Adrian Parke

Personality traits in Pathological Gambling: Sensation Seeking, Deferment of Gratification and Competitiveness as Risk Factors

To date, research into personality traits among gamblers has been largely inconsistent. The purpose of this study was to assess the predictive values of three personality traits on pathological gambling (sensation seeking, deferment of gratification and competitiveness) – two of which (deferment of gratification and competitiveness) have never been investigated before. A questionnaire was administered to 114 gamblers of whom 38% were classified as pathological gamblers according to the DSM-IV criteria. The questionnaire included the Sensation Seeking Scale (Zuckerman, M. (1984). Sensation seeking: a comparative approach to a human trait. Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 7, 413–471.), the Deferment of Gratification Scale (Ray, J.J. and Najman, J. (1986). The generalisability of deferment of gratification. Journal of Social Psychology, 126, 117–119.) and the Gambling Competitiveness Scale constructed by the authors specifically for this study. Results showed that competitiveness had a strong positive predictive value for pathological gambling, and that deferment of gratification had relatively strong negative predictive value. Sensation seeking was shown not to be a significant predictor of pathological gambling. This is the first ever study to show empirically that competitiveness and deferment of gratification appear to be important risk factors in pathological gambling.

Positive thinking among slot machine gamblers: a case of maladaptive coping?

BackgroundResearch has demonstrated that optimism and “positive illusions” can be used a coping mechanism among those facing adversity. Gamblers are a little studied group who also experience adversity and uncertainty. They often feel considerable levels of frustration, guilt, anger and a sense of feeling cheated after making significant losses. In order to deal with such feelings it is hypothesized that these individuals will search for positive consequences from their behaviour in order to offset this negative affect.ObjectivesTo (1) determine whether after gambling, gamblers compensate and reduce negative affect by identifying positive consequences from experiencing a loss, and (2) identify types of strategies which gamblers employ and consider how these should be classified.Materials and MethodsEighty-seven regular slot machine gamblers were interviewed in a variety of environments housing slot machines. Each participant was asked a series of questions in a semi-structured format, to explore possible styles of positive thinking.ResultsNine types of ‘positive thinking’ experienced by gamblers were identified. These included Comparative thinking, Prophylactic thinking, Biased frequency thinking, Responsibility avoidance, Chasing Validation, Prioritization, Resourcefulness, Thoughtfulness, and Fear Reduction. Gamblers who were positive thinkers experienced significantly less guilt than non-positive thinkers.ConclusionsWhile reduction of negative affect may be perceived as positive in many other contexts, it is argued that it may counteract efforts to promote responsible gambling. Clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Aggressive behaviour in slot machine gamblers: a preliminary observational study.

Gambling is acknowledged to have many negative effects on individuals. However, from a psychological perspective, aggression as an outcome of gambling has been largely overlooked to date. The incidence of aggressive behaviour was monitored in 303 slot machine players over four 6-hr. observation periods. Analysis identified four types of common aggressive behaviour. These were (1) verbal aggression towards the gambling arcade staff, (2) verbal aggression towards the slot machines, (3) verbal aggression towards other slot machine players, and (4) physical aggression towards the slot machines. The findings add support to the increasing number of studies highlighting a possible link between gambling and aggression.

Gambling-Related Violence: An Issue for the Police?

The co-relationship between addiction, violence and gambling is only just emerging. Police intervention may be needed in two main areas: (i) violence caused as a result of gamblers taking out their anger over losses on their partners; and (ii) violence caused by gamblers taking out their anger over losses on either the staff of the gambling premises or on other punters. This article reviews the research in this area and concludes that gambling-related violence can and does occur, and that when it does, it is definitely an issue for the police.

Aggressive Behaviour in Adult Slot-Machine Gamblers: A Qualitative Observational Study

Gambling is acknowledged to have many negative effects on the individual. However, from a psychological perspective, aggression as an outcome of gambling has been overlooked. This paper investigates the dynamics of the relationship between aggression and slot ma-chine gambling. A non-participation observation study observed a small group of aggressive individuals (n = 8; identified in a previous study) over a period of eight weeks. Four catego-ries of aggressive behaviour were confirmed from previous research (verbal aggression to-wards the gambling arcade staff; verbal aggression towards the slot machines; verbal aggres-sion towards other slot machine players; and physical aggression towards the slot ma-chines). From the in-depth observations, possible reasons motivating these types of aggres-sive behaviour are discussed. It is suggested that the frustration, guilt and embarrassment of losing are the prime causes of such aggression.