OBJECTIVE: In Korea, online board games, such as “flower cards,” are played using virtual money. In contrast, Internet-based gambling (ibGambling) concerns the use of real money to gamble online. We hypothesized that online board gamers using virtual money show less risky behaviors than do gamblers who use real money, and that, in regard to psychological aspects, online board gamers are less depressed and more introverted than online gamblers are. METHODS: For this study, 100 online board gamers, 100 ibGamblers, 100 offline gamblers (offGamblers), and 100 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were recruited by an online research company. Gambling behavior and self-efficacy were assessed using the Korean Gambling Behavior Scale-high/low factors (KGBS-H/L) and the Gambling Abstinence Self-efficacy Scale (GASS). Additionally, introversion, depression, and mania tendency were assessed. RESULTS: Online board gamers had good intentions gaming, as evidenced by their higher KGBS-L scores than ibGamblers and offGamblers, and they showed less risky behaviors, as evidenced by their lower KGBS-H scores than offGamblers. Additionally, online board gamers were less introverted than ibGamblers and less depressed than offGamblers. CONCLUSION: Online board gaming could be a gateway to the world of gambling (ibGambling or OffGambling). However, the higher tendency of online board gamers to engage in good intentioned gaming could help prevent online board gaming from progressing to online or offline gambling.
Bipolar Disorder ; Depression ; Gambling ; Intention ; Introversion (Psychology) ; Korea

INTRODUCTIONLiterature has shown that individuals with various psychiatric disorders experience a lower quality of life (QoL). However, few have examined QoL across disorders. The current study explored differences in QoL and symptom severity across 4 psychiatric diagnostic groups: anxiety disorders (including obsessive compulsive disorder [OCD]), depressive disorders, schizophrenia, and pathological gambling.

MATERIALS AND METHODSData analysed was from a previous study that examined the prevalence of hoarding symptoms among outpatients (n = 500) in a tertiary psychiatric hospital in Singapore. Measures utilised included the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) and Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction QuestionnaireShort Form (Q-LES-Q-SF). Sociodemographic information and details on type and number of comorbidities were also collected.

RESULTSThe depressive disorder group had the highest level of depressive and anxiety symptoms and the lowest QoL whereas; the schizophrenia group had the lowest level of depressive symptoms and the highest QoL. Age and employment status were the only sociodemographic correlates which were significantly associated with QoL. After controlling for sociodemographic factors, only the type of mental disorder was found to have a significant effect in explaining BAI, BDI-II and Q-LES-Q-SF.

CONCLUSIONFindings offer insight in terms of the burden associated with the various disorders.

Adult ; Anxiety Disorders ; epidemiology ; psychology ; Comorbidity ; Cost of Illness ; Demography ; Depressive Disorder ; epidemiology ; psychology ; Female ; Gambling ; epidemiology ; psychology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Outpatients ; psychology ; statistics & numerical data ; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales ; Quality of Life ; Schizophrenia ; diagnosis ; epidemiology ; Singapore ; epidemiology ; Socioeconomic Factors

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Korean version of the Richmond Compulsive Buying Scale (RCB-K). METHODS: Participants (n=598) included patients recruited through an online panel survey. For the semantic adaptation step, the scale was translated into Korean and then back-translated to English by one psychologist, one public health professional, one psychiatrist who could speak both Korean and English, and one professional translator, without communication between those involved. A confirmatory factor analysis was performed to test whether the factor structure of the RCB-K was consistent with the English version. Convergent validity was assessed by correlating the RCB-K scores with those of other scales (i.e., O'Guinn & Faber's Compulsive Buying Scale, Problem Gambling Inventory). RESULTS: The factor structure of the RCB-K was consistent with the two-factor structure established for the original RCB. Cronbach's α was high (0.906), indicating that the reliabilities of the items in each subscale were satisfactory. The RCB-K score was significantly correlated with those for the O'Guinn & Faber's Compulsive Buying Scale (r=0.7) and the Problem Gambling Inventory (r=0.422). CONCLUSION: The results of the present study indicate that the RCB-K is an effective and valid scale for evaluating the severity of compulsive buying. The findings suggest that the RCB-K is a promising assessment tool for use in the treatment and study of online compulsive buying behavior.
Gambling ; Humans ; Psychiatry ; Psychology ; Psychometrics ; Public Health ; Reproducibility of Results* ; Semantics ; Weights and Measures

