Risky Gambling Behaviors: Associations with Mental Health and a History of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).

Problem gambling and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are highly co-morbid and lead to numerous adverse health outcomes. Research demonstrates that greater levels of well-being protect individuals from experiencing ACE-related harms after a history of childhood adversity; however, this relationship has not been examined in the gambling literature. We hypothesized that individuals who experienced ACEs would engage in more problem gambling behaviors. We also hypothesized that individuals who experienced ACEs and reported flourishing mental health would have lower rates of problem gambling than individuals who experienced ACEs but did not report flourishing mental health. We conducted a secondary data analysis of the adult sample in the Well-Being and Experiences (WE) Study. Examining a parent population, parents and caregivers (N = 1000; Mage = 45.2 years; 86.5% female) of adolescents were interviewed on a variety of measures, including their history of ACEs, their gambling behaviors within the past year, and their mental health and well-being. We used multinomial logistic regression analysis to examine the relationship between 15 ACEs and gambling type (i.e., non-gambler, non-problem gambler, at-risk/problem gambler). We used interaction terms between each ACE and mental health to examine the moderating role of flourishing mental health and well-being. ACEs were associated with at-risk/problem gambling supporting hypothesis 1. Contrary to hypothesis 2, overall, flourishing mental health did not moderate the relationship between ACEs and gambling severity except for one ACE. In this study, we were able to gain a better understanding of how different ACEs each contribute to varying levels of gambling severity.

Solitary gambling mediates the risk pathway from anxiety sensitivity to excessive gambling: Evidence from a longitudinal ecological momentary assessment study.

Anxiety and gambling problems co-occur at high rates. Social learning theory (SLT) suggests that people high in anxiety engage in excessive gambling to reduce negative affect. Because anxiety sensitivity (AS) is a vulnerability factor associated with addictive behaviors, it is important to identify mediators in this high-risk pathway. Emerging research shows that social context mediates associations between anxiety vulnerability and addictive behaviors. This literature shows that anxiety-prone people are at increased risk for substance problems because they engage in frequent solitary substance use. Theory would predict a similar pathway to gambling problems, but this remains to be tested. Accordingly, this study aimed to examine solitary gambling as an explanatory variable in the anxiety pathway to gambling problems. We used a longitudinal ecological momentary assessment (EMA) design. After completing baseline measures, young adults (N = 108) were asked to report daily on their gambling behavior over a 30-day period. Bias corrected bootstrapped confidence intervals (CI) supported 1 hypothesized indirect effect from baseline AS (Time 1) to EMA time spent gambling (Time 2) via EMA solitary gambling (Time 2; B = 0.019, 95% CI [0.002, 0.045]). This suggests that emerging adults with high levels of AS at baseline engaged in frequent solitary gambling over the 30-day EMA sampling period, which in turn predicted more time spent gambling over this same time period. Our results show that solitary gambling mediates the relation between anxiety vulnerability and excessive gambling. Understanding how social context relates to excessive gambling can help create interventions to reduce solitary gambling among anxiety-prone individuals. (PsycINFO Database Record

Frequent solitary drinking mediates the associations between negative affect and harmful drinking in emerging adults.

INTRODUCTION: Depression and anxiety are highly comorbid conditions that are associated with harmful drinking. Social learning theory proposes that depressed or anxious individuals learn that drinking can reduce negative affect, which makes them susceptible to harmful drinking. Consistent with theory, evidence suggests that negative affect increases risk for harmful drinking. But, less is known about mediators of negative affect-pathways to harmful drinking. Research has demonstrated that solitary drinking is an underlying mechanism of harmful drinking among emerging adults with high levels of negative affect. However, much of this work is cross-sectional. We conducted a longitudinal study to examine solitary drinking as a key explanatory variable in the negative-affect pathway to harmful drinking. METHODS: Emerging adults (N = 308) completed online self-reports of depression and anxiety at Time 1 (the beginning of their first semester in university), and drinking context and harmful drinking at Time 2 (the end of their first semester of university). RESULTS: Structural equation modeling supported indirect effects from negative affect to harmful drinking via solitary drinking. Specifically, emerging adults with high levels of negative affect at the beginning of their first semester engaged in frequent solitary drinking over the rest of the semester, and subsequently experienced increased harmful drinking (controlling for Time 1 solitary/social drinking and harmful use). Social drinking was not a mediator of this effect. CONCLUSIONS: The findings reveal that solitary drinking uniquely mediated the relation between negative affect and harmful drinking. Reducing solitary drinking might mitigate negative affect-related risk for harmful drinking in emerging adults.

Shame mediates the relationship between depression and addictive behaviours.

BACKGROUND: Alcohol and gambling problems are common in young adults. Self-medication theory states that young adults with depression drink and/or gamble to escape negative emotions. Research shows that depression is a risk factor for drinking/gambling problems, but more work is needed to examine mediators underlying these associations. One potential mediator is shame. Shame is a self-directed emotion that follows a negative life event and is characterized by intense feelings of inferiority, worthlessness, and embarrassment. Depressed individuals are especially susceptible to shame (and associated emotions). Shame has also been implicated in risk for addiction. Accordingly, we predicted that elevated shame would explain why depression is associated with both alcohol and gambling problems. METHODS: A longitudinal design was used to examine this hypothesis. Undergraduates (N = 210) completed self-reports of depression at baseline (Time 1) and then completed self-reports of shame, alcohol misuse, gambling problems one month later (Time 2). RESULTS: Results showed that individuals with elevated depression at Time 1 endorsed high levels of shame at Time 2, which in turn predicted more gambling (ß = .038, 95% CI [.010, .087]) and alcohol problems (ß = .249, 95% CI [.123, .435]) at Time 2. We found that increased levels of shame explained the effects of depression on problem drinking and gambling. CONCLUSIONS: Study findings improve our understanding of the depressive pathway to addiction by providing evidence for shame as a potential mechanism of this pathway. IMPACT: Reducing shame can be a target of clinical interventions for young adults with depression and alcohol/gambling problems.