The effects of induced sadness, stress sensitivity, negative urgency, and gender in laboratory gambling

Previous research indicates that the invigorating effect of stress sensitivity on gambling behavior might be moderated by individual differences. The current preregistered study tested whether gender and negative urgency (i.e. an emotion-related impulsivity trait) moderate the relationship between perceived stress and laboratory gambling following experimentally induced sadness. One hundred twenty college students were randomly assigned to a sadness versus a control condition before completing a laboratory gambling task. Although the distribution of the main study variables forced us to slightly deviate from the preregistered data analysis plan, we were able to show that heightened stress sensitivity affects gambling behavior and that this effect differs by gender (but not in terms of negative urgency) under conditions of sadness versus neutral mood. Men with high stress sensitivity gambled more money and more frequently selected the riskier betting option in the sadness condition, whereas women with heightened stress sensitivity display the same pattern in the neutral condition. Our study is relevant from a methodological standpoint and answers recent calls for endorsing open-science practices in gambling research. Findings also suggest that more research into female gambling is warranted and that emotion-regulation skills should be a central component of problem gambling prevention.