Abstract
Several risk factors have been related to the onset and maintenance of gambling disorder (GD). The aim of this study was to explore the differences in emotion dysregulation, impulsivity, cognitive distortions, and attentional bias between online and land-based gamblers. The sample consisted of 88 treatment-seeking patients from the Behavioral Addictions Unit at the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona (Spain). Patients were divided into two groups by considering their main type of gambling, i.e., online (n = 26) and land-based gambling (n = 62). Online gamblers were younger, more often employed, with a higher educational level than land-based gamblers. Regarding the rest of the variables, statistically significant differences were only found in Positive Urgency, one of the UPPS-P subscales, in which the land-based gambling group scored higher than the online gambling group. In this exploratory study, individuals with online and land-based GD phenotypes did not differ either in difficulties in emotion regulation or in attentional and cognitive biases. However, land-based GD patients showed a higher tendency to succumb to strong impulses under the influence of positive emotions. These preliminary findings warrant the need to continue investigating GD phenotypes in larger patient samples.
Highlights
In recent years, increased internet availability has brought changes in the way people gamble
The whole sample consisted of 88 treatment-seeking patients diagnosed with gambling disorder (GD) according to DSM-5 criteria [61], who were, for the first time, attended to at the Behavioral
Our results seem to indicate no differences between online and land-based gamblers, except for some socio-demographic variables and positive urgency. This could indicate the existence of transdiagnostic processes between different GD phenotypes, taking into account the relationship between the main measures included in the current study. If these results were replicated in future research, Third Wave Cognitive Behavioral Therapies could be the treatment of choice, especially for those GD patients with a higher level of emotion dysregulation, impulsivity, and strong cognitive and attentional biases [86,87,88]
Summary
In recent years, increased internet availability has brought changes in the way people gamble. Online gamblers are more likely male, younger, non-Caucasian, single, well-educated, and employed than land-based ones [5,6,7,8]. People who are involved in online gambling are more likely to be at risk of gambling, gamble more frequently, and present more severe gambling problems as well as a higher co-occurrence with other risky behaviors [9,10,11]. These findings are not always consistent in the literature. Some authors [12,13] reported that land-based gamblers were more often employed than online gamblers, while JimenezMurcia et al [13] found significant differences in education, socio-economic status, and the
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