Subtyping pathological gamblers on the basis of affective motivations for gambling: relations to gambling problems, drinking problems, and affective motivations for drinking.

Pathological gamblers who drink when gambling (n=158; 77% men; mean age=36.0 years) completed the Inventory of Gambling Situations (IGS) and gambling and drinking criterion measures. Principal components analysis on the IGS subscales revealed negative (e.g., Unpleasant Emotions) and positive (e.g., Pleasant Emotions) gambling situation factors. Subjecting IGS factor scores to cluster analysis revealed three clusters: (a) enhancement gamblers, with low negative and high positive factor scores; (b) coping gamblers, with very high negative and high positive factor scores; and (c) low emotion regulation gamblers, with low negative and positive factor scores (59%, 23%, and 18% of the sample, respectively). Clusters were validated with a direct measure of gambling motives. Additional validity analyses showed that coping gamblers scored higher than the other groups on a variety of different gambling activities, gambling problems, drinking frequency, drinking problems, and coping drinking motives, whereas low emotion regulation gamblers scored lower than the other groups on gambling frequency, gambling problems, drinking quantity, and enhancement drinking motives. The findings validate this empirical approach to subtyping gamblers and suggest consistency of motives across addictive behaviors.

[1]  A. Blaszczynski,et al.  A pathways model of problem and pathological gambling. , 2002, Addiction.

[2]  F. Finnigan,et al.  A comparison of the autonomic arousal of frequent, infrequent and non-gamblers while playing fruit machines. , 2005, Addiction.

[3]  R. McCormick.  Pathological gambling: A parsimonious need state model , 2005, Journal of gambling behavior.

[4]  M. Griffiths.  Factors in problem adolescent fruit machine gambling: Results of a small postal survey , 1993, Journal of Gambling Studies.

[5]  S. Stewart,et al.  Why Do Women with Alcohol Problems Binge Eat? , 2006, Journal of health psychology.

[6]  M. Kushner,et al.  Introduction to the Special Issue on ‘‘Relations Between Gambling and Alcohol Use’‘ , 2005, Journal of Gambling Studies.

[7]  M. L. Cooper,et al.  Drinking to regulate positive and negative emotions: a motivational model of alcohol use. , 1995, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[8]  Linda C. Sobell,et al.  Timeline Follow-Back A Technique for Assessing Self-Reported Alcohol Consumption , 1992 .

[9]  N. Petry,et al.  A comparison of pathological gamblers with and without substance abuse treatment histories. , 2003, Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology.

[10]  H. Lesieur.  Cluster analysis of types of inpatient pathological gamblers. , 2001 .

[11]  R. Michels,et al.  Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd ed , 1981 .

[12]  M. al’Absi,et al.  Stress and Addiction: Biological and Psychological Mechanisms. , 2007 .

[13]  S. Stewart,et al.  Emotion and motive effects on drug-related cognition , 2006 .

[14]  K. Winters,et al.  Outcome of Minnesota's Gambling Treatment Programs , 2004, Journal of Gambling Studies.

[15]  Jeremiah Weinstock,et al.  Behavioral assessment of gambling: an application of the timeline followback method. , 2004, Psychological assessment.

[16]  M. Potenza,et al.  Characteristics of Gambling Helpline Callers with Self-Reported Gambling and Alcohol Use Problems , 2005, Journal of Gambling Studies.

[17]  M. Selzer.  The Michigan alcoholism screening test: the quest for a new diagnostic instrument. , 1971, The American journal of psychiatry.

[18]  P. Conrod,et al.  Psychometric evaluation of the short form inventory of drinking situations (IDS-42) in a community-recruited sample of substance-abusing women. , 2000, Journal of substance abuse.

[19]  L. Sharpe.  Patterns of Autonomic Arousal in Imaginal Situations of Winning and Losing in Problem Gambling , 2004, Journal of Gambling Studies.

[20]  R. Nicki,et al.  A New Instrument to Measure Cognitive Distortions in Video Lottery Terminal Users: The Informational Biases Scale (IBS) , 2004, Journal of Gambling Studies.

[21]  M Griffiths,et al.  Psychobiology of the near-miss in fruit machine gambling. , 1991, The Journal of psychology.

[22]  A D Pokorny,et al.  The brief MAST: a shortened version of the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test. , 1972, The American journal of psychiatry.

[23]  E. Wulfert,et al.  Heart rate arousal and excitement in gambling: winners versus losers. , 2005, Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors.

[24]  R. Pihl,et al.  Anxiety sensitivity and self-reported alcohol consumption rates in university women , 1995 .

[25]  M. L. Cooper,et al.  Development and validation of a three-dimensional measure of drinking motives. , 1992 .

[26]  S. Stewart,et al.  Development and psychometric evaluation of a three-dimensional Gambling Motives Questionnaire. , 2008, Addiction.

[27]  Dc Washington.  Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Ed. , 1994 .

[28]  S. Stewart,et al.  Examination of the short form of the Inventory of Drinking Situations (IDS-42) in a young adult university student sample. , 1998, Behaviour research and therapy.

[29]  Colin M. Macleod,et al.  Effects of negative and positive mood phrases on priming of alcohol words in young drinkers with high and low anxiety sensitivity. , 2003, Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology.

[30]  R. Klein,et al.  Contingent Gambling-Drinking Patterns and Problem Drinking Severity Moderate Implicit Gambling-Alcohol Associations in Problem Gamblers , 2005, Journal of Gambling Studies.

[31]  M. Kushner,et al.  Alcohol Use and Prior Substance Abuse Treatment in Relation to Gambling Problem Severity and Gambling Treatment Outcome , 2005, Journal of Gambling Studies.

[32]  S. B. Zeitlin,et al.  Examination of a three-dimensional drinking motives questionnaire in a young adult university student sample. , 1996, Behaviour research and therapy.

[33]  A. Blaszczynski,et al.  Boredom Proneness in Pathological Gambling , 1990, Psychological reports.

[34]  N. el-Guebaly,et al.  Psychiatric Comorbidity in Pathological Gambling: A Critical Review , 1998, Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie.

[35]  B. Cox,et al.  Characteristics of Problem Gambling in a Canadian Context: A Preliminary Study Using a DSM-IV-Based Questionnaire , 1999, Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie.

[36]  R. Klein,et al.  A laboratory-based investigation of relations among video lottery terminal (VLT) play, negative mood, and alcohol consumption in regular VLT players. , 2002, Addictive behaviors.

[37]  R. Bland,et al.  Epidemiology of Pathological Gambling in Edmonton * , 1993, Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie.

[38]  S. Stewart,et al.  Assessment of Addictions in Clinical and Research Settings , 2007 .

[39]  P. Conrod,et al.  Validation of a system of classifying female substance abusers on the basis of personality and motivational risk factors for substance abuse. , 2000, Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors.

[40]  C. Correia,et al.  An affective-motivational model of marijuana and alcohol problems among college students. , 2005, Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors.

[41]  M. Kushner,et al.  Recent research on the comorbidity of alcoholism and pathological gambling. , 2003, Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research.

[42]  R. Kendell.  Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd ed , 1980 .

[43]  H. Lesieur,et al.  The South Oaks Gambling Screen (SaGS): A New Instrument for the Identification of Pathological Gamblers , 2010 .

[44]  M. Drake.  Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed. rev.) , 1988 .

[45]  P. Conrod,et al.  Efficacy of brief coping skills interventions that match different personality profiles of female substance abusers. , 2000, Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors.