Unemployment and gambling: exploring differences in attachment, affect dysregulation, dissociation, and impulse dyscontrol and gambling-related cognitive distortions

Introduction: Gambling has become a widespread phenomenon in Italy, with significant public health implications. Research highlights its severe consequences, including financial strain, social disruption, health complications, and an increased risk of suicide, with ramifications extending to the wider economy. Drawing on well-established theoretical models commonly applied to gambling in the scientific literature (i.e., the Comprehensive Model of Addiction and the Gambling Space Model), the present research examines the relationships between adult attachment styles, dissociation, affect dysregulation, impulse dyscontrol, and gambling-related cognitive distortions. It also explores how these factors differ based on gamblers’ employment status, providing a nuanced insight into the psychological mechanisms underlying gambling disorder. It is expected to find higher levels of the aforementioned psychological risk factors in unemployed gamblers. Method: 230 participants (Mage= 35.06 years, SD = 14.777), divided into two subgroups: employed gamblers (n = 118) and unemployed gamblers (n = 112), were involved in the research and completed an online survey including validated self-report measures. Correlational and between-group analyses were conducted to highlight differences between factors and subgroups taken into consideration. Results: Results indicate that affect dysregulation, dissociation, and impulse dyscontrol are strongly associated with gambling-related cognitive distortions, with attachment style also influencing this relationship. Unemployed gamblers exhibit higher rates of insecure attachment and are more susceptible to cognitive distortions and the key risk factors analysed in this study. Conclusions: Findings support the hypothesis that affect dysregulation and attachment insecurity, particularly among unemployed individuals, increase vulnerability to gambling-related cognitive distortions. These results highlight the interplay between psychological vulnerabilities and social conditions in the onset and progression of pathological gambling. Although the cross-sectional design of the studies invites cautious interpretation and encourages further confirmatory research, these findings may have useful practical implications. Clinical interventions should address both emotional and cognitive vulnerabilities and consider occupational instability as a significant risk factor in pathological gambling.