Cue-Reactivity in Poker-Machine Gamblers: State Mindfulness and Cue-Reactive Urge to Gamble

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Behavioral Science
• Addiction Research

Background:

• Problem gambling, particularly with poker machines, leads to severe health, financial, and social issues in Australia.
• Gambling cues are known to trigger gambling urges in individuals with problem gambling, with severity correlating with urge strength.
• The psychological mediators of this cue-reactivity remain under-investigated.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if cue-reactive state mindfulness mediates the link between problem gambling severity and the urge to gamble.
• To examine the psychological mechanisms underlying cue-reactivity in problem gamblers.

Main Methods:

• Seventy adults participated in an online, repeated-measures experiment.
• Participants completed the Problem Gambling Severity Index.
• The urge to gamble and state mindfulness were measured at baseline, after a neutral cue, and after a gambling cue exposure.

Main Results:

• The urge to gamble significantly increased after exposure to a gambling cue compared to a neutral cue, controlling for baseline urge.
• Cue-reactive state mindfulness did not mediate the relationship between problem gambling severity and cue-reactive urge.
• State mindfulness unexpectedly increased after exposure to the gambling cue.

Conclusions:

• The findings do not support state mindfulness as a mediator in the relationship between problem gambling severity and cue-reactive urges.
• The study contributes to understanding cue-reactivity in problem gambling, highlighting an unexpected increase in state mindfulness post-cue exposure.