Moderating effect of alexithymia between problem gambling and psychotic experiences in university students.
BMC Psychiatry
; 24(1): 19, 2024 01 03.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38172817
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Most of the young individuals with problem gambling (PG) or psychotic experiences (PEs) are less prone to seek medical help. Therefore, community-based studies investigating the relationship between these entities in non-clinical young people across a continuum of severity are warranted. To this end, the present study proposes to advance knowledge on the mechanisms that potentially underlie the association between PG and PEs, by examining the role of a potential moderator, i.e. alexithymia, in this relationship.METHODS:
A total of 399 participants enrolled in this study (mean age = 21.58 ± 3.20 years) participated in an online cross-sectional survey. The South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS), the Prodromal Questionnaire-Brief (PQ-B), and the Toronto alexithymia scale (TAS-20) were used.RESULTS:
Thirty-three (8.3%) participants had problem-gambling, whereas 13 (3.3%) were probable pathological gamblers. Moderation analysis results adjusted over confounders (age, household crowding index, marital status, personal history of mental disorder, other illegal drug use) showed that the interaction PG by alexithymia (p = .018) was significantly associated with PEs scores. At moderate (Beta = 1.93) and high (Beta = 3.38) levels of alexithymia, more PG was significantly associated with more PEs scores.CONCLUSION:
Findings suggest that GP may have a different impact on PEs depending on the individual's level of alexithymia. As such, both alexithymia and gambling behavior should be considered in the clinical assessment of young people who present with PEs, which can help in implementing more tailored and individualized treatment plans.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Jogo de Azar
Tipo de estudo:
Observational_studies
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Prevalence_studies
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Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Adolescent
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Adult
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Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
BMC Psychiatry
Assunto da revista:
PSIQUIATRIA
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Tunísia