Hui Zhou

Problematic shopping is recognized as a public health concern, yet its underlying psychosocial mechanisms remain underexplored. Integrating Self-Determination Theory and Value-Belief-Norm Theory, this study examined whether and how value orientations and social beliefs were related to problematic shopping among Chinese adults and explored the robustness of these pathways across adult samples from China and the United Kingdom (UK). Using convenience sampling, 462 participants residing in China (M_age = 23.44, SD = 7.45; 70.7% female) and 500 participants residing in the UK (M_age = 40.18, SD = 13.85; 67.9% female) completed an anonymous online questionnaire. Path analysis showed that most hypothesized paths were supported in Chinese adults. However, the paths from intrinsic value orientation to social cynicism and problematic shopping were nonsignificant, whereas the path from reward for application to problematic shopping was significant but opposite to the hypothesized direction. Mediation analysis revealed that extrinsic value orientation had significant positive total and indirect effects on problematic shopping through social cynicism and social complexity, whereas intrinsic value orientation had no significant total effect but showed a significant positive indirect effect through reward for application, contrary to the hypothesized direction, and a significant negative indirect effect through social complexity. Additionally, the Wald test detected no significant between-group differences, and the equality-constrained model showed good fit without substantial deterioration in model fit. Overall, these findings provide empirical support for applying a value-belief perspective to understanding problematic shopping and suggest that this value-belief pathway shows a similar pattern across the two samples. The findings also provide a basis for future research to examine whether components of this pathway may have relevance for interventions addressing problematic shopping.

Background: Drawing on the intolerance of uncertainty model, this study aimed to examine whether intolerance of uncertainty and emotion regulation difficulties (in terms of impulse control difficulties and limited access to emotion regulation strategies) contributed to individual differences in gambling urge and involvement. Methods: Convenience sampling was used to recruit Chinese adult participants who had engaged in buying lottery tickets and other gambling activities in the past year. They were asked to complete an anonymous questionnaire survey, and a total of 580 valid cases (M_age = 34.07, SD = 13.36; 50.4% female) were collected for data analysis. Results: Path analysis showed that the total effect of intolerance of uncertainty on gambling urge and involvement was significant and positive. However, only impulse control difficulties and not limited access to emotion regulation strategies fully mediated the effect of intolerance of uncertainty. Conclusions: As the first study to apply the intolerance of uncertainty model to real-life gambling, it found that individuals’ intolerance of uncertainty and impulse control difficulties contributed to more gambling urge and involvement. Improving emotion regulation skill (e.g., impulse control training) may, therefore, be considered in programs for promoting responsible gambling among Chinese gamblers.

Considering the low levels of empathy associated with substance-related addictions and the similarities between gambling disorder (GD) and substance-related addiction, understanding the relationship between empathy and GD may clarify the mechanism of addiction development. This scoping review aimed to evaluate the empirical evidence for the potential protective role of emotional and cognitive empathy against GD development via internalizing and/or externalizing pathways. We followed the preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analyses extension for scoping reviews and 11 articles met the inclusion criteria. Although most of the reviewed studies used correlational designs and non-gambling-specific samples, this review highlights (1) significant relationships between both types of empathy and the neural activity of gambling behaviors, and (2) reduced cognitive empathy (i.e., fantasy and perspective taking) and increased emotional empathy (i.e., personal distress) among problem gamblers than their gambling counterparts. Despite the lack of studies directly testing the protective role of empathy against GD, the existing studies (n = 8) nevertheless shed light on the potential protective effects of both types of empathy on GD development. This review identified research gaps, which can be addressed in future studies by discovering the underlying mechanisms (e.g., internalizing and externalizing pathways) of these relationships. Experimental or longitudinal studies in gamblers investigating how different types of empathy are associated with GD via these pathways are called for as their findings have implications for prevention and intervention designs for GD and other addictive disorders.