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Lalumière (S9) DELINQUENCY AND GAMBLING: A PILOT STUDY OF THEIR INTER-RELATIONSHIP AND COMMON DETERMINANTS Associate Professor, Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, U of The nature of the relationship between gambling and delinquency will be explored in this study through the laboratory investigation of personality and situational determinants common to both. Status (Complete): The goals of the pilot study were to investigate the link between gambling and delinquency, and to determine the relevance of certain situational factors (mood and peer influence). A total of 180 participants were recruited and interviewed. An analysis of collected data produced the following relevant results: (a) Students interested in a gambling study show a high level of gambling activities. Forty met the criteria for “moderate” or “at-risk gamblers” and twelve for “severe gamblers”. (b) A simple manipulation of mood had the expected effect on mood but no effect on gambling behaviour in the laboratory. (c) The presence of a peer observer had some effect on gambling in the laboratory. Participants won more money when in the presence of a female observer than in the presence of a male or no observer (amount of money won was directly related to betting safely). Also, participants in the no observer condition played longer. (d) Gambling behaviour reported outside of the laboratory had little connection to gambling behaviour in the laboratory (15 minutes or less on a VLT). Interestingly, however, half of the problem gamblers lost al of their allocated money on the VLT; the corresponding values for non-gamblers, low-risk gamblers, and moderate gamblers were 24%, 34% and 41%. (e) As predicted, problem gambling is related to certain personality measures: higher impulsivity, lower self-control in childhood and adolescence, higher disinhibition, and lower thrill and adventure seeking. These personality measures had less consistent relationship with measures of gambling in the laboratory. (f) As predicted, problem gambling is related to measures of delinquency and antisocial tendencies (psychopathy and anger). (g) More specifically, gambling was predicted by personality measures of impulsivity and risk-taking, and antisocial tendencies did not add to this prediction. Serious delinquency in the last year was also predicted by measures of impulsivity and risk-taking, but antisocial tendencies did add significantly to the prediction. (h) In sum, gambling and delinquency have common personality determinants, perhaps explaining why gambling problems and prevalent in forensic populations. Serious problem gamblers, however, are no more likely to engage in serious crime, unless they also possess serious antisocial tendencies. A student thesis was produced, and two manuscripts will be written for publication in refereed scientific journals. The results of the research were presented at a local psychology conference. The Alberta Gaming Research Institute provides grant funding to support peer-endorsed academic investigations into many aspects of gambling research. The contents, recommendations, and findings of the associated research reports, posted on this website, represent the views of the researcher(s). Last Updated: Links |
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