Relationship Between Emotion Regulation Difficulties and Gambling Tendencies of University Students

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to examine the relationship between university students' difficulties regulating emotions and their tendency to gamble. METHOD: The population of this cross-sectional and correlational study consisted of 69,000 undergraduate level students studying at three state universities in three different provinces in Turkey between February-September 2022. Based on the calculation using the sampling method of the known population, study data were collected face-to-face from 750 students. The data were collected using three tools: a descriptive information form, the South Oaks Gambling Screening Test (SOGS), and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-Brief Form (DERS-16). Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation and Multiple Linear Regression analysis were used to analyze the relationship among the scales' mean scores. RESULTS: Of the participating university students, 51.6% were female and 48.4% were male. Of these students, 42% stated that they had gambled at least once in their lives and 25.3% of them were still gambling. The mean DERS score was 38.14±14.37, which indicated a moderate difficulty in emotional regulation, and the mean SOGS score was 5.12±3.18. A positive and significant correlation was found between DERS SOGS (r=0.304, p<0.05). It was determined that university students' tendency to gamble was predicted by the three sub-dimensions of the DERS (Clarity (β=0.258, p=0.001), Purpose (β=0.156, p=0.021) and Non-Acceptance (β=1.768, p=0.001)), being male and gambling status in the family (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Emotional regulation difficulties in university students may play an important role in their gambling tendencies.