Measuring the Contingencies Maintaining Gambling Behavior in a Sample of Non, Light, and Heavy Smokers

Measuring the Contingencies Maintaining Gambling Behavior in a Sample of Non, Light, and Heavy Smokers

Previous research suggests that there is a relationship between smoking and problem/pathological gambling. Research has also linked gambling problems to the contingency of escape. The present study had 45 nonsmokers, 49 light smokers, and 29 heavy smokers from the United States complete the South Oaks Gambling Screen, Problem Gambling Severity Index, and Gambling Functional Assessment – Revised. Results showed that level of smoking was related to the display of gambling problems, but the relationship was not linear. Endorsing gambling as an escape varied significantly as a function of smoking level, but gambling for positive reinforcement did not. Lastly, when only data from the smokers were analyzed, endorsing gambling as an escape, but not gambling for positive reinforcement, was a significant predictor of gambling problems. These results suggest that smoking level may not always be predictive of potential gambling problems, that smoking is related to the same factor (endorsing gambling as an escape) that is strongly related to pathological gambling, and that the same predictors of problem/pathological gambling found in samples of predominantly nonsmokers also predict problem/ pathological gambling in smokers.