Affect -regulation expectancies among gambler

Three studies examined affect-regulation gambling expectancies and how these expectancies relate to gambling cognitions and behaviour. In Study 1, 513 undergraduate students with gambling experience completed the Gambling Expectancies Questionnaire (GEQ). A principal components analysis successfully replicated the two-factor structure obtained by the authors of the scale. Factor scores were used to subtype participants as: Reward Expectancy Gamblers (Reward EGs)---having strong expectations that gambling augments positive mood; Relief Expectancy Gamblers (Relief EGs)---having strong expectations that gambling relieves negative affect; and Non-Expectancy Gamblers (Non-EGs)---having neither strong expectation. Study 2 examined whether the three subtypes of gamblers differed in degree of semantic activation of gambling concepts following exposure to negative and positive affect primes. A primed Stroop task was administered to 66 participants from Study 1 to assess colour-naming latencies of gambling and non-gambling words following exposure to positive and negative affect primes. Gambling-schema activation did not differ across gambler subtypes for the two types of affect primes. Study 3 examined whether gambling behaviour differed across subtypes following priming for either "relief" or "reward" affect-regulation expectancies with the Scrambled Sentence Test. After completing the priming task, participants (N = 132) were given the opportunity to bet on a high-low card game with real money to measure levels of gambling behaviour. The hypothesized Prime type X GEQ subtype interaction was not significant. When a more stringent set of criteria for GEQ subtyping was imposed, the "purified" sub-sample (n = 54) resulted in the hypothesized statistically significant Prime type X GEQ subtype interaction. Relief EGs gambled more after being primed with the construct "relief of negative emotions" compared to after being primed with the construct "augmentation of positive emotion." Planned orthogonal contrasts showed a significant increase in number of bets when prime type corresponded to GEQ subtype. The results suggest the need for components in gambling treatment programs that address clients' specific difficulties in regulating their emotions, particularly when they have strong expectancies that gambling can provide a specific desirable emotional outcome.