Psychosocial stress and its relationship to gambling urges in individuals with pathological gambling.

We sought to explore a potential link between psychosocial stress exposure and pathological gambling (PG). Patients with PG displayed significantly higher scores on the daily stress inventory (DSI) than did healthy subjects. PG patients also displayed other heightened measures of stress, including the profile of mood states, the Spielberger state-trait anxiety inventory, the Hamilton rating scale for depression and the Beck depression inventory. Multiple regression analysis revealed that only the DSI impact score was an independent predictor of gambling urges. These findings support the role of psychosocial stress in the course of PG and suggest that the former association with the urge to gamble is relatively specific to stressful events assessed with the DSI.