[Alexithymia and Pathological Gambling: The Mediating Role of Difficulties in Emotion Regulation]

The main objective was to determine the prediction level of alexithymia and difficulties in emotion regulation on pathological gambling. Secondly, this study aimed to examine the mediating role of difficulties in emotion regulation on the relationship between alexithymia and pathological gambling.

The sample was consisted of 246 male gamblers. The average age was 33.30 with a standard deviation of 11.62. In addition to socio-demographic form, The South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS), Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) were used to collect data.

Regression analyses revealed that amount of money bet, total score of TAS-20 and DERS significantly predicted pathological gambling. In addition to these, difficulties in emotion regulation have a partial mediator role in the relationship between alexithymia and pathological gambling.

It is argued that individuals high in alexithymia become prone to addiction behavior through emotion dysregulation. In addition to the alexithymia level, difficulties in emotion regulation are seen to play an important role in pathological gambling. In this context, this study contributes to the relevant literature by discussing alexithymia, emotion regulation and pathological gambling together.