Relationship Between Emotion Regulation Difficulties and Gambling Tendencies of University Students

This study aims to examine the relationship between university students' difficulties regulating emotions and their tendency to gamble.

The population of this cross-sectional and correlational study consisted of 69,000 undergraduate level students studying at three state universities in three different provinces in Turkey between February-September 2022. Based on the calculation using the sampling method of the known population, study data were collected face-to-face from 750 students. The data were collected using three tools: a descriptive information form, the South Oaks Gambling Screening Test (SOGS), and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-Brief Form (DERS-16). Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation and Multiple Linear Regression analysis were used to analyze the relationship among the scales' mean scores.

Of the participating university students, 51.6% were female and 48.4% were male. Of these students, 42% stated that they had gambled at least once in their lives and 25.3% of them were still gambling. The mean DERS score was 38.14±14.37, which indicated a moderate difficulty in emotional regulation, and the mean SOGS score was 5.12±3.18. A positive and significant correlation was found between DERS SOGS (r=0.304, p<0.05). It was determined that university students' tendency to gamble was predicted by the three sub-dimensions of the DERS (Clarity (β=0.258, p=0.001), Purpose (β=0.156, p=0.021) and Non-Acceptance (β=1.768, p=0.001)), being male and gambling status in the family (p<0.05).

Emotional regulation difficulties in university students may play an important role in their gambling tendencies.