such risky behaviour.…”