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Living in the Now: Decision-Making and Delay Discounting in Adolescent Gamblers

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Abstract

Several studies examining the relationship of affective decision-making and delay discounting in disordered gambling demonstrated that adult pathological gamblers differ from healthy controls on both reward-related decision tasks. To date no study analyzed the relative contribution of these variables in adolescent gambling. This study was designed to compare affective decision-making and delay discounting in gamblers and nongamblers Italian adolescents, controlling for alcohol consumption. A total of 138 adolescents took part in the research. Two equal-number groups, defined according to the scoring rules for the South Oaks Gambling Screen-Revised for Adolescents, were administered the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), the Monetary Choice Questionnaire (MCQ), and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Zero-order correlations among all variables revealed a moderate negative association between IGT and MCQ scores only in nongamblers group. Results of mixed-model ANOVAs indicated that, compared with nongamblers, adolescent gamblers performed worse on the IGT, showed steeper delay discounting, and scored significantly higher on the AUDIT. Results of logistic regression analysis indicated that IGT, MCQ, and AUDIT scores are all significant predictors of gambling status. This novel finding provides the first evidence of an association among problematic gambling, maladaptive decision-making, and steep delay discounting among adolescents, as already observed in adults.

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Notes

  1. Results of preliminary one-way ANOVAs indicated that at-risk and problem gamblers were similar in terms of their levels of decision-making, delay discounting and alcohol consumption (all ps > .05).

  2. Because the assumption of sphericity was not met (Mauchly’s W = .83, p < .05), the degrees of freedom for tests of within-subjects effects were conservatively adjusted using the Greenhouse–Geisser F test.

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  1. Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples, Viale Ellittico, 31, 81100, Caserta, Italy

    Giovanna Nigro & Marina Cosenza

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  1. Giovanna Nigro
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Nigro, G., Cosenza, M. Living in the Now: Decision-Making and Delay Discounting in Adolescent Gamblers. J Gambl Stud 32, 1191–1202 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-016-9595-9

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