Examining the expression and associations of positive and negative urgency across the spectrum of gambling severity

Despite the well-established relationship between positive and negative urgency and gambling, the research examining how these impulsivity facets are expressed across the full spectrum of this behaviour is currently underdeveloped. As such, the current study sought to investigate the expression of positive and negative urgency across four established levels of gambling severity: non-problem, low-risk, moderately at-risk, and problem gamblers. A total of ( n = 630) gamblers aged between 18 and 73 ( M age = 38.56, SD age = 11.52; 12.6% non-problem gamblers; 29.0% low-risk gamblers; 20.0% moderate-risk problem gamblers and 38.4% problem gamblers) completed an online survey consisting of the Short UPPS-P Impulsive Behavioural Scale (S-UPPS-P), Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) and Short-Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (S-MCSDS). One-way ANOVA results showed that problem gamblers scored significantly higher on positive and negative urgency than the remaining three gambling groups. While controlling for age and social desirability, multinomial logistic regression revealed that elevated positive and negative urgency were associated with higher odds of membership in moderate-risk and problem gambling groups relative to non-problem gamblers, while only positive urgency was associated with low-risk group membership. Findings support existing literature by highlighting the important role of both urgency facets across different levels of gambling severity, with positive urgency appearing to be particularly salient in low-risk gamblers. Clinicians may use findings to gain a more precise understanding of the emotional correlates linked to an individual’s gambling, potentially informing future research on emotion-focused mechanisms in gambling interventions.