Award Date
1-1-1999
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Psychology
First Committee Member
Russell Hurlburt
Number of Pages
44
Abstract
Addictive Gambling has plagued mankind for thousands of years. However, it has only recently been studied extensively. One proposed cause for addiction, which has been used in studying alcohol and drug abuse, is a lack of meaning in the addict's life. However, a causal link between life meaning and gambling addiction has not yet been examined. This study used a sample of 355 normal people and compared scores on the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS), the Purpose in Life (PIL) Test, the short form of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST). Relationships between the level of gambling addiction, as shown on the SOGS, and the level of meaning in life, as shown on the PIL, were examined. The effect of depression on these variables, as measured on the short form of the BDI, was considered. The relationship of alcohol addiction to gambling and meaning in life, as measured on the MAST, was examined. The study found a mild negative correlation between scores on the SOGS and those on the PIL. This correlation increased as the level of alcoholism among the participants decreased.
Keywords
Addiction; Gambling; Life; Meaning
Controlled Subject
Clinical psychology; Recreation; Behaviorism (Psychology)
File Format
File Size
1228.8 KB
Degree Grantor
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Language
English
Permissions
If you are the rightful copyright holder of this dissertation or thesis and wish to have the full text removed from Digital Scholarship@UNLV, please submit a request to digitalscholarship@unlv.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.
Repository Citation
Plesh, Andrew Bohdan, "Gambling addiction and life meaning" (1999). UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations. 1066.
http://dx.doi.org/10.25669/k6vm-wjzm
Rights
IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
