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Gambling and Risk Taking Behavior Amongst University Students

Jeff Powell, Karen Hardoon, Jeffrey Derevensky & Rina Gupta

McGill University

Presented at the 10th National Conference on Gambling Behavior Chicago, Illinois

September 4, 1996

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Methods Subjects

Subjects were 63 students, 33 females and 30 males, attending McGill University in Montreal. The students, aged 18-35 (mean age 22.4), were recruited from varying departments across campus to provide a more representative sample. Instruments The Arnett Inventory of Sensation Seeking (AISS) (Arnett, 1994) is a 20 item scale, with two subscales of 10 items each, Intensity and Novelty. Participants indicate for each item the extent to which the item described them (1 = describes me very well, 2 = describes me somewhat, 3 = does not describe me very well, 4= does not describe me at all). Six items are worded negatively to avoid confirmation bias. The Sensation Seeking Scale - Form V (SSS) (Zuckerman, 1978) consists of 40 items, with 4 subscales of 10 items each, Thrill and Adventure Seeking (TAS), Disinhibition (DSN), Experience Seeking (ES), and Boredom Susceptibility (BS). A total score is also derived from the summation of the four subscales. The SSS is administered via a forced-choice format (0= No, 1 = Yes). The Risk-Taking Questionnaire (RTQ) (Knowles, 1976) is a 20 item scale evaluating risk-approach motivation with one total score. Participants indicate how much they agree or disagree with each statement (1 = agree very much, 2 = mildly agree, 3 = neutral, 4= mildly disagree, and 5 = disagree very much). Nine of the risk-approach items are reversed so that a higher total score indicates greater risk. The South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) (Lesieur & Blume, 1987) is a 20 item scale used to determine the presence or absence of pathological gambling. A total score is calculated indicating a gambler as having no problems, some problems, or probable pathological. Categorization is as follows: 0 = no problems, 1-4 = some problems, and 5 or more = probable pathological. The Dissociative Scale (DS) is a 5 item scale adapted from Jacobs (1989) and Ross (1990) examining dissociative reactions. Participants respond to whether they go into a trance-like state, feel like a different person, experience blackouts, lose track of time, and feel as though you’re “outside” yourself, “watching yourself”, when gambling, on a 4-point likert scale (0= never, 1 = rarely, 2 = occasionally, 3 = all the time). Procedures

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Students signed a consent form agreeing to participate in a larger study prior to administration of the above five questionnaires. All participants answering “never” to all the gambling activities section of the initial questionnaire were instructed to skip Dissociative Scale, yet respond to all items on the SOGS, SSS, RTQ, and AISS. Only 5 participants indicated having “never” gambled. Participants who responded to “less than once a week” to any of the 10 gambling activities were operationalized as a gambler and instructed to complete the SOGS and Dissociative Scale. Performance on the SOGS score were operationalized as: No Problem (0), Some Problems(l-3), and Probable Pathological(4≥)* categories which were utilized to investigate differences across the Sensation Seeking, Risk-Taking, and the Dissociative Scales. * No individual in the present study scored a 4 on the SOGS. Therefore, the Probable Pathological category consisted of scores on the SOGS that were 5+.

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5

6

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Means & Standard Deviations for SSS, RTQ, & AISS Scales across the SOGS for all Subjects

SSS Total RTQ Total AISS Total Non-Gambler N = 5 M = 14.40

SD=6.02 M = 46.40 SD= 10.31

M = 49.40 SD=7.50

No Problems N=23 M=18.68 SD=8.16

M=50.17 SD=8.86

M=52.18 SD=7.97

SomeProblems N=24 M=21.91 SD = 4.53

M=57.88 SD = 10.55

M=57.83 SD = 6.40

Probable Pathological

N=11 M=23.64 SD = 6.42

M=64.09 SD = 9.50

M=58.91 SD = 7.09

Normative Means

M = 21.6* SD=5.7 (Zuckerman, 1978)

M = 59.42 SD= 11.33 (Knowles, 1976)

M = 45.89 (adult) M=54.52(adol) (Arnett, 1994)

Some problems = 1-4 on the South Oaks Gambling Screen Probable Pathological = ≥5 on the South Oaks Gambling Screen *For Males. (For females M=19.6; SD=6.6)

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Means & Standard Deviations for SSS, RTQ, & AISS

Scales across the SOGS for Females

Females SSS Total RTQ Total AISS Total Non-Gambler N =3 M = 11.33

SD = 6.03 M = 43.00 SD = 9.85

M = 49.00 SD = 3.46

No Problems N = 16 M = 18.80 SD=8.92

M = 50.94 SD=8.47

M =51.53 SD=9.09

Some Problems N =13 M = 19.54 SD=3.71

M = 53.85 SD=10.61

M = 55.00 SD=5.02

Probable Pathological

N = 1 M = 14.00 SD = *

M = 49.00 SD = *

M = 48.00 SD = *

Normative Means M = 19.6 SD=6.6 (Zuckerman, 1978)

M = 58.18 SD= 12.11 (Knowles, 1976)

M = 45.89 (adult)** M=54.52(adol)** (Arnett, 1994)

*Only one Probable Pathological Female Gambler Some problems = 1-4 on the South Oaks Gambling Screen Probable Pathological = ≥ 5 on the South Oaks Gambling Screen **Means for Males & Females combined

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Means & Standard Deviations for SSS, RTQ, & ATSS Scales across the SOGS for Males

