Sensation Seeking and Pathological Gambling

Abstract

Summary Zuckerman's Sensation Seeking Scale, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and the Spielberger's State‐ Trait Anxiety Inventory were administered to 51 pathological gamblers seeking treatment to investigate the hypothesis that arousal associated with gambling was related to a general sensation seeking personality trait. Pathological gamblers as compared to the general population were found to have elevated Psychoticism, Neuroticism, State and Trait anxiety scores but contrary to expectation, significantly lower Sensation Seeking scores. It was argued that pathological gamblers were not necessarily sensation seekers but that avoidance or reduction of noxious physiological states or dysphoric mood, in conjunction with a behaviour completion mechanism, was a major factor in explaining persistence in gambling.