Pathological Gambling and Couple: Towards an Integrative Systemic Model

Abstract

This article is a critical literature review of pathological gambling focused in the family factors, particularly in the couple dynamics. Its main goal is to develop an explicative integrative systemic model of pathological gambling, based in these couple dynamics. To achieve that aim, a bibliography search was made, using on-line data bases (e.g., EBSCO Host) and recognized books in pathological gambling subject, as well as in the systemic approach in general. This process privileged the recent works (about 70 % of the reviewed literature was published in the last decade), however, also considered some classic works (the oldest one dates back to 1970). The guiding focus of this literature search evolves according to the following steps: (1) search of general comprehension of pathological gambling (19 references), (2) search specification to the subject "pathological gambling and family" (24 references), (3) search specification to the subject "pathological gambling and couple"(11 references), (4) search of systemic information which integrates the evidence resulted in the previous steps (4 references). The developed model is constituted by different levels of systemic complexity (social context, family of origin, couple and individual) and explains the problem as a signal of perturbation in the marital subsystem vital functions (e.g., power and control) though the regularities of marital dynamics of pathological gamblers. Furthermore, it gives theoretical evidence of the systemic familiar intervention in the pathological gambling.

Gambling Behavior Severity and Psychological, Family, and Contextual Variables: A Comparative Analysis

“…Finally, Ladouceur (2002) categorized gamblers according to the categories of low, medium, and high risk. Based on the latter two systems, Cunha and Relvas (2014a) formulated a typology that combined two criteria, which were the frequency and negative consequences of gambling, resulting in the following four types of relationships: (a) no relationship, in which there is no relationship between an individual and engaging in games of chance, or when such a relationship does exist, it is sporadic and does not result in adverse consequences; (b) relationship of controlled domination, in which the individual has full control with regard to his or her gambling activity; (c) relationship of partial subordination, in which gambling influences a significant part of the individual's life, particularly the financial aspects; and (d) relationship of complete subordination, in which the individual is fully under the spell of gambling and has adopted a submissive behavior in this regard, causing a number of serious problems.…”

“…To explain gambling disorder, Cunha and Relvas (2014a) developed the Integrative Systemic Model of Pathological Gambling (ISMPG), which makes it possible to understand the development and maintenance of that problem. This model organizes the evidence from the literature on the subject and interprets it as a coherent whole, and it includes four levels of understanding that influence one another.…”

“…This model (Cunha & Relvas, 2014a) predicts that pathological gamblers show high accessibility and social acceptance of gambling and have more problems with regard to the family context, marital issues, and individual issues compared to the nonpathological gamblers. With regard to the family of origin, the pathological gamblers have higher probability of having a high number of members with pathological gambling.…”

“…According to previous literature examining the transmission of gambling behaviors in families, the PG group should have numerous relatives with gambling problems (e.g., Desai, Potenza, Krishnan-Sarin, & Cavallo, 2007;Felsher, Derevensky, & Gupta, 2003). In addition, research has shown the strength of peer influence (Cunha & Relvas, 2014b), which suggests the need to include this variable in broad-scoped models of pathological gambling, such as ISMPG (Cunha & Relvas, 2014a). International studies conducted with adolescents (Gupta & Derevensky, 1997) and adults (Jiménez, 2002) have found that there 280 D. Cunha et al are gambling problems among the acquaintances of pathological gamblers, meaning that there might be a transverse influence of age on gambling.…”

3D Pathological gambling: family, marital and individual variables

“…Na fase inicial do projeto, desenvolveu-se o Modelo Sistémico Integrador do Jogo Patológico (MSIJP) (Cunha & Relvas, 2014a) e todos os estudos subsequentes têm como base teórica este modelo. O MSIJP é uma ferramenta sistémica compreensiva do desenvolvimento e manutenção do jogo patológico.…”