Macía Laura, Jauregui Paula, Herrero Marta, Iruarrizaga Iciar, Micó Virtu, Lamas Juan, Estévez Ana
Faculty of Health Sciences, Psychology Department, University of Deusto, 48007 Bilbao, Spain.
Department of Experimental Psychology, Cognitive Processes and Speech Therapy, Faculty of Social Work, Complutense University of Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón, 28223 Madrid, Spain.
Compr Psychiatry. 2023 Apr;122:152364. doi: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2023.152364. Epub 2023 Jan 18.
Alexithymia and psychological symptomatology have been closely associated with gambling disorder (GD). However, sex differences remain underexplored. This study aims, firstly, to explore the differences between groups (GD and no-GD) and sexes (women vs. men) in alexithymia and psychological symptomatology (depression, anxiety and hostility). Secondly, the relationship between alexithymia and psychological symptomatology was analysed by gambling and sex groups. Thirdly, it examines the moderation role of sex and gambling in the relationship between alexithymia and each psychological symptom.
The sample was composed of 80 people with GD diagnosis and 80 without GD (40 women and 40 men in each group).
The results showed that alexithymia is positively related to depression, anxiety and hostility, with significantly higher scores in people with GD. Moderation analyses showed a threefold interaction, in which higher alexithymia was related to higher depression for men with GD but not for GD-women. However, in women with GD, depression levels are higher than in people without GD and tend to be more stable over time, despite the lack of effect of alexithymia.
These results provide evidence indicating that dysfunctional psychological symptomatology affects people with GD to a greater extent than people without GD, but also that the aetiology and effect of underlying vulnerability factors on gambling is different according to sex. The need of prevention and treatment programmes that consider different psychological aspects depending on sex is reinforced.
述情障碍和心理症状与赌博障碍（GD）密切相关。然而，性别差异仍未得到充分研究。本研究旨在，首先，探讨在述情障碍和心理症状（抑郁、焦虑和敌意）方面，赌博障碍组与非赌博障碍组以及男性与女性之间的差异。其次，按赌博情况和性别分组分析述情障碍与心理症状之间的关系。第三，考察性别和赌博在述情障碍与各心理症状之间关系中的调节作用。
样本由80名被诊断为赌博障碍的人和80名非赌博障碍者组成（每组40名女性和40名男性）。
结果显示，述情障碍与抑郁、焦虑和敌意呈正相关，赌博障碍患者的得分显著更高。调节分析显示出三重交互作用，即对于患有赌博障碍的男性，述情障碍程度越高与抑郁程度越高相关，但对于患有赌博障碍的女性则不然。然而，在患有赌博障碍的女性中，抑郁水平高于非赌博障碍者，并且随着时间推移往往更稳定，尽管述情障碍没有影响。
这些结果提供了证据，表明功能失调的心理症状对患有赌博障碍的人的影响比对非赌博障碍者更大，而且潜在易感性因素对赌博的病因和影响因性别而异。这强化了需要根据性别考虑不同心理方面的预防和治疗方案。