PURPOSE: This study was done to identify levels of family function, codependency, depression, and self-esteem, and to identify factors influencing family function in families pathological gamblers. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey design was used. Participants in the survey for this study were 103 families pathological gamblers from gambling counseling G center in Gyung-gi province. Data were collected from January to December, 2012 using self-report structured questionnaires. Data were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficients and Stepwise regression with SAS program. RESULTS: Codependency, depression, self-esteem and family function showed strong correlations (p<.001). Family status, type of housing tenure, codependency and self-esteem were identified as factors influencing family function in families pathological gamblers. These variables explained 27% of family function. CONCLUSION: Findings of this study suggest that these variables should be considered in developing nursing intervention programs to improve family function in families pathological gamblers.
Codependency (Psychology) ; Counseling ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Depression ; Family Health ; Gambling ; Housing ; Humans ; Nursing ; Self Concept

PURPOSE: This study was done to examine the intervention effects on the family of a family education program for pathological gamblers based on Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT). METHODS: A quasi-experimental, nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design was used. The participants were 44 families of pathological gamblers from G center in Gyung-gi Province and 5 Gam-Anon groups in Seoul City and Gyung-gi Province. The experimental group (n=22) attended the 6 weekly 2 hour-long CRAFT family education program. The control group (n=22) attended the 12-step program of Gam-Anon. Data were collected from November, 2011 to May, 2012. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the experimental group showed significant decrease in depression (p=.001) and state anger (p=.039). There were no significant differences between groups in the level of interpersonal communication, trait anger, the mode of anger expression and self-esteem. CONCLUSION: Findings from this study suggest that the CRAFT family education program is effective in decreasing depression and state anger in families of pathological gamblers.
Adult ; Anger ; Depression ; Expressed Emotion ; Family/*psychology ; Female ; *Gambling ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; *Program Evaluation ; Self Concept

PURPOSE: Recently, gambling problem have increased in Korea and the prevalence rate is much higher than in western countries. Prevention of gambling addiction is very important at this point, but we have no accreditation or certification system for gambling addiction prevention counselors. The purpose of this study was to analyze the job and to develope a curriculum for Gambling Addiction Prevention Counselor (GAPC). METHODS: The definition of GAPC, job analysis and curriculum development were done based on developing a curriculum(DACUM) method. RESULTS: The duties performed by GAPC are categorized as planning & implementing, public education, outcome evaluation and professional development, which are classified into 8 tasks. The curriculum for training GAPC had 20 lectures covering 6 subjects: Introduction to gambling addiction, Prevention policy & institute, Methods of prevention education, Development of prevention programs, Prevention programs for target population, Empowerment for prevention counselors. Among the total 50 hours, 27 were for theory and 23 for practice. The mean of CVI (Content Validity Index) was 77 by multidisciplinary professional panels. CONCLUSION: The specific tasks for gambling addiction prevention activities can be identified and curriculum developed for utilization in training GAPCs.
Accreditation ; Certification ; Counseling ; Curriculum ; Gambling ; Health Services Needs and Demand ; Korea ; Lectures ; Power (Psychology) ; Prevalence

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine risk factors for pathological gambling of horse race participants. METHODS: The participants, 508 horse race gamblers, completed the DSM-IV criteria of pathological gambling, Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT-K) and Symptom Checklist-47-Revision (SCL-47-R). Data were analyzed using t-test, chi2-test, Fisher's exact test, and logistic regression analyses. Behaviors related to horse racing, alcohol abuse, and mental health were analyzed between problem or pathological gamblers compared to recreational gamblers. RESULTS: The prevalence rates of recreational, problem, and pathological gambling were 36.6%, 39.4%, and 24.0%, respectively. Frequency of gambling (> or =4/day), frequency of racetrack visiting (> or =3/month), accompaniment (alone), and mental health (SCL-47-R scores) were all associated with increased risks of problem and pathological gambling. Expenditure on betting (> or =200,000 won/day) and alcohol abuse (AUDIT-K 8-20 scores) group members had higher levels of gambling pathology than recreational gamblers. CONCLUSION: Problem and pathological gambling are highly associated with alcohol abuse and mental health disorders, suggesting that clinicians should carefully evaluate this population.
Adult ; Alcoholism ; Female ; Gambling/*psychology ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Mental Health ; Middle Aged ; Risk Factors

