The Brief Addiction Science Information Source (BASIS)

The Wager, Volume 8(13) - All Bets Off: Pathological Gambling and Comorbid Substance Abuse

Many researchers have looked at how substance abuse and pathological gambling correlate (e.g., Cunningham-Williams, Cottler, Compton, Spitznagel, & Ben-Abdallah, 2000; Feigelman, Wallisch, & Lesieur, 1998; Lesieur, Blume, & Zoppa, 1986; Shaffer, in press; Welte, Barnes, Wieczorek, Tidwell, & Parker, 2001). Because researchers frequently use different tools and methods to study this relationship it makes it difficult to compare the results. This week The WAGER examines a study by Maccallum and Blaszcynski which reports the first Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) data relating pathological gambling and substance abuse. Maccallum and Blaszcynski recruited seventy-five (48 male) gamblers seeking treatment for disordered poker... Read more →

The Wager, Volume 8(12) - Among the Homeless, Gambling Disorders Run High

Editors’ Note: Next week, The WAGER will feature a research review co-written by Tony Donato and special guest author Lynda Bolt. Lynda is an intern at the Harvard Medical School Division on Addictions (DOA) and will be graduating from the St. Francis House Moving Ahead Program (MAP) on March 28. The DOA was honored to be a part of this internship program, which Lynda initiated as part of her MAP activities. In addition to gaining knowledge about academic research, Lynda also spent time writing an autobiographical article that we will post on the DOA website next week; she hopes this... Read more →

The Wager, Volume 8(11) - All in the Family: PG and the Role of Family History

Some scientists speculate that disordered gambling is more prevalent in families with a history of disordered gambling behavior. In an effort to assess the familial genetic relationships of pathological gambling and other psychiatric disorders, Black, Moyer, and Schlosser (2003) analyzed both familial and personal data of pathological gamblers and healthy control subjects. This week’s WAGER presents the family results of this study. Black et al. recruited individuals who gamble problematically through newspaper ads and news releases. The final study group consisted of thirty participants (21 male) who met the South Oaks Gambling Screen [SOGS; (Lesieur & Blume, 1987)] criteria for... Read more →

The Wager, Volume 8(10) - Looking ahead: Relating future time perspectives to problem gambling

When you think about the future, how far ahead do you typically look? A week? Two weeks? A month? Research suggests that individuals vary and there is evidence that people tend towards shorter or longer future time perspectives and that these tendencies influence current behaviors and choices (Rothspan & Read, 1996; Strathman, Gleicher, Boninger, & Edwards, 1994). For example, people with very short time horizons might see only the immediate advantages of a choice and not the long-term consequences of their behaviors. This week’s WAGER reviews a study of the relationship between time perspective and pathological gambling (Hodgins & Engel,... Read more →