Males SSS Total RTQ Total AISS Total Non-Gambler N 2 M = 19.00

SD=1.41 M = 51.50 SD=12.02

M = 50.00 SD=14.14

No Problems N 7 M = 18.43 SD=6.85

M = 48.43 SD=10.18

M = 53.57 SD=5.13

Some Problems N=11 M=25.00 SD = 3.62

M=62.64 SD = 8.64

M=61.18 SD = 6.43

Probable Pathological

N = 10 M = 24.60 SD=5.87

M = 65.60 SD=8.51

M = 60.00 SD=6.43

Normative Means M =2 1.6 SD = 5.7 (Zuckennan, 1978)

M = 60.01 SD = 10.73 (Knowles, 1976)

M = 45.89 (adult)** M = 54.52 (adol)** (Amett, 1994)

Some problems = 1 - 4 on the South Oaks Gambling Screen Probable Pathological = ≥5 on the South Oaks Gambling Screen **Means for Males & Females combined

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Cor

rela

tions

for S

OG

S, S

SS, R

TQ, &

AIS

S Sc

ales

& S

ubsc

ales

R

TQ

Tota

l Th

rill

Seek

ing

Expe

rienc

e Se

ek

Dis

inhi

bitio

n B

ored

om

SSS

Tota

l N

ovel

ty

In

tens

ity

AISS

To

tal

SOG

S

RTQ

To

tal

1.00

Thril

l Se

ekin

g 0.

51**

* 1.

00

Expe

rienc

e Se

ekin

g 0.

32*

0.47

***

1.00

Dis

inhi

bitio

n 0.

45**

* 0.

47**

* 0.

28*

1.00

B

ored

om

0.29

* 0.

17

0.07

0.

51**

* 1.

00

SS

S To

tal

0.57

***

0.78

***

0.63

***

0.80

***

0.60

***

1.00

Nov

elty

0.

42**

0.

44**

* 0.

54**

* 0.

39**

0.

28*

0.58

***

1.00

Inte

nsity

0.

49**

* 0.

62**

* 0.

38**

0.

49**

* 0.

10

0.58

***

0.37

**

1.00

AI

SS T

otal

0.

55**

* 0.

65**

* 0.

54**

* 0.

53**

* 0.

23

0.70

***

0.78

***

0.86

***

1.00

SOG

S 0.

48**

* 0.

37**

0.

046

0.19

0.

15

0.29

* 0.

19

0.38

**

0.36

**

1.00

* =

P <

.05

RTQ

Tot

al =

Ris

k Ta

king

Que

stio

nnai

re

** =

P <

.01

SSS

Tota

l = S

ensa

tion

Seek

ing

Scal

e (F

orm

V)

***=

P <

.001

AI

SS T

otal

= A

rnet

t Inv

ento

ry o

f Sen

satio

n Se

ekin

g

SO

GS

= So

uth

Oak

s G

ambl

ing

Scre

en

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Means & Standard Deviations for Dissociative Scales and Total across the SOGS for all Subjects

SOGS Trance Different Person

Blackout Lose Time Outside Self Dissociative Total

Problems N =23 M = 0.36 SD = 0.66

M = 0.45 SD = 0.67

M = 0.09 SD = 0.29

M = 0.82 SD = 0.85

M = 0.27 SD = 0.63

M = 2.00 SD = 2.39

Some Problems

N=24 M=0.71 SD = 0.95

M=0.92 SD = 0.78

M=0.00 SD = 0.00

M= 1.29 SD = 1.08

M=0.58 SD = 0.83

M=3.50 SD = 2.41

Probable Pathological

N=11 M=1.82 SD = 0.87

M=1.54 SD = 1.21

M=0.l8 SD = 0.60

M=2.00 SD = 0.89

M=0.82 SD = 0.87

M=6.36 SD =3.17

SOGS = South Oaks Gambling Screen Dissociative Questions (While Gambling):

Trance = Do you go into a trance-like state? Different Person = Do you feel like a different person? Blackout = Do you experience blackouts? Lose Time = Do you lose track of time? Outside of Self = Do you feel as though you are “outside yourself”, or “watching yourself”?

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Summary of Results Gambling Involvement • Based on the gambling activities questionnaire: of the 63 subjects 58 gamble (28 males

& 30 females)

• Based on the SOGS categorization:

Non Gambler (8%) (gambling activities questionnaire) No Problems (36.5%) Some Problems (3 8%) Probable Pathological (17.5%)

Risk Taking • All Risk Taking measures positively correlate with the degree of gambling involvement

as categorized by the SOGS • The Risk Taking Questionnaire (RTQ) is the most highly correlated with the South Oaks

Gambling Screen (SOGS) for this age population (r = .48 for all subjects) Much more so for males, indicating that gambling and risk taking are predominantly male oriented (r = .58 for males and r = .10 for females)

• ANOVA’s: Significant Results:

AISS Total - significant increases across the SOGS for all subjects and males AISS Intensity Subscale - significant increases across the SOGS for all subjects

SSS Thrill Seeking- significant increases across the SOGS for all subjects, males and females

RTQ Total - significant increases across the SOGS for all subjects and males Our scores are lower than the norms for the Non Gambler and the No Problem groups on all three risk taking measures, but as predicted, the Some Problem & Probable Pathological Gambler groups score higher

The Dissociative Scale • “Losing Time” was most prevalent for all respondents • Total Dissociative score increases with degree of gambling involvement with probable

pathological gamblers having the highest total score

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• Dissociative Total - significant across the SOGS for all subjects and males • Fits Jacobs’ General Theory of Addiction