The Blurred Future of Adolescent Gamblers: Impulsivity, Time Horizon, and Emotional Distress

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the interplay of functional and dysfunctional impulsivity, delay discounting, time perspective, and emotional negative states on gambling severity in Italian adolescents. A second aim of the study was to analyze the developmental trajectories of gambling involvement, functional and dysfunctional impulsivity, delay discounting, consideration of future consequences, and negative affectivity in a cross-sectional perspective. One thousand and ten Italian adolescents aging between 12 and 19 years were administered the South Oaks Gambling Screen Revised for Adolescents (SOGS-RA), the Functional and Dysfunctional Impulsivity Scale (FDIS), the Monetary Choice Questionnaire (MCQ), the Consideration of Future Consequences Scale (CFC-14), and the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21). Data analyses were conducted using correlational analysis, Chi-square test, analysis of variance, and hierarchical regression analysis. Results indicated that, relative to non-gamblers and non-problem gamblers, at-risk and problem gamblers showed higher levels of impulsivity, steeper delay discounting, shorter time horizon, and reported experiencing significantly higher levels of depression, anxiety, and stress. Results of hierarchical regression analysis, with SOGS-RA scores as the dependent variable, and gender, age, FDIS, MCQ, CFC-14, and DASS-21 scores as independent variables, indicated that, along with gender and age, low scores of future orientation and high scores of dysfunctional impulsivity, depression, anxiety, present orientation, and delay discounting significantly predicted gambling severity. These findings provide further evidence that the higher the gambling involvement, the greater the tendency to devalue delayed rewards and to focus on the immediate consequences of one's behavior. Interestingly, for the first time these results reveal an association between gambling severity and both dysfunctional impulsivity and negative affective states across adolescence. Finally, results of cross-sectional analyses suggest that gambling severity contributes more than age in shaping the developmental trajectories of functional and dysfunctional impulsivity, delay discounting, time perspective, and negative affective states.