gender diff and motivation

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COLLEGE STUDENTS AND GAMBLING:AN EXAMINATION OF GENDER DIFFERENCES N

MOTIVATION FOR PARTICIPATIONTERRY D. BURGERIndianaState UniversityDONNA DAHLGRENIndiana University Southeast

CHRISTINE D. MACDONALDIndiana State UniversityThe current research is among the first to examine whether gen-der or the level of competitiveness affects a person's motivationto gamble. One hundred fifty two participants completed a scaleto measure whether they were intrinsically or extrinsically moti-vated to gamble (Gambling Motivation Scale) and a scale tomeasure their level of competitiveness (HypercompetitivenessAttitude Scale). As hypothesized, results indicate men scoredhigher than women on intrinsic motivations for gambling. How-ever, no gender differences were found for extrinsic motivationin gambling. Participants with high-competitive scores (male andfemale) were more likely to have higher intrinsic an d higherextrinsic motivations for gambling.

In 1974, and again in 1980, 80% ofadult Americans surveyed expressed afavorable interest in seeing legalized gam-bling of some kind in their state ofresidence (Moran, 1997). This apparentmoral acceptance of gambling has beenreflected by the tremendous growth rateof legalized gambling venues across Amer-ica during the last 25 years. Forty-eightstates have legalized at least one form ofgambling (Moran, 1997). In 1995, $500billion was legally exchanged in some formof gambling in the United States, repre-senting nearly a 3000% increase overfigures reported in 1975 ($17.4 billion)(Netemeyer et al., 1998).

The increase in popularity and avail-ability of gambling raises concern among

mental health professionals who haveobserved that perhaps as high as 3% of theadult population meet the diagnostic cri-teria for pathological gambling [AmericanPsychiatric Association (APA), 1994; Mor-rison, 1995]. That is, up to 3% of the adultpopulation exhibits gambling behavior thatinterferes with personal, family, and pro-fessional relationships. A 1989 Gallup pollrevealed that of the adult population whoreported they had gambled during the pre-vious 12-month period, 70% reportedhaving gambled three or more times perweek, with as many as 6% consideredprobable "compulsive gamblers" (Nete-meyer, et al., 1998). Pathological gamblersgenerally show the following characteris-tics: being obsessed with the thought of


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gambling; telling lies to family, friends, oremployers; and wagering increasingly larg-er amounts in an attempt to make up losses(termed "chasing") (APA, 1994). Addi-tionally, an association with crime has alsobeen widely reported as a characteristic ofthe pathological gambler (APA, 1994;Meyer & Stadler, 1999; Netemeyer et al.,1998; Vitaro, Arseneault, & Tremblay,1999).

In his classic study, Lesieur (1984)reported that many people view gamblingas an opportunity to briefly forget abouttheir troubles and have fun. However, forthe pathological gambler, gambling ceas-es being an effective coping mechanismfor dealing with the stressors of their world.These gamblers often find themselves hav-ing to emotionally deal with not only theissues that led them to gamble in the firstplace (e.g., impulsivity, financial problems)but also with the negative consequencesof their gambling (e.g., strained personaland professional relationships, loss ofemployment, legal issues) (Gaudia, 1987;Lesieur, 1984; Rosenthal, 1992). In short,the pathological gambler loses his or herability to gamble responsibly.

One way to understand what drives somany people to gamble is to examine bothintrinsic and extrinsic motivations for par-ticipation. For example, does an individualgamble to have a good time or to learnsomething new (intrinsic motivation) or togain a monetary reward (extrinsic motiva-tion)? A 1989 Gallup survey reported 39%of gambling participants questioned con-firmed they gambled "to have a good time"while 27% stated their involvement wasfor monetary gain (Gallup, 1990). Some

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to intrinsic motivation, while others areprimarily extrinsically motivated (Chan-tal & Vallerand, 1995; Feldman, 1996).Thus, an individual's primary underlyingdriving force could be indicative of boththeir level and frequency of gamblinginvolvement. Additionally, an individual'scentral motivation to participate in gam-bling activities may also be connotative ofdisorders such as pathological gamblingor other high-risk behaviors that are oftencomorbid with pathological gambling (e.g.,heavy alcohol consumption) (Kessler,1994; Nelson, Heath, et al., 1998; Shaffer& Hall, 2002).

