Lamprini G Savvidou1, Ana B Fagundo2, Fernando Fernández-Aranda3, Roser Granero4, Laurence Claes5, Núria Mallorquí-Baqué2, Antonio Verdejo-García6, Howard Steiger7, Mimi Israel7, Laura Moragas1, Amparo Del Pino-Gutiérrez8, Neus Aymamí1, Mónica Gómez-Peña1, Zaida Agüera2, Iris Tolosa-Sola1, Melania La Verde9, Eugenio Aguglia9, José M Menchón10, Susana Jiménez-Murcia11. 1. Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Bellvitge-IDIBELL, Barcelona, Spain. 2. Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Bellvitge-IDIBELL, Barcelona, Spain; Ciber Fisiopatologia Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERobn), Instituto Salud Carlos III, Barcelona, Spain. 3. Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Bellvitge-IDIBELL, Barcelona, Spain; Ciber Fisiopatologia Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERobn), Instituto Salud Carlos III, Barcelona, Spain; Department of Clinical Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Spain. 4. Ciber Fisiopatologia Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERobn), Instituto Salud Carlos III, Barcelona, Spain; Departament de Psicobiologia i Metodologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain. 5. Department of Psychology, Catholic University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. 6. School of Psychology and Psychiatry, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia; Institute of Neuroscience F. Oloriz, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain and Red de Trastornos Adictivos, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain. 7. Douglas University Institute in Mental Health & Psychiatry Department, McGill University, Montreal, Canada. 8. Departament d'Infermeria de Salut Pública, Salut Mental i Maternoinfantil, Escola Universitària d'Infermeria, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain. 9. University of Catania, Department of Psychiatry. A.O.U. "Policlinico-Vittorio Emanuele, Presidio Gaspare Rodolico", U.O.P.I. of Psychiatry, Catania, Italy. 10. Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Bellvitge-IDIBELL, Barcelona, Spain; Department of Clinical Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Spain; Ciber Salud Mental (CIBERsam), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain. 11. Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Bellvitge-IDIBELL, Barcelona, Spain; Ciber Fisiopatologia Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERobn), Instituto Salud Carlos III, Barcelona, Spain; Department of Clinical Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: sjimenez@bellvitgehospital.cat.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Impulsivity is a construct that is strongly associated with Gambling Disorder (GD). The main objectives in the present study are: 1) to explore the role of sex and age on impulsivity levels in GD patients; 2) to identify the relationship of the different impulsivity facets with comorbid psychopathology and other personality traits in GD patients; and (3) to assess whether impulsivity is a predictor for the severity of GD. METHOD: The final sample consisted of 406 consecutive participants. All of them were seeking treatment for GD (88.4% male and 11.6% female) and completed the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS), the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale, the Symptom Checklist (SCL-90-R), the Temperament and Character Inventory-R (TCI-R) as well as other clinical and psychopathological measures. RESULTS: Results show a negative linear trend between age and lower sensation seeking levels as well as lack of premeditation (the higher the age the lower the UPPS-P scores), and a positive linear trend between age and positive urgency (UR) (the higher the age the higher the UPPS-P score). However, no sex differences were found for the assessed impulsivity dimensions. Lack of perseverance was positively associated with obsessive-compulsive symptoms and harm avoidance trait, and negatively related to persistence and self-directedness traits. Positive UR and negative UR were positively correlated with general psychopathology and the total number of DSM-IV criteria, and negatively associated to the following personality traits: self-directedness and cooperativeness. Finally, only the sensation seeking and negative UR of the UPPS-P showed predictive capacity on the severity of the disorder (the higher the impulsivity scores the higher the illness severity). CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the association between impulsivity traits (measured by the UPPS-P) and GD in a large and consecutively recruited clinical sample with GD, taking into account the variables sex and age. Copyright Â
OBJECTIVES: Impulsivity is a construct that is strongly associated with Gambling Disorder (GD). The main objectives in the present study are: 1) to explore the role of sex and age on impulsivity levels in GDpatients; 2) to identify the relationship of the different impulsivity facets with comorbid psychopathology and other personality traits in GDpatients; and (3) to assess whether impulsivity is a predictor for the severity of GD. METHOD: The final sample consisted of 406 consecutive participants. All of them were seeking treatment for GD (88.4% male and 11.6% female) and completed the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS), the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale, the Symptom Checklist (SCL-90-R), the Temperament and Character Inventory-R (TCI-R) as well as other clinical and psychopathological measures. RESULTS: Results show a negative linear trend between age and lower sensation seeking levels as well as lack of premeditation (the higher the age the lower the UPPS-P scores), and a positive linear trend between age and positive urgency (UR) (the higher the age the higher the UPPS-P score). However, no sex differences were found for the assessed impulsivity dimensions. Lack of perseverance was positively associated with obsessive-compulsive symptoms and harm avoidance trait, and negatively related to persistence and self-directedness traits. Positive UR and negative UR were positively correlated with general psychopathology and the total number of DSM-IV criteria, and negatively associated to the following personality traits: self-directedness and cooperativeness. Finally, only the sensation seeking and negative UR of the UPPS-P showed predictive capacity on the severity of the disorder (the higher the impulsivity scores the higher the illness severity). CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the association between impulsivity traits (measured by the UPPS-P) and GD in a large and consecutively recruited clinical sample with GD, taking into account the variables sex and age. Copyright Â