Table 3.
Clinical Characteristics of Pathological Gamblers based on Preferred Form of Gambling
| Clinical Variable | Strategic (n=22) | Non-Strategic (n=55) | Statistica | df | p-value | Effect Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amount of money lost to gambling during past year | 15,004 (24,548) | 17,472 (21,486) | 0.414t | 63 | 0.68 | |
| Age when gambling became a problem, yrs | 26.7 (12.8) | 35.9 (11.4) | 3.081t | 75 | 0.003 | 0.76d |
| Time lag between started gambling and when it became problematic, yrs | 6.7 (7.3) | 7.8 (7.2) | 0.611t | 75 | 0.543 | |
| Clinical Global Impressions, Severity | 4.78 (0.83) | 4.61 (0.75) | −0.617t | 58 | 0.54 | |
| PG-YBOCS, total score | 18.6 (7.5) | 21.7 (5.1) | 2.045t | 75 | 0.044 | 0.48d |
| Gambling Symptom Assessment Scale, total score | 30.1 (7.1) | 31.9 (6.8) | 0.735t | 58 | 0.465 | |
| Sheehan Disability Scale | 15.9 (6.2) | 14.2 (8.4) | −0.527t | 75 | 0.602 | |
| Hamilton Depression Scale | 8.8 (7.2) | 7.2 (4.6) | −1.025t | 64 | 0.309 | |
| Hamilton Anxiety Scale | 6.8 (3.3) | 6.7 (4.2) | −0.022t | 58 | 0.982 | |
| Any lifetime psychiatric disorder, n (%) | 21 (95.5) | 39 (70.9) | f | n/a | 0.030 | |
| Any lifetime alcohol/substance use disorder, n (%) | 10 (45.5) | 15 (27.3) | 2.37c | 1 | 0.124 |
All scores are Mean (± SD) unless otherwise indicated
a
Statistic: c = Chi-square; t = t-test; f = Fisher's exact;
Effect size: d = Cohen
p-value = two-tailed t-test
Strategic gambling = poker, sports, cards, dice, blackjack, track (horses, dogs)
Non-strategic gambling = slots, lottery, pull tabs, bingo, keno, video poker
Abbreviations: PG-YBOCS=Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale Modified for Pathological Gambling