The goal of this study was to examine if and how social abilities, specifically cognitive and emotional empathy, might be associated with gambling disorder (GD). It also examined whether the link between empathy and GD could be explained by risk aversion and responsible gambling attitudes. The researchers surveyed 580 adults who gambled on lottery tickets in China.
The results showed that people with higher levels of cognitive empathy had a lower risk of GD. But emotional empathy was not linked with GD. Risk aversion and responsible gambling attitudes explained the link between empathy on GD. People with higher levels of cognitive and emotional empathy showed a higher level of risk aversion. They were also more likely to hold responsible gambling attitudes. In turn, responsible gambling attitudes were associated with a lower risk of GD.
