Gambling motivation and involvement: A review of social

Involvement models
Involvement models provide schemes for explaining varying degrees of participation
in gambling. The most comprehensive of such models integrate genetic, biological,
psychological, economic, social, societal, and cultural factors. The models typically
do not present any new facts regarding gambling behavior. They aspire to integrate
facts and knowledge from previous research. Typically, the models are outlined in
figures where factors appear in boxes, with lines and arrows between these indicting
causal or other connections.
Brief presentations of some representative examples of comprehensive involvement
models follow here. This will hopefully give the reader an idea of their rationales
and design. The order in which the models are presented roughly reflects the
extent to which they include social and cultural factors: from few such factors to
mostly such factors.
“Pathway model of problem and pathological gambling” [12, 418]. This is probably
the most well-known comprehensive model for problem gambling. The model
identifies three distinct subgroups of problem gamblers: “behaviorally conditioned”,
“emotionally vulnerable”, and “antisocial impulsivists” [418]. These subgroups
of gamblers develop problems in distinctive ways, which are outlined in specific
sub-models and in an integrated model. The integrated model contains about
25 factors, most of which are psychological and biological – such as impulsivity,
depression, subjective excitement, substance abuse, and irrational beliefs. There are
also two explicit socio-cultural “ecological factors” – “increased availability” and
“increased accessibility” – which at a basic level causally influence the other factors.
The category “classical and operant conditioning” may include social factors present
in gambling venues.
“Impulsivity and pathological gambling: A descriptive model” [419]. This model
focuses on dysfunctional impulsivity as being the cause of some persons’ gambling
problems. It assumes the presence of a number of predisposing psycho-biological
factors and a cyclical process involving impulsivity, gambling behavior, subjective
and behavioral reinforcement, affective interpretation, and cognitions. The reinforcing
factors include social rewards gained in gambling environments.
“Cognitive-behavioral model of problem gambling: A biopsychosocial perspective”
[420, 421]. The model contains about 25 mostly biological and psychological
factors, of which “involvement in gambling subculture” is clearly socio-cultural. A
few other factors can be assumed to have socio-cultural dimensions, such as “gambling
attitudes” and “early gambling history”.
60 G A M B L I N G M O T I VAT I O N A N D I N V O LV E M E N T