Alexithymia predicts loss chasing for people at risk for problem gambling
Background and aims The aim of this research was to investigate the relationship between alexithymia and loss-chasing behavior in people at risk and not at risk for problem gambling. Methods An opportunity sample of 58 (50 males and 8 females) participants completed the Problem Gambling Sever...
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| Format: | Article |
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Akadémiai Kiadó
2017
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48235/ |
| Summary: | Background and aims
The aim of this research was to investigate the relationship between alexithymia and loss-chasing behavior in people at risk and not at risk for problem gambling.
Methods
An opportunity sample of 58 (50 males and 8 females) participants completed the Problem Gambling Severity Index and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). They then completed the Cambridge Gambling Task from which a measure of loss-chasing behavior was derived.
Results
Alexithymia and problem gambling risk were significantly positively correlated. Subgroups of non-alexithymic and at or near caseness for alexithymia by low risk and at risk for problem gambling were identified. The results show a clear difference for loss-chasing behavior for the two alexithymia conditions, but there was no evidence that low and at-risk problem gamblers were more likely to loss chase. The emotion-processing components of the TAS-20 were shown to correlate with loss chasing.
Discussion and conclusion
These findings suggest that loss-chasing behavior may be particularly prevalent in a subgroup of problem gamblers those who are high in alexithymia. |
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