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Association of Near-Miss with Two Erroneous Gambling Cognitions and Betting Intention: Evidence from Nigerian Adolescents

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Abstract

Evidences show increase of positive attitudes of Nigerian adolescents towards gambling in the past decade. Nigerian adolescents have been shown to spend significant part of their academic time and resources on Soccer bets. This behaviour could act as a predisposing factor for poor academic performances and problem gambling at adulthood. The present study drew from the cognitive distortion model to examine the mediational role of near-miss in the erroneous cognition-betting intention association through a survey study design. Male adolescents (N = 237; Mean age = 17.37 years; SD = 4.13) of public schools in Nigeria who engage in Soccer betting took part in the study. They completed self-report measures of erroneous cognition, near-miss and betting intention. Results revealed that interpretative bias was not associated with near-miss while it was positively associated with betting intention. Illusion of control was positively associated with near-miss and betting intention. Near-miss was positively associated with betting intention and mediated the associations between interpretative bias and betting intention (negative mediation) and illusion of control, and betting intention (positive mediation). The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

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Fig. 1
Fig. 2

taken from the first regression whereas the weighted beta values taken from the second regression are pointing to betting intention

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria

    Lawrence O. Amazue, Aaron A. Agbo & Mildred C. Ojiaku

  2. Social Sciences and Humanities Unit, Federal Polytechnic of Oil and Gas, Bonny Island, Nigeria

    Larry O. Awo

  3. Department of Educational Foundations and Counselling, Imo State University, Owerri, Nigeria

    Catherine N. Ekwe

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  1. Lawrence O. Amazue
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Contributions

Conceptualization: (LOA and LOA); Methodology: LOA, LOA and AAA); Formal analysis and investigation: (AAA, LOA, CNE and MCO); Writing-original draft preparation: (LOA); Writing—review and editing: (LOA, AAA, MCO and CNE).

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Correspondence to Larry O. Awo.

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Amazue, L.O., Awo, L.O., Agbo, A.A. et al. Association of Near-Miss with Two Erroneous Gambling Cognitions and Betting Intention: Evidence from Nigerian Adolescents. J Gambl Stud 37, 837–852 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-020-09994-7

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