RESEARCH QUESTION
Can increased gambling behavior be predicted by a need to seek stimulation or by a tendency to act rashly when experiencing intense mood states?

PURPOSE
The aim of this study was to clarify the role of dispositional contributions to risk for increased gambling behavior during the first year of college. The study aimed to examine whether increased gambling behavior could be predicted by a need to seek stimulation or by a tendency to act rashly when experiencing intense mood states.

HYPOTHESIS
For individuals high in positive urgency (i.e., the tendency to give in to impulses under conditions of high positive affect), intensely positive emotions would lead to reduced rationality and impulse control, which would lead to more impulsive and less advantageous decisions. The experience of gambling would be associated with  the experience of thrilling stimulation, suggesting a role for individual differences in sensation seeking.

PARTICIPANTS
Participants were 418 undergraduate students (average age = 18 years; 25% males; 88% Caucasians) at a large Midwestern university. Of the 418 students who began the study, 370 completed a second wave; of those, 293 completed all three phases of the study.

PROCEDURE
Participants were sampled at three time periods during their first year of college: the beginning and end of the fall semester, and the end of the spring semester. At each session, participants completed measures of impulsivity and gambling/risky behaviour.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Impulsivity was assessed via the UPPS-P impulsivity inventory designed to measure the five distinct personality pathways to impulsive behaviour (i.e., lack of planning, lack of perseverance, negative urgency: an individual’s tendency to give in to strong impulses specifically when accompanied by negative emotions, positive urgency, and sensation seeking). Gambling behavior was assessed with a composite of four gambling items:  bet on a horse race, bet in a casino, bet on sports, and bet money they didn’t know how they could pay back. Risk-taking behavior was assessed with a composite of six items: mountain climbing, bungee jumping, skateboarding, scuba diving, parasailing, and parachuting.

KEY RESULTS
Most individuals engaged in at least one form of gambling during their first year of college. A small number of individuals engaged in the highest risk gambling behavior of betting money they could not pay back. As predicted, the five impulsivity traits were moderately inter-correlated. Being male was positively associated with positive urgency, lack of planning, and sensation seeking, and time 1 and 3 gambling. Being male was not associated with the sample of risky behaviors. Although the disposition to engage in rash action when in an unusually positive mood (positive urgency), lack of planning, and sensation seeking all related to both gambling behavior and general risky behavior (e.g., mountain climbing), only positive urgency predicted increases in gambling behavior over time and only sensation seeking predicted increases in general risky behaviors over time.

LIMITATIONS
The authors did not measure pathological gambling  and used self-report measures. The majority of the sample was female and Caucasian so the extent to which the findings generalize to males and non-Caucasians is unclear. The sample of risk-taking behaviors involved physical activities only; it is unclear whether the results may generalize to other forms of risk-taking.

CONCLUSIONS
Individual differences in rates of college student gambling were not due to the need to pursue thrill or stimulation. Rather, increased gambling was associated with positive affect. The role of positive emotions in gambling risk should be considered.