In an attempt to quantify types and fre-quencies of motivation, Chantal andVallerand (1995) examined motivation andits relationship to gambling involvement.The authors hypothesized that a greaterlevel of participation would be found ingambling participants who had an intrin-sic motivation and sought a sense ofentertainment from their involvement. Theauthors further predicted that those par-ticipants seeking tangible rewards wouldhave a lesser level of participation. Thatis, participants who gamble primarily forfun and excitement would likely gamblemore than someone whose sole purposewas to win money. Participants (with amean age of 48.3 years) completed theGambling Motivation Scale (GMS) and ameasure to investigate the level of gam-bling involvement. The results indicated agreater level of participation in gamblingactivities for intrinsic reasons than forextrinsic ones. Given the mean age of theparticipants, these results suggest that mid-dle-aged gamblers primarily participate in


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These results further indicated that type ofmotivation can lead to various levels ofparticipation.Adebayo (1998) conducted a study toexamine the motivation behind gamblingparticipation in a sample of rural commu-nity college students. Results indicated that80% of students who reported they hadgambled indicated extrinsic reasons forgambling, while 65% reported intrinsicreasons. These results reflect the fact thatsome students seek to satisfy both extrin-sic and intrinsic needs via their gamblingparticipation. It would appear that collegestudents, while gambling for fun (intrinsicmotivation) also have hopes of winningmoney (extrinsic motivation).Most studies on gambling to date havenot examined gender differences. Giventhat numerous studies on gender differ-ences indicate men and women differ inmotivational drives (e.g., Delfabbro, 2000;Grant & Kim, 2002; Nower & Washing-ton, 2001), it may be possible that genderdifferences affect the types of motivationinvolved in the gambling behaviors previ-ously stated. As an example, these studiesindicate men may be motivated to gambleto achieve goals whereas women may bemore motivated to gamble to relax andrelieve tension.Researchers on gambling have gener-ally failed to specifically report the impactof gender on motivation in their studies.Instead, their studies typically report theimpact of gender on factors such as thetype of gambling instrument preferred (e.g.,Adebayo, 1998; Delfabbro, 2000; Grant& Kim, 2002; Ladd & Petry, 2002). Thisis not to say that the type of game preferred

sible link to a person's motivation to gam-ble. Adebayo (1998) demonstrated thiswhen he reported that male students pre-ferred games that involved some type ofskill dimension (e.g., sports betting, horseracing), whereas female students weremore likely to participate in more passivegames (e.g., bingo, scratch-off lottery tick-ets). That is, men are motivated toparticipate in gambling in different venuesthan women. This suggests that men andwomen may indeed differ in motivationalneeds since different game types are select-ed. Lynn (1993), who examined genderdifference in competition among collegestudents in 20 countries, supported the pos-sibility that men and women may differ inmotivational needs. He reported that menwere more competitive than women, andsuggested that men are intrinsically moti-vated to express their competitivesuperiority over others. Lynn further stat-ed that one avenue for men to accomplishthis may be to use money as a symbolicexpression of their success. These findingssuggest that where monetary gain is bothliterally and symbolically possible, gen-der differences in the driving force behindparticipation are likely to be found. Forexample, men may be more apt to gamblefor the high intrinsic pleasure they receivefrom competition than are women. It is thispossibility that men may differ fromwomen in type and level of motivation thatis at the heart of the current study.

Accordingly, the current study propos-es to examine the motivations behindgambling participation among college stu-dents by directly focusing ongender-related attributions. It is predicted


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tive than women. Because men are morelikely to participate in gambling venuesthey view as skill contests, the study's sec-ond hypothesis is that men will reporthigher levels of overall intrinsic motiva-tion for their gambling participation thanwill women.Method

ParticipantsOne hundred fifty-two students (76 menand 76 women) enrolled in introductorypsychology courses at a small Midwest-ern university were recruited to participatein the current study. The mean age of theparticipants was 20.7 years (SD = 4.72)with a range of 17 to 45 years.Measures

Participants were asked to completethree measures for the current study: a mea-sure of competitiveness, a motivation scale,and a screen for pathological gambling.Competitiveness. The Hypercompeti-tive Attitude Scale is a 26-item measure ofcompetitiveness (Ryckman, Hammer, Kac-zor, & Gold, 1990). The scale employs a

5-point Likert-type response method, withresponse selections ranging from nevertrue of me (1) to always true of me (5).Higher scores indicate greater hypercom-petitive attitudes. Ryckman et al. (1990)conducted four studies to assess the relia-bility and validity of the scale, with eachstudy's results indicating strong supportfor the scale.

Motivation.The Gambling MotivationScale (GMS) is a 28-item questionnaire

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motivation among gambling participants(Chantal, Vallerand, & Vallieres, 1994).The measure consists of seven subscalesthat correspond to seven types of motiva-tion. Specifically, three subscales arecollectively used to assess intrinsic moti-vations (intrinsic motivation to know,intrinsic motivation to accomplish, andintrinsic motivation to experience stimu-lations), three subscales are collectivelyused to assess extrinsic motivations (iden-tified regulation, internal regulation, andexternal regulation), and one subscale mea-sures amotivation (not used in the currentstudy). Chantal and Vallerand (1995) foundsound internal consistency for the GMSfor each subscale.

