Understanding Anticipated Motives for Treatment for Behavioural Addictions

Overview

Little is known about what those who engage in gambling and sexual behaviours, such as pornography use, look for as warning signs in themselves that they need treatment in the future. As a part of a larger effort funded by the International Center for Responsible Gaming, we surveyed a largely non-problematic sample of adults in the United States in March 2022, including a weighted, nationally representative sample of adults (N = 2,500) and an over-sample of adults who have recently bet on sports (N = 1,500). Alongside a variety of measures of gambling behaviour, motives, and problems, we assessed factors that might lead a non-problematic gambler to seek help for gambling in the future. Specifically, we investigated what reasons motivate individuals to seek professional help in reducing their gambling behaviours if problems occur (e.g., “you felt guilty after gambling” and “How much money would you need to lose to indicate that you had a gambling problem?”). Similarly, we assessed factors that might lead someone to seek treatment for compulsive sexual behaviour, such as feeling guilty after engaging in this behaviour. We plan to use multiple statistical methods to analyse these responses alongside motives to use and other relevant factors.

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This work is funded by the Kindbridge Research Institute and the International Center for Responsible Gaming through grants awarded to Joshua Grubbs, Ph.D. and Shane Kraus, Ph.D.