Abstract
The association between personality and gambling has been explored previously. However, few studies are based on representative populations. This study aimed at examining the association between risk gambling and personality in a representative Swedish population. A random Swedish sample (N = 19,530) was screened for risk gambling using the Lie/Bet questionnaire. The study sample (N = 257) consisted of those screening positive on Lie/Bet and completing a postal questionnaire about gambling and personality (measured with the NODS–PERC and the HP5i respectively). Risk gambling was positively correlated with Negative Affectivity (a facet of Neuroticism) and Impulsivity (an inversely related facet of Conscientiousness), but all associations were weak. When taking age and gender into account, there were no differences in personality across game preference groups, though preferred game correlated with level of risk gambling. Risk gamblers scored lower than the population norm data with respect to Negative Affectivity, but risk gambling men scored higher on Impulsivity. The association between risk gambling and personality found in previous studies was corroborated in this study using a representative sample. We conclude that risk and problem gamblers should not be treated as a homogeneous group, and prevention and treatment interventions should be adapted according to differences in personality, preferred type of game and the risk potential of the games.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Since data are on ordinal level Spearman’s correlations and Spearman’s partial correlations were conducted. Only small differences were found, and no differences in significance, and are therefore not reported.
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fourth edition, text revision. Text (vol. Washington). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.
American Psychiatric Association. (2013a). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). American Journal of Psychiatry. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.
American Psychiatric Association. (2013b). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-5TM (5th ed.). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-5TM (5th ed.).
Bagby, R. M., Vachon, D. D., Bulmash, E. L., Toneatto, T., Quilty, L. C., & Costa, P. T. (2007). Pathological gambling and the five-factor model of personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 43(4), 873–880. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2007.02.011.
Blaszczynski, A., & Nower, L. (2002). A pathways model of problem and pathological gambling. Addiction (Abingdon, England), 97(5), 487–499. doi:10.1046/j.1360-0443.2002.00015.x.
Boman, U., Engdahl, B., Gustafsson, N.-K., Hradilova Selin, K., & Ramstedt, M. (2006). Alkoholkonsumtionen i Sverige fram till år 2005. Stockholm. Retrieved from http://su.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:513943.
Cloninger, C. R., Svrakic, D. M., & Przybeck, T. R. (1993). A psychobiological model of temperament and character. Archives of General Psychiatry, 50(12), 975–90. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8250684.
Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) professional manual. Odessa, Florida: Psychological Assesment Resourses, Inc.
Eysenck, H.-J. (1990). Biological dimensions of personality. In Handbook of personality: Theory and research (Vol. 16, pp. 244–276).
Feingold, A. (1994). Gender differences in personality: A meta-analysis. Psychological bullentin, 116 (3), 429–456.
Forbush, K. T., Shaw, M., Graeber, M. a, Hovick, L., Meyer, V. J., Moser, D. J., … Black, D. W. (2008). Neuropsychological characteristics and personality traits in pathological gambling. CNS Spectrums, 13(4), 306–15. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18408650.
Fortune, E. E., & Goodie, A. S. (2010). The relationship between pathological gambling and sensation seeking: the role of subscale scores. Journal of Gambling Studies/Co-Sponsored by the National Council on Problem Gambling and Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming, 26, 331–346. doi:10.1007/s10899-009-9162-8.
Gore, W. L., & Widiger, T. A. (2013). The DSM-5 dimensional trait model and five-factor models of general personality. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 122(3), 816–821. doi:10.1037/a0032822.
Gustavsson, J. P., Eriksson, A.-K., Hilding, A., Gunnarsson, M., & Ostensson, C.-G. (2008). Measurement invariance of personality traits from a five-factor model perspective: multi-group confirmatory factor analyses of the HP5 inventory. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 49, 459–467. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9450.2008.00654.x.
Gustavsson, J. P., Jönsson, E. G., Linder, J., & Weinryb, R. M. (2003). The HP5 inventory: definition and assessment of five health-relevant personality traits from a five-factor model perspective. Personality and Individual Differences,. doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(02)00142-3.
Gustavsson, J. P., Weinryb, R. M., Göransson, S., Pedersen, N. L., & Åsberg, M. (1997). Stability and predictive ability of personality traits across 9 years. Personality and Individual Differences,. doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(96)00268-1.
Johansson, A., Grant, J. E., Kim, S. W., Odlaug, B. L., & Götestam, K. G. (2009). Risk factors for problematic gambling: a critical literature review. Journal of Gambling Studies/Co-Sponsored by the National Council on Problem Gambling and Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming, 25(1), 67–92. doi:10.1007/s10899-008-9088-6.
Johnson, E. E., Hamer, R., Nora, R. M., Tan, B., Eisenstein, N., & Engelhart, C. (1997). The Lie/Bet Questionnaire for screening pathological gamblers. Psychological Reports, 80, 83–88. doi:10.2466/pr0.1998.83.3f.1219.
Maclaren, V. V., Fugelsang, J. A., Harrigan, K. A., & Dixon, M. J. (2011). The personality of pathological gamblers: A meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 31(6), 1057–1067. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2011.02.002.
Marcus, B., & Schütz, A. (2005). Who are the people reluctant to participate in research? Personality correlates of four different types of nonresponse as inferred from self- and observer ratings. Journal of Personality, 73(4), 959–984. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.2005.00335.x.
McDaniel, S. R., & Zuckerman, M. (2003). The relationship of impulsive sensation seeking and gender to interest and participation in gambling activities. Personality and Individual Differences, 35(6), 1385–1400. doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(02)00357-4.
Meyer, G., Fiebig, M., Häfeli, J., & Mörsen, C. (2011). Development of an assessment tool to evaluate the risk potential of different gambling types. International Gambling Studies, 11(2), 221–236. doi:10.1080/14459795.2011.584890.
Mishra, S., Lalumière, M. L., & Williams, R. J. (2010). Gambling as a form of risk-taking: Individual differences in personality, risk-accepting attitudes, and behavioral preferences for risk. Personality and Individual Differences, 49(6), 616–621. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2010.05.032.
Myrseth, H., Pallesen, S., Molde, H., Johnsen, B. H., & Lorvik, I. M. (2009). Personality factors as predictors of pathological gambling. Personality and Individual Differences, 47(8), 933–937. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2009.07.018.
Swedish National Institute of Public Health. (2010). Spel om pengar och spelproblem i Sverige 2008/2009. Östersund: Statens Folkhälsoinstitut.
Volberg, R. A., Abbott, M. W., Rönnberg, S., & Munck, I. M. (2001). Prevalence and risks of pathological gambling in Sweden. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 104, 250–256.
Walther, B., Morgenstern, M., & Hanewinkel, R. (2012). Co-occurrence of addictive behaviours: Personality factors related to substance use, gambling and computer gaming. European Addiction Research, 18(4), 167–174. doi:10.1159/000335662.
Welte, J. W., Barnes, G. M., Wieczorek, W. F., Tidwell, M.-C. O., & Parker, J. C. (2004). Risk factors for pathological gambling. Addictive Behaviors, 29, 323–335. doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2003.08.007.
Zuckerman, M., Kuhlman, D. M., Joireman, J., & Teta, P. (1993). A comparison of three structural models for personality: The big three, the big five, and the alternative five. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65(4), 757–768. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.65.4.757.
Acknowledgments
The study was funded by Svenska Spel. We declare no conflict of interest. We are grateful for valuable comments on the manuscript by professor Jan Blomqvist.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sundqvist, K., Wennberg, P. Risk Gambling and Personality: Results from a Representative Swedish Sample. J Gambl Stud 31, 1287–1295 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-014-9473-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-014-9473-2