Erroneous cognition and gambling intention of youths

Abstract

Youth gambling has posed a huge challenge to functional youth development in contemporary societies. Various explanations have been suggested for youth gambling intention. We aim to explore the role of erroneous cognition in gambling intention. The study objective is to establish whether erroneous cognitive distortions predict gambling intentions among youth gamblers. Three hundred and nine male adolescents (mean age = 17.31 years, SD = 2.19) completed questionnaires on erroneous gambling-related cognitions and gambling intention. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that two dimensions of erroneous cognition (illusion of control and interpretative bias) positively associated with gambling intention, while predictive control negatively associated with gambling intention. These findings show that erroneous cognitions are a risk factor in gambling intention. This finding provides steps towards devising appropriate cognitive-based therapeutic tool for the prevention and control of intention to gamble in internet gambling.