PathologicalGambling. The SouthOaks Gambling Screen (SOGS; Leisure &Blume, 1987) is a widely used self-admin-istered measure for pathological gambling.The SOGS was employed in the currentstudy as both an indicator and quantifier ofpotential problem gambling among thestudy's participants. The SOGS measuresan individual's gambling involvement overthe course of their lifetime. Scores on theSOGS can range from 0 to 20. A score of0 on the SOGS indicates "no problem gam-bling," scores of either 3 or 4 indicate"possible problem gambling," while scoresof 5 or higher indicate 'probable' patho-logical gambling" as defined by DSM-IV(APA, 1994) criteria for pathological gam-bling (Leisure & Blume, 1987).Procedure

Permission from the human subjectsreview board was granted to conduct the


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Table ISouth Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) Categories or ParticipantsWhoReported Gambling Within the PreviousSix Months (N = 123)

Men Women Total (Percent)(N = 62) (N = 61)

No gambling problemPossiblegambling problem * 1 3Probablegamblingproblem** 2

* SOGS score = 3or 4. -* SOGS score>t 5.

required to sign an informed consent state-ment confirming their willingness toparticipate in the study that would ask themto report their gambling behaviors, someof which might be illegal in nature. Par-ticipants were informed by the researcherthat they could withdraw from the study atany time and were assured of theiranonymity. No students chose to withdrawfrom the study. All surveys were complet-ed in the classroom, with no surveys beingallowed to leave the classroom for any rea-son due to the sensitive nature of thequestions and the anonymity issue. Stu-dents were given extra credit in theirintroductory psychology course for theirparticipation in the study.

The current study defines gambling par-ticipation as an individual's activeparticipation (i.e., participation within thelast six-month period) in one or more of thefollowing venues of speculation: state lot-teries, scratch off instant tickets, horse ordog track wagering, sports wagering, casi-

casinos), bingo, and card games.Results

Of the 152 participants surveyed, 80.9%(N = 123; 62 men, 61 women) reportedhaving gambled at least once within thelast six months. Of the participants report-ing having gambled in the previous sixmonths, 94% (N = 116; 59 men, 57women) were classified as having no gam-bling problems based on their SOGSscores. Four (2.6%) participants' SOGSscore indicated a potential problem asso-ciated with their level of gamblinginvolvement (i.e., scores of 3 to 4 on theSOGS). Three (2%) participants' SOGSscore met the criteria for pathological gam-bling (i.e., scores greater than 5 on theSOGS). Table 1 offers a complete sum-mary of participants' gamblingparticipation.

Table 2 reports means and standarddeviations for intrinsic and extrinsic moti-

59 57 116 (94.3)4 (3.3)3 (2.4)


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Gender Differences in Motivation ... /709Table 2Meansand StandardDeviations of Intrinsicand Extrinsic Motivation Scales forParticipantsWho Reported Having GambledIn the Previous Six Months

Men Women Total(N = 62) (N= 61) (N= 123)

M SD M SD M SD

IntrinsicTo KnowAccomplishmentStimulation

CombinedExtrinsic

IdentificationIntrojectedExternalRegulationCombined

2.79 1.55 1.92 1.11 2.36 1.422.23 1.09 1.54 .82 1.89 1.023.23 1.31 2.74 1.25 2.99 1.302.75 L12 2.07 .95 2.42 1.09

1.72 .97 1.53 1.02 1.63 1.001.79 1.20 1.63 1.11 1.71 1.15

2.83 1.89 2.66 1.95 2.75 1.912.12 1.02 1.93 1.03 2.02 1.03

having gambled in the previous six months.One hundred (51 men and 49 women)

of the 123 participants who reported hav-ing gambled at least once within the lastsix months elected to indicate their favoritegambling venues on their SOGS ques-tionnaire. Men overwhelmingly reportedpoker/card playing as their favorite gam-bling venue (37.3%). Other top maleresponses included sports (13.7%), horseracing (11.8%), lottery/raffle (9.8%), andother games of skill (7.8%). Women alsoreported poker/card games as their favoritegambling activity, but by a much slimmermargin (24.5%). Other female responseswere: lottery/raffle (22.4%), scratch off

(12.2%), and bingo (10.2%). Table 3 sum-marizes offers a complete summary ofparticipants' game-type preferences bygender.Competitiveness

An independent samples t-test indicat-ed that men (M = 61.01, SD 10.17) weresignificantly more competitive than women(M = 55.83, SD 11.43), t (149) = 2.94, p

gender diff and motivation

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