Types of emotion regulation and their associations with gambling: A cross-sectional study with disordered and non-problem Ecuadorian gamblers.

Abstract

This study was aimed at investigating the role of emotional regulation in regular gambling in a sample of 197 gamblers from Ecuador. With that aim in mind, we explored the associations between gambling cognitions (as measured by the GRCS), cognitive/emotional impulsivity (UPPS-P), emotion regulation (ERQ), and alcohol and drug misuse (Multi-CAGE). For analyses, personality (impulsivity) scores were used as inputs to predict dispositional variables (ERQ and GRCS), and behavioral outputs (MultiCAGE), while controlling for gambling severity. Hypotheses were based on previous works, although the analysis has been improved (using hierarchical linear mixed-effects modelling), and homogenized in covariate control, and decision threshold stringency. Results were as follows: (1) After controlling for relevant covariates, UPPS-P sensation seeking was positively associated with gambling cognitions, whereas positive urgency was positively associated with cognitive biases (interpretative bias, control illusion, and predictive control) but not with other gambling cognitions. (2) Among emotion regulation strategies, reappraisal, but not suppression, was associated with gambling cognitions. (3) Negative urgency was distinctively associated with suppression, but not with reappraisal. And (4), no impulsivity dimensions significantly predicted drug alcohol misuse, although negative urgency fell just below the decision threshold. These results reinforce the importance of emotion regulation processes in the cognitive and behavioral manifestations of gambling. Most importantly, they suggest a dissociation between the role of model-free dysregulation of negative emotions (as measured by UPPS-P negative urgency), as a key contributor to gambling complication and general psychopathology; and the one of strategic emotion regulation, in fueling gambling-related cognitive distortions.