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Chinese Beliefs in Luck are Linked to Gambling Problems via Strengthened Cognitive Biases: A Mediation Test

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Abstract

Problematic patterns of gambling and their harms are known to have culturally specific expressions. For ethnic Chinese people, patterns of superstitious belief in this community appear to be linked to the elevated rates of gambling-related harms; however, little is known about the mediating psychological mechanisms. To address this issue, we surveyed 333 Chinese gamblers residing internationally and used a mediation analysis to explore how gambling-related cognitive biases, gambling frequency and variety of gambling forms (‘scope’) mediate the association between beliefs in luck and gambling problems. We found that cognitive biases and scope were significant mediators of this link but that the former is a stronger mediator than the latter. The mediating erroneous beliefs were not specific to any particular type of cognitive bias. These results suggest that Chinese beliefs in luck are expressed as gambling cognitive biases that increase the likelihood of gambling problems, and that biases that promote gambling (and its harms) are best understood within their socio-cultural context.

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Funding

This study was completed as part of a doctoral thesis and no external sources of funding were sort.

Author’s Contribution

MSML and RDR designed the study, wrote the protocol and conducted literature searches. MSML organized the data collection and conducted the statistical analysis. MSML and RDR wrote the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, 9 Arts Link, Singapore, 117570, Singapore

    Matthew S. M. Lim

  2. School of Psychology, Bangor University, Bangor, UK

    Robert D. Rogers

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  1. Matthew S. M. Lim
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Correspondence to Matthew S. M. Lim.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

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Lim, M.S.M., Rogers, R.D. Chinese Beliefs in Luck are Linked to Gambling Problems via Strengthened Cognitive Biases: A Mediation Test. J Gambl Stud 33, 1325–1336 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-017-9690-6

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