Abstract
Few studies have focused on the specific subtype of gamblers who present lotteries as their main gambling problem. This study aimed to explore empirical subgroups of treatment-seeking patients who endorsed lotteries as their preferred form of gambling. The sample included n = 342 patients who were included in two-step cluster analysis procedures using sociodemographic and clinical measures as indicator variables. Three clusters were identified: (a) Cluster 1 (labeled as “severely impaired young men”, n = 108, 31.6%) included mainly single young men that were employed, with short disorder duration, high gambling severity and high levels of comorbid psychopathology; (b) Cluster 2 (labeled as “moderate severity and highly functional”, n = 120, 35.1%) included patients that were middle-aged, highly educated, married, employed, with high socioeconomic position indexes and functional personality traits; and (c) Cluster 3 (labeled as “older, moderately impaired patients”, n = 114, 33.3%) included older patients, the highest percentage of separated or divorced subjects, high unemployment, low socioeconomic status and low levels of education. This study indicates that gambling disorder profiles characterized by lotteries as a preferred form of gambling constitute a heterogeneous group in which distinct, empirically based phenotypes can be identified. These factors should be taken into account for the development of reliable assessment instruments and for the design of effective prevention and treatment programs.
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Acknowledgements
We thank CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya for institutional support. This manuscript and research was supported by grants from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (PSI2015-68701-R), Ministerio de Sanidad, Servicios Sociales e Igualdad (PR338/17), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) (PI17/01167) and co-funded by FEDER funds/European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), a way to build Europe. CIBERObn and CIBERSAM are both initiatives of ISCIII. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. This research was supported by PNSD (PR338/17-MSSSI, 2017I067 and 2019I47) grants. GMB is supported by a predoctoral AGAUR Grant (2018 FI_B2 00174), grant co-funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) “ESF”, investing in your future. With the support of the Secretariat for Universities and Research of the Ministry of Business and Knowledge of the Government of Catalonia. TMM, CVA and MLM are supported by a predoctoral Grant of the Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (FPU16/02087; FPU16/01453; FPU15/02911).
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Granero, R., León-Vargas, D., Martín-Romera, V. et al. Clustering Gambling Disorder Patients with Lotteries as a Preferred Form of Gambling. J Gambl Stud 36, 999–1011 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-020-09940-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-020-09940-7