Department of Psychology, The University at Albany-SUNY, Albany, NY 12222, USA.
Physiol Behav. 2010 Feb 9;99(2):225-9. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2009.08.002. Epub 2009 Aug 13.
Prevalence rates of gambling are influenced by gender. Among normative populations, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis response to stress is affected by gender. However, pathological, compared to recreational, gamblers demonstrate perturbations in HPA activation in response to gambling stimuli. We examined whether there were gender differences in HPA response to gambling in a naturalistic setting among horse-race bettors and scratch-off lottery bettors. Salivary cortisol was collected from horse-race gamblers (n=32) and scratch-off lottery ticket players (n=39) before and after (0, 10, or 20 min) betting on a horse race at an off-track betting establishment. Salivary cortisol levels were significantly higher among men than among women, both prior to and following, betting on a horse race. Among women, but not men, there was a decline in salivary cortisol across time in scratch-off bettors, whereas women horse-race bettors maintained consistent low concentrations of salivary cortisol at every time point sampled. Together these data suggest that engaging in gambling may have different effects on stress responses of men, compared to women. Whether these gender differences in HPA activation contribute to gender-related differences in gambling behavior is the subject of ongoing investigation.
赌博的流行率受到性别影响。在正常人群中，下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺（HPA）轴对压力的反应受到性别影响。然而，与娱乐性赌博者相比，病理性赌博者在对赌博刺激的 HPA 激活方面表现出紊乱。我们在赛马和刮刮乐赌博者的自然环境中，检查了 HPA 对赌博的反应是否存在性别差异。从在赛马场外投注的赛马赌博者（n=32）和刮刮乐彩票玩家（n=39）中采集唾液皮质醇，在投注前（0、10 或 20 分钟）和投注后（0、10 或 20 分钟）。在赛马比赛前和之后，男性的唾液皮质醇水平明显高于女性。在刮刮乐投注者中，女性的唾液皮质醇水平随时间呈下降趋势，而女性赛马投注者在每个采样时间点的唾液皮质醇浓度保持一致较低。这些数据表明，与女性相比，男性参与赌博可能对压力反应产生不同的影响。HPA 激活的这些性别差异是否导致赌博行为的性别差异，这是正在进行的研究的主题。
