IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/intgms/v11y2011i2p253-262.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Problem gambling: an outcome of a life history strategy

Author

Listed:
  • Sigal Tifferet
  • Sophia Agrest
  • Adi Benisti Shlomo

Abstract

Evolution has created a spectrum of life history strategies that are linked to different personality profiles. People with low-K life history strategies display traits such as low parental investment, non-adherence to social rules, short-term planning, risk taking and impulsivity. We hypothesized that low-K strategists, who are characterized by this personality profile, would be inclined towards problem gambling. Seventy male customers of Israeli kiosks that offer lottery tickets answered questionnaires about their gambling behaviour, personality traits and demographics. As hypothesized, customers who came to buy a lottery ticket had lower K strategies than other customers. In addition, customers with a lower K strategy tended to report higher levels of problem gambling, independent of demographics. We propose that problem gambling may be a consequence of a low-K life history strategy and that by using evolutionary theory we can enhance our understanding of problem gambling, by linking it to a broader theoretical framework.

Suggested Citation

  • Sigal Tifferet & Sophia Agrest & Adi Benisti Shlomo, 2011. "Problem gambling: an outcome of a life history strategy," International Gambling Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(2), pages 253-262, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:intgms:v:11:y:2011:i:2:p:253-262
    DOI: 10.1080/14459795.2011.599328
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/14459795.2011.599328
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/14459795.2011.599328?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:intgms:v:11:y:2011:i:2:p:253-262. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RIGS20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.