This study examined the role of perfectionism in disordered gambling. The researchers recruited 296 gamblers residing in the United States. Participants were recruited to complete an online survey using Amazon.com’s Mechanical Turk. Only 258 participants completed the survey and were included in the analyses. They ranged in age from 18 to 71 years old.
The results showed that having perfectionistic tendencies was associated with having more severe gambling problems. Gamblers with greater perfectionistic tendencies were more likely to focus on financial success as being important for their self-worth. In turn, focusing more on financial success was associated with having more severe gambling problems. The study suggests that treatment providers may want to focus on perfectionistic tendencies to help reduce gambling problems.
The published open access study can be viewed here.
