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Personality and temperament describe the differences between people in thoughts, feelings, and actions. People with higher levels of impulsivity are more likely to have gambling problems. Impulsivity is a tendency to act rashly without thinking about the consequences. There are different aspects to impulsivity. Gambling problems are more likely to occur among people who tend to act rashly when they feel negative emotions and among those who favour immediate, smaller rewards over delayed, larger rewards.
The Five-Factor Model of Personality is commonly examined in gambling research. It has been reported that people with gambling problems have lower conscientiousness, lower agreeableness, and higher neuroticism. Lower conscientiousness means that the person is less motivated to achieve goals and less concerned about the consequences of his or her actions. Lower agreeableness means that the person is less willing to work with others and tends to act in self-interest. Higher neuroticism means that the person often feels worried, anxious, and other negative emotions. A sixth personality trait, honesty-humility, has also been examined. It has been reported that people who gamble more heavily have lower honesty-humility. That is, they are less concerned about being sincere, modest, and fair when dealing with others, and are more concerned with wealth and status.
Personality disorders often occur in people with gambling problems. It has been reported that almost half of the people who seek gambling treatment have a personality disorder. The most common are narcissistic, antisocial, avoidant, obsessive-compulsive, and borderline disorders.
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Download the Psychological Factors section from the Conceptual Framework of Harmful Gambling (PDF)
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