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to develop a gambling addictive behavior scale for adolescents. METHODS: The process involved construction of a conceptual framework, initial item search, verification of content validity, selection of secondary items, and extraction of final items. The participants were 299 adolescents from two middle schools and four high schools. Item analysis, factor analysis, criterion validity, internal consistency, and ROC curve were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: For the final scale, 25 items were selected, and categorized into 4 factors which accounted for 54.9% of the total variance. The factors were labeled as loss of control, life dysfunction from gambling addiction, gambling experience, and social dysfunction from problem gambling. The scores for the scale were significantly correlated with addictive personality, irrational gambling belief, and adolescent's gambling addictive behavior. Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the 25 items was .94. Scale scores identified adolescents as being in a problem gambling group, a non-problem gambling group, and a non-gambling group by the ROC curve. CONCLUSION: The above findings indicate that the gambling addictive behavior scale has good validity and reliability and can be used with adolescents in Korea.
Adolescent ; Area Under Curve ; Behavior, Addictive/*psychology ; Factor Analysis, Statistical ; Female ; *Gambling ; Humans ; Male ; ROC Curve ; Republic of Korea ; Self Concept

INTRODUCTIONFew studies have examined the impact of pathological gambling on quality of life especially in the Asian context. The aim of the current study was to examine the quality of life in pathological gamblers in a multiracial population in Singapore and we hypothesised that those with pathological gambling would have poorer quality of life as compared to controls.

MATERIALS AND METHODSForty subjects with "compulsive gambling behaviour" were recruited and matched (for gender and age) with 40 controls. Subjects with pathological gambling were compared with control subjects with regard to sociodemographic data as well as on the World Health Organization Quality of Life assessment - abbreviated version (WHOQOL-BREF).

RESULTSA one-way MANOVA revealed that pathological gamblers had significantly diminished quality of life as compared with the healthy controls using the summary scores of the 4 domains of quality of life (Pillai's Trace = 0.338, F = 9.5, P <0.001). Univariate tests indicated subjects with pathological gambling scored significantly lower on physical health, psychological, social relationships and environment domains of quality of life compared with subjects without pathological gambling.

CONCLUSIONOur study found that those with pathological gambling had lower scores than the controls in all the domains of the quality of life scale. The impact and the extent of pathological gambling on the quality of life should be borne in mind -- not only as a consideration in the management but also as an important indicator of treatment outcome of pathological gamblers.

Adult ; Analysis of Variance ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; statistics & numerical data ; Case-Control Studies ; Competitive Behavior ; Confidence Intervals ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Ethnic Groups ; statistics & numerical data ; Female ; Gambling ; psychology ; Health Surveys ; Humans ; Male ; Psychometrics ; Quality of Life ; psychology ; Singapore ; ethnology ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Young Adult

INTRODUCTIONPathological gambling is defined as the failure to resist the impulse to gamble despite disruption to personal, family and vocational life. It appears to be highly comorbid with psychiatric disorders. This study aims to describe the socio-demographic profile and comorbidity of 40 pathological gamblers compared to controls.

MATERIALS AND METHODSQuestionnaires were administered to 40 cases (90% male, mean age = 38.3, SD = 10.0) scoring 5 or more in the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) and verified to be pathological gamblers based on DSM-IV criteria and 40 age-and-gender-matched controls.

RESULTSStudy results showed that the prevalence of lifetime DSM-IV diagnoses were significantly different between cases and controls (chi(2) = 16.4, P <0.001), with 67.5% of the cases and 22.5% of the controls meeting the criteria, respectively. Eighty percent of the cases had at least one personality disorder compared to 45% in the control (chi(2) = 10.5, P <0.005). The common lifetime disorders observed in the cases were substance abuse disorder and anxiety while common personality disorders were obsessive-compulsive, avoidant and paranoid.

CONCLUSIONThis study highlights the high rates of comorbidity in a largely Chinese sample in an Asian setting and the importance of assessing pathological gamblers for comorbidities.

Adult ; Asia ; ethnology ; Comorbidity ; Demography ; Female ; Gambling ; psychology ; Humans ; Male ; Mental Disorders ; epidemiology ; ethnology ; Middle Aged