Abstract
Pathological gambling has been characterised by DSM-III-R and DSM-IV as a disorder of impulse control with a proportion of gamblers identified as meeting criteria for a co-morbid diagnosis of Antisocial Personality Disorder. To date, empirical evidence in support of the notion that pathological gamblers as a group manifest elevated traits of impulsivity remains equivocal. Principal components analysis was used to investigate relationships between the constructs of impulsivity, psychopathy, DSM-III-R criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder, psychological distress, criminal offending behavior and a range of other common psychological measures employed with pathological gamblers. The sample comprised 115 pathological gamblers, 80 consecutive gamblers seeking treatment from a general hospital psychiatric inpatient behavior therapy unit, and 35 volunteer Gamblers Anonymous attenders. Four primary factors were determined: psychological distress, sensation seeking, crime and liveliness, and impulsive-antisocial. Results suggest that pathological gambling consists of a number of discrete and reproducible factorial structures. The impulsive antisocial factor was found to be associated with gambling behavior and indices of poor psychosocial functioning.
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We would like to acknowledge the valuable contribution made by the anonymous reviewers and the Editor of theJournal of Gambling Studies in the development of this manuscript.
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Steel, Z., Blaszczynski, A. The factorial structure of pathological gambling. J Gambling Stud 12, 3–20 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01533186
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01533186