Self-determination and Problem Gambling among College Students

The present research examined the relationship between self-determination and problem gambling among college students in two studies exploring associations between controlled and autonomy orientations and various indices of problem gambling. Consistent results for controlled orientation within and across studies revealed that students who feel less freedom of choice and base behaviors on contingencies, pressures, and characteristics of the environment (as indicated by higher scores on controlled orientation) gamble more frequently, spend more money gambling, have more negative gambling consequences, and are more likely to meet clinical or subclinical criteria for disordered gambling, even after accounting for other risk factors. Results for autonomy orientation were less consistent. In Study 1, autonomy was not reliably related to gambling, whereas findings from Study 2 consistently supported the predicted negative relationship between autonomy and problem gambling. Mediation analyses revealed that associations between controlled and autonomy orientations and negative gambling consequences were largely mediated by gambling behavior. As a whole, results strongly support the utility of examining problem gambling from a self-determination perspective.