Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Sep 1;6(3):416-424.
doi: 10.1556/2006.6.2017.056. Epub 2017 Aug 29.

Psychological factors, sociodemographic characteristics, and coping mechanisms associated with the self-stigma of problem gambling

Nerilee Hing  1 , Alex M T Russell  2
Affiliations

Psychological factors, sociodemographic characteristics, and coping mechanisms associated with the self-stigma of problem gambling

Nerilee Hing et al. J Behav Addict. .

Abstract

Background and aims Few studies have examined the stigma of problem gambling and little is known about those who internalize this prejudice as damaging self-stigma. This paper aimed to identify psychological factors, sociodemographic characteristics, and coping mechanisms associated with the self-stigma of problem gambling. Methods An online survey was conducted on 177 Australian adults with a current gambling problem to measure self-stigma, self-esteem, social anxiety, self-consciousness, psychological distress, symptom severity, most problematic gambling form, stigma coping mechanisms, and sociodemographic characteristics. Results All variables significantly correlated with self-stigma were considered for inclusion in a regression model. A multivariate linear regression indicated that higher levels of self-stigma were associated with: being female, being older, lower self-esteem, higher problem gambling severity score, and greater use of secrecy (standardized coefficients: 0.16, 0.14, -0.33, 0.23, and 0.15, respectively). Strongest predictors in the model were self-esteem, followed by symptom severity score. Together, predictors in the model accounted for 38.9% of the variance in self-stigma. Discussion and conclusions These results suggest that the self-stigma of problem gambling may be driven by similar mechanisms as the self-stigma of other mental health disorders, and impact similarly on self-esteem and coping. Thus, self-stigma reduction initiatives used for other mental health conditions may be effective for problem gambling. In contrast, however, the self-stigma of problem gambling increased with female gender and older age, which are associated with gaming machine problems. This group should, therefore, be a target population for efforts to reduce or better cope with the self-stigma of problem gambling.

Keywords: coping; problem gambling; self-esteem; self-stigma.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Birchwood M., Trower P., Brunet K., Gilbert P., Iqbal Z., Jackson C. (2007). Social anxiety and the shame of psychosis: A study in first episode psychosis. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 45(5), 1025–1037. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2006.07.011 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Boyd J. E., Adler E. P., Otilingam P. G., Peters T. (2014). Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness (ISMI) Scale: A multinational review. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 55(1), 221–231. doi:10.1016/j.comppsych.2013.06.005 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Carroll A., Rodgers B., Davidson T., Sims S. (2013). Stigma and help-seeking for gambling problems. Canberra, Australia: Australian National University.
    1. Casey E. (2006). Domesticating gambling: Gender, caring and the UK National Lottery. Leisure Studies, 25(1), 3–16. doi:10.1080/02614360500150695 - DOI
    1. Corrigan P. W. (2004). How stigma interferes with mental health care. American Psychologist, 59(7), 614–625. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.59.7.614 - DOI - PubMed