Psychological Correlates of Disordered Gambling Tendencies Among Chinese High School and Undergraduate Students

The prospective effect of purpose in life on gambling disorder and psychological flourishing among university students

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Gambling disorder (GD) is a mental disorder with a relatively higher prevalence in university students compared to adolescents and adults. Its reciprocity with mental being indicators, such as psychological flourishing, would be expected, but prior to this study had not yet been empirically examined. In addition, the predictive value of purpose in life (PIL) on university students' GD and psychological flourishing also remained unknown. This 1-year longitudinal study was the first to test the potential bidirectional relationships among PIL, self-reported GD symptoms, and psychological flourishing.

METHODS

In this study, a total of 283 university students (39.6% females; age = 18-27 years, M = 20.47, SD = 1.15) completed an anonymous questionnaire at both baseline and a year later in a follow-up study.

RESULTS

The results of our cross-lagged analysis did not show the hypothesized reciprocity between GD symptoms and psychological flourishing (P > 0.05). However, PIL significantly predicted fewer GD symptoms (β = -0.23, P < 0.001) and higher levels of psychological flourishing (β = 0.30, P < 0.001) in the follow-up study. Moreover, psychological flourishing predicted PIL a year later.

CONCLUSION

The findings demonstrate the potential efficacy of purpose/meaning oriented interventions in gambling prevention and in well-being promotion programs.

The prospective effect of purpose in life on gambling disorder and psychological flourishing among university students

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Gambling disorder (GD) is a mental disorder with a relatively higher prevalence in university students compared to adolescents and adults. Its reciprocity with mental being indicators, such as psychological flourishing, would be expected, but prior to this study had not yet been empirically examined. In addition, the predictive value of purpose in life (PIL) on university students' GD and psychological flourishing also remained unknown. This 1-year longitudinal study was the first to test the potential bidirectional relationships among PIL, self-reported GD symptoms, and psychological flourishing.

METHODS

In this study, a total of 283 university students (39.6% females; age = 18-27 years, M = 20.47, SD = 1.15) completed an anonymous questionnaire at both baseline and a year later in a follow-up study.

RESULTS

The results of our cross-lagged analysis did not show the hypothesized reciprocity between GD symptoms and psychological flourishing (P > 0.05). However, PIL significantly predicted fewer GD symptoms (β = -0.23, P < 0.001) and higher levels of psychological flourishing (β = 0.30, P < 0.001) in the follow-up study. Moreover, psychological flourishing predicted PIL a year later.

CONCLUSION

The findings demonstrate the potential efficacy of purpose/meaning oriented interventions in gambling prevention and in well-being promotion programs.

Application of Health Belief Model to Practice of Responsible Gambling

Responsible gambling (RG) strategies seem to be effective only to some people and it is unclear why some gamblers are more likely to adhere to RG practices (e.g., self-exclusion and setting limits). The current study investigated whether cognitive factors, including RG awareness and Health Belief Model (HBM) factors (i.e., perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefit, perceived barrier, cue to action, and self-efficacy), accounted for individual differences in adherence to ten common RG practices. Eight hundred and ninety-six community-dwelling adults were recruited to participate in a telephone poll in Macao, China, in November 2016. We found that only 56.1% of the respondents had heard of RG, and there was a positive relation between RG awareness and RG practices. Moreover, HBM factors were also shown to explain one's adherence to RG practices in general but the effectiveness of HBM factors varied across RG practices. The findings provided practical implications that there is a need to target different cognitive beliefs for promoting different RG practices in designing intervention.