Abstract
Illegal behaviors have been reported in gambling disorder (GD) as well as in individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Likewise, ADHD symptomatology has been observed in patients with GD. We aimed to examine the association between ADHD symptomatology, personality traits and impulsivity in a sample of treatment-seeking patients with GD (n = 204) with and without a criminal report. The subjects were evaluated before starting treatment using different self-administered instruments. Among those who had committed an illegal act, two groups were made depending on whether or not the criminal conduct had legal repercussions (n = 64 without legal consequences; n = 32 with legal consequences). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to explore the interrelationships between personality traits, ADHD, impulsivity levels, gambling-related criminal behavior and other gambling-related factors. Greater ADHD symptomatology was found in patients with reported illegal behaviors, as well as higher impulsivity levels. Those individuals who presented legal consequences due to the criminal behavior showed higher impulsivity levels and harm avoidance and lower persistence and cooperativeness. Our findings uphold that patients with GD and ADHD symptomatology have greater impulsivity and are more vulnerable to committing an illegal act. Therefore, specific harm-prevention interventions and treatment approaches are needed for this population.
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Data Availability
Individuals may inquire with Dr. Jiménez-Murcia regarding availability of the data as there exist ongoing studies using the data. In order to avoid overlapping research efforts, Dr. Jiménez-Murcia will consider requests on a case-by-case basis.
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Funding
Financial support was received through the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (Grant RTI2018-101837-B-100). FIS PI14/00290, FIS PI17/01167 received aid from the Ministerio de Sanidad, Servicios Sociales e Igualdad. The research was also funded by the Delegación del Gobierno para el Plan Nacional sobre Drogas (2017I067 and 2019I47); CIBER Fisiología Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERobn) is an initiative of ISCIII. We thank CERCA Programme / Generalitat de Catalunya for institutional support. Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) "Una manera de hacer Europa"/"A way to build Europe". CVA is supported by a predoctoral grant awarded by the Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (FPU16/01453). GMB was supported by a postdoctoral grant of FUNCIVA.
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FFA received consultancy honoraria from Novo Nordisk and editorial honoraria as EIC from Wiley. The rest of the authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.
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Vintró-Alcaraz, C., Mestre-Bach, G., Granero, R. et al. Identifying Associated Factors for Illegal Acts among Patients with Gambling Disorder and ADHD. J Gambl Stud 38, 1307–1321 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-021-10082-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-021-10082-7