Pathological Gambling and Associated Drug and Alcohol Abuse, Emotion Regulation, and Anxious-Depressive Symptomatology

Abstract

Background and aimsPathological gambling is associated with comorbid disorders, such as anxiety, depression, and drug and alcohol abuse. Difficulties of emotion regulation may be one of the factors related to the presence of addictive disorders, along with comorbid symptomatology in pathological gamblers. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the difficulties of emotion regulation, drug and alcohol abuse, and anxious and depressive symptomatology in pathological gamblers, and the mediating role of difficulties of emotion regulation between anxiety and pathological gambling.MethodsThe study sample included 167 male pathological gamblers (mean age = 39.29 years) and 107 non-gamblers (mean age = 33.43 years). Pathological gambling (SOGS), difficulties of emotion regulation (DERS), drug and alcohol abuse (MUTICAGE CAD-4), and anxious and depressive symptomatology (SA-45) were measured. Student’s t, Pearson’s r, stepwise multiple linear regression and multiple mediation analyses were conducted. The study was approved by an Investigational Review Board.ResultsRelative to non-gamblers, pathological gamblers exhibited greater difficulties of emotion regulation, as well as more anxiety, depression, and drug abuse. Moreover, pathological gambling correlated with emotion regulation difficulties, anxiety, depression, and drug abuse. Besides, emotion regulation difficulties correlated with and predicted pathological gambling, drug and alcohol abuse, and anxious and depressive symptomatology. Finally, emotion regulation difficulties mediated the relationship between anxiety and pathological gambling controlling the effect of age, both when controlling and not controlling for the effect of other abuses.Discussion and conclusionsThese results suggest that difficulties of emotion regulation may provide new keys to understanding and treating pathological gambling and comorbid disorders.

Conceptualizing gambling disorder with the process model of emotion regulation

“…However, because of methodological limitation of the study (related to GD measure), the interpretation of such results should be cautious. More reliable data supporting a connection between emotion dysregulation and GD came to light with a study carried out by Jauregui, Estevez, and Urbiola ( 2016 ), indicating high levels of emotion dysregulation among PGs as well as a positive correlation between the DERS’s scores and GD severity. However, the authors showed that non-awareness and non-clarity factors were not significantly related to the severity of GD.…”

“…Several empirical evidence suggest that PGs may experience failures in such thresholds. For example, some studies ( Jauregui, Estevez, et al., 2016 ; Williams et al., 2012 ), which use the non-acceptance DERS’ subscale, showed that individuals with GD have a difficulty in accepting their own emotional states in a non-judgmental way, reacting with shame and disappointment. Similar results have been brought by scholars who investigated mindfulness capacity among PGs.…”

Effect of alcohol use disorders and alcohol intake on the risk of subsequent depressive symptoms: a systematic review and meta‐analysis of cohort studies

“…For example, previous studies have suggested that unemployed individuals are more likely to have heavier alcohol use and to suffer from depression . Another important confounder concerns life‐style factors, such as low physical activity, pathological gambling and cannabis, tobacco or illicit drug abuse, all of which have been reported to increase the risk of excessive drinking and depression . Other common confounders, including physical health status and psychological comorbidity, have been reported to play important roles in the comorbidity of alcohol misuse and depression .…”

Analysis of Gambling in the Media Related to Screens: Immersion as a Predictor of Excessive Use?

“…The difficulty in regulating emotions is also a risk factor. Authors have found that low self-control, emotional dysregulation, a need to change mood, fill an existential or emotional void (lack of social interaction, relieve boredom), need for approval and avoid difficulties, increased the severity of gambling problems [ 21 , 22 , 23 ].…”