The relationship of impulsive sensation seeking and gender to interest and participation in gambling activities

A growing number of studies have examined the relationship between the presonality trait of sensation seeking and gambling. However, many of the studies focused on student populations, pathological gamblers and/or collected data in laboratory or classroom settings. The current study adds to the literature on sensation seeking and gambling by using a phone survey of randomly selected adults (n=790), from Baltimore and Washington DC metropolitan areas in the US, to examine the relationship of impulsive sensation seeking (ImpSS) and gender to interest and participation in gambling. Among the key findings, ANOVA results suggest interest in gambling and variety in respondents’ gambling forms are both a significant function of ImpSS and gender. In addition, correlations between gambling, ImpSS and its subscales vary slightly by sex (depending on the form of gambling). The implications of the results are discussed, along with directions for future research in this area.