Impulsivity in pathological gamblers

In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5; APA, 2013) Gambling Disorders (GD) is classified under the category of Non Substance Related Disorders. However, although GD has been moved from the Disorders of Impulse Control category (DSM-IV-TR; APA, 2000), consistent clinical evidences support the importance of impulsivity in the onset and maintenance of this disorder (Blanco et al., 2009; Lai et al., 2011; Kräplin et al., 2014). Despite these results, other authors found heterogeneous results (Bonnaire et al., 2013; Grant & Kim, 2003). The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between pathological gambling and impulsivity, comparing two groups of gamblers. A total of 291 gamblers (122 males and 169 females), of average age of 26.00 (SD = 10.43) were recruited in some gambling rooms and at the University of Florence. All participants completed the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS; Lesieur & Blume, 1987; Capitanucci & Carlevaro, 2004) and the Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS-11; Patton et al., 1995; Fossati et al., 2001), which assesses three dimensions of impulsivity: attentional, motor and non-planning impulsiveness. Based on their score on the SOGS, participants were divided in two groups: I) pathological gambler (n = 62), whose SOGS scores was greater than 5; and social gamblers (n = 229), whose SOGS scores was less than 3. In order to investigate whether pathological and social gamblers differ on impulsivity a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was performed. Our findings support the results of previous investigations showing significant differences between pathological and social gamblers on impulsivity dimensions. Specifically, pathological gamblers showed higher levels of attentional, motor and non-planning impulsivity, than social gamblers did. Overall, these results support the existence of a significant association between impulsivity and pathological gambling.