The purpose of this study was to examine differences in gambling behaviour and motives among men and women in the Republic of Cyprus, and the role of emotion regulation strategies. A total of 1,347 adults who spent at least 25 Euros per month on gambling activities completed a survey. The survey included questions about emotion regulation strategies, gambling motives, gambling activities, and gambling problems.
Men bet more on animal races, sports, skills games (e.g., darts), and the stock market. Women bet more on chance-based activities, such as lottery, bingo, and slot machines. Men were more likely to gamble because of enhancement motives (e.g., for fun). Women were more likely to gamble for financial reasons. Women scored higher on emotion regulation strategies than men. Gambling to cope was the strongest predictor of more severe gambling for both men and women. Greater gambling severity was also predicted by higher maladaptive emotion regulation. Adaptive emotion regulation explained the strength of the relationship between coping motives and gambling severity for men only. Men who gambled for coping reasons had less severe gambling issues if they had higher adaptive emotion regulation.
