AUTHOR=Passanisi Alessia , D’Urso Giulio , Schimmenti Adriano , Ruggieri Stefano , Pace Ugo 

TITLE=Coping Strategies, Creativity, Social Self-Efficacy, and Hypercompetitiveness in Gambling Behaviors: A Study on Male Adolescent Regular Gamblers

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01722

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01722

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<p>The purpose of this research was to explore the cognitive and personality characteristics of male adolescent gamblers. Participants were 273 teenage males (<italic>M</italic> = 18.04, <italic>SD</italic> = 2.10) attending betting centers in Sicily, who completed self-report questionnaires on gambling, creativity, perceived social self-efficacy, hypercompetitiveness, and coping strategies. Pathological gamblers reported higher levels of avoidant coping strategies than occasional gamblers. They also scored higher on hypercompetitiveness than both occasional and problem gamblers. Further, problem gamblers scored higher than occasional gamblers on the complexity domain of creative personality. Finally, poor perceived social self-efficacy, higher levels of avoidant coping, and hypercompetitiveness predicted pathological gambling. Theoretical, psycho-educational, and clinical implications are discussed.</p>