Cross-comorbidity (8-12/09/15)
17th European Conference on Developmental Psychology, Braga, 8-12/09/2015
Cross-comorbidity of internalized disorders in young adults gamblers
Tani F*,***., Gori A.***, Ponti L.***, Ilari A.***,
*Department of Health Sciences- Psychology Unit, University of Florence, Italy
*** New Social Pathologies Research Unit, University of Florence, Italy
Abstract
Pathological gambling is complex phenomenon which presents an high cross- and lifetime comorbidities with a wide range of severe physical, emotional and social problems. Since these aspects may be important about the outcomes of the treatment of gamblers, can be extremely relevant deepening of this comorbidity. The present study therefore aimed to analyze the differences of anxiety and depressive symptoms between two groups of young adults gamblers.
An overall sample consisted of 323 gamblers (131 males and 192 females), of average aged of 25.31 years old (SD = 10.55) was recruited from the gambling rooms. All participants completed the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS; Lesieur & Blume, 1987; Capitanucci & Carlevaro, 2004). On the basis of the SOGS total scores participants were divided in two groups: I) pathological gamblers (n = 62, 55 males and 7 females), whose SOGS scores was greater than 5; and II) social gamblers (n = 261, 76 males and 185 females), whose SOGS scores was lesser than 3. To measure anxiety and depressive symptoms, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger, 1983; Petrabissi & Santinello, 1989) and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies National Institute of Mental Health (CES-D; Radloff, 1983; Fava, 1983) were administered.
Results of ANOVAs showed significant differences between pathological and social gamblers in both dimensions of considered internalized disorders, confirming a high prevalence of anxiety and depressive disorders cross-comorbidity in pathological gambling. Specifically, the pathological gamblers present higher levels of anxiety (47.79 vs. 41.66, F(1,321) =17.90; p<.001) and depression (21.84 vs. 17.94, F(1,321) =8.23; p<.01) than social gamblers do.
These findings are discussed in relation to specific therapeutic implications for psychological treatments of pathological gambling.