Donati Maria Anna, Chiesi Francesca, Iozzi Adriana, Manfredi Antonella, Fagni Fabrizio, Primi Caterina
Department of Neurofarba, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
UFC SerD Zona 1 Firenze, Azienda USL Toscana Centro, Florence, Italy.
Front Psychol. 2018 Jan 5;8:2243. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02243. eCollection 2017.
Although a number of gambling preventive initiatives have been realized with adolescents, many of them have been developed in absence of a clear and explicitly described theoretical model. The present work was aimed to analyze the adequacy of a model to explain gambling behavior referring to (Study 1), and to verify the effectiveness of a preventive intervention developed on the basis of this model (Study 2). Following dual-process theories on cognitive functioning, in Study 1 we tested a model in which , i.e., susceptibility to the gambler's fallacy, and , i.e., superstitious thinking, were the antecedents of gambling-related cognitive distortions that, in turn, affect gambling frequency and problem gambling. Participants were 306 male adolescents ( = 17.2 years). A path analysis indicated that cognitive distortions have a mediating role in the relationship that links probabilistic reasoning fallacy and superstitious thinking with problem gambling. Following these findings, in Study 2 we developed a school-based intervention aimed to reduce gambling-related cognitive distortions acting on the above cited problems. A pre- and post-test design - with a 6 months follow-up - was performed with 34 male adolescents ( = 16.8), randomly assigned to two groups (Training and No Training), and their baseline equivalence was verified. A Mixed 2 × 2 ANOVA attested a significant Time X Group interaction, indicating a significant reduction of the cognitive distortions from pre-test to post-test only in the Training group. The follow-up attested to the stability of the training effects and the reduction of gambling frequency over time. These findings suggest that prevention strategies should address problems, which can be considered as predictors of gambling-related cognitive distortions.
尽管已经针对青少年开展了一些预防赌博的举措，但其中许多举措是在缺乏清晰且明确描述的理论模型的情况下制定的。本研究旨在分析一个用于解释赌博行为的模型的充分性（研究1），并验证基于该模型开发的预防干预措施的有效性（研究2）。根据关于认知功能的双过程理论，在研究1中，我们测试了一个模型，其中，即对赌徒谬误的易感性，以及，即迷信思维，是与赌博相关的认知扭曲的前因，而这些认知扭曲反过来又会影响赌博频率和问题赌博。参与者为306名男性青少年（平均年龄 = 17.2岁）。路径分析表明，认知扭曲在将概率推理谬误和迷信思维与问题赌博联系起来的关系中起中介作用。基于这些发现，在研究2中，我们开展了一项以学校为基础的干预措施，旨在通过解决上述问题来减少与赌博相关的认知扭曲。对34名男性青少年（平均年龄 = 16.8岁）进行了前后测设计，并进行了6个月的随访，他们被随机分为两组（训练组和非训练组），并验证了两组在基线时的等效性。混合2×2方差分析证实了时间×组别的显著交互作用，表明仅在训练组中，从测试前到测试后认知扭曲有显著减少。随访证实了训练效果的稳定性以及随着时间推移赌博频率的降低。这些发现表明，预防策略应解决这些问题，这些问题可被视为与赌博相关的认知扭曲的预测因素。
