Department of Law, Libera Università SS Maria Assunta (LUMSA), Taranto, Italy.
Department of Education, Psychology, Communication, University of Bari, Bari, Italy.
J Gambl Stud. 2017 Sep;33(3):919-936. doi: 10.1007/s10899-016-9654-2.
General Strain Theory (GST: Agnew Criminology 30:47-87, 1992) posits that deviant behaviour results from adaptation to strain and the consequent negative emotions. Empirical research on GST has mainly focused on aggressive behaviours, while only few research studies have considered alternative manifestations of deviance, like substance use and gambling. The aim of the present study is to test the ability of GST to explain gambling behaviours and substance use. Also, the role of family in promoting the adoption of gambling and substance use as coping strategies was verified. Data from 266 families with in mean 8 observations for each group were collected. The multilevel nature of the data was verified before appropriate model construction. The clustered nature of gambling data was analysed by a two-level Hierarchical Linear Model while substance use was analysed by Multivariate Linear Model. Results confirmed the effect of strain on gambling and substance use while the positive effect of depressive emotions on these behaviours was not supported. Also, the impact of family on the individual tendency to engage in addictive behaviours was confirmed only for gambling.
一般应变理论（GST：Agnew 犯罪学 30:47-87, 1992）认为，偏差行为是由于适应压力和随之产生的负面情绪而导致的。对 GST 的实证研究主要集中在攻击性行为上，而只有少数研究考虑了偏差行为的其他表现形式，如药物使用和赌博。本研究的目的是检验 GST 解释赌博行为和药物使用的能力。此外，还验证了家庭在促进将赌博和药物使用作为应对策略的采用方面的作用。数据来自 266 个家庭，每个家庭的平均有 8 个观察值。在构建适当的模型之前，先验证数据的多层次性质。使用两层层次线性模型分析赌博数据的聚类性质，而使用多元线性模型分析药物使用情况。结果证实了压力对赌博和药物使用的影响，但不支持抑郁情绪对这些行为的积极影响。此外，仅对赌博行为，证实了家庭对个人沉迷于成瘾行为的倾向的影响。
