Age in Pathological Gambling: Correlations with Personality and Psychiatric Comorbidity

Abstract

Aims over the past few years Gambling has significantly increased in Italy, being considered as an acceptable form of entertainment and leisure activity. Our aim is to study personality traits and the psychiatric comorbidity of gamblers in relation to the different age and the onset of gambling. Methods 71 patients affected by Pathological Gambling (PG), who accessed in our service (A. Gemelli Hospital, Rome- Italy), underwent the following assessment tests: - Addiction Severity Index (ASI) ; - Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised (TCI-R) to study personality traits; - MINI-International Neuropsychiatric Interview for psychiatric comorbidity. Results we found that younger gamblers have higher TCI-R scores in the subscales NS1 (exploratory excitability)(p 45 years) prefer passive games (p=0,007) and usually don't play online games (p=0,02). Conclusions gamblers are a heterogeneous population with regard to personality traits, psychiatric comorbidity, familiarity and type of games played. Paying attention to the gamblers' age and the age of onset of PG could be useful to a greater understanding of the individual differences of patients, and to a deeper knowledge of their disorder.