Social motives for gambling refer to engaging in gambling to socialize or bond with a group or to create new social connections. Maladaptive behavioural patterns can develop when a person’s basic psychological needs are not fulfilled. For example, social deficits refer to unmet needs for social connectedness, which may manifest as loneliness and frustration that arises from being disconnected from others. People may turn to gambling as a consequence. This study examined how social deficits influence the link between social motives and problem gambling. Participants were 2,835 adults in the United States who had gambled in the past year.
Overall, the findings suggested that social deficits influenced the relationship between social motives and problem gambling. Among people with higher levels of loneliness, social motives were associated with higher risk of problem gambling. Similarly, among people with higher levels of relatedness frustration, social motives were associated with higher risk of problem gambling. But among people with low levels of relatedness frustration, social motives were associated with lower risk of problem gambling.
