This study investigated the relationship of cognitive distortions, self‐reported impulsivity, delay discounting, and time perspective to gambling severity in Italian adolescents. One thousand and thirty high school students were administered the South Oaks Gambling Screen Revised for Adolescents (SOGS‐RA), the Gambling Related Cognitions Scale (GRCS), the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS‐11), the Monetary Choice Questionnaire (MCQ), and the Consideration of Future Consequences Scale (CFC‐14). A factor analysis, used to evaluate common factors assessed by the different measures, revealed a three‐factor structure of Cognitive distortions, Impulsive present orientation, and Delay discounting. The results of regression analysis using factor scores showed that males scored higher than females on the SOGS‐RA and that gambling severity correlated positively with high scores on the three factors. These results indicate that cognitive distortions associated with gambling are a powerful predictor of gambling severity, and that adolescent gamblers are impaired in their abilities to think about the future.
Background and objectives: The etiology of problem gambling is multifaceted and complex. Among others factors, poor decision making, cognitive distortions (i.e., irrational beliefs about gambling), and emotional factors (e.g., negative mood states) appear to be among the most important factors in the development and maintenance of problem gambling.Although empirical evidence has suggested that cognitive distortions facilitate gambling and negative emotions are associated with gambling, the interplay between cognitive distortions, emotional states, and decision making in gambling remains unexplored.Methods: Pathological gamblers (N = 54) and healthy controls (N = 54) completed the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS), the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), the Gambling Related Cognitions Scale (GRCS), and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21).Results: Compared to healthy controls, pathological gamblers showed poorer decision making and reported higher scores on measures assessing cognitive distortions and emotional distress. All measures were positively associated with gambling severity. A significant negative correlation between decision making and cognitive distortions was also observed. No associations were found between poor decision making and emotional distress. Logistic regression analysis indicated that cognitive distortions, emotional distress, and poor decision making were significant predictors of problem gambling.
Limitations:The use of self-report measures and the absence of female participants limit the generalizability of the reported findings.
Conclusions:The present study is the first to demonstrate the mutual influence between irrational beliefs and poor decision making, as well as the role of cognitive bias, emotional distress, and poor decision making in gambling disorder.
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