Maladaptive Personality Trait Facets and Mentalization in Youth Gambling

Previous studies indicated that both maladaptive personality traits and mentalizing deficits significantly contribute to gambling severity in the adult population. Although the ability to mentalize plays a key role in the development of personality and youth age is critical for the development of personality traits, to date, no study has analyzed the interplay between personality and mentalization in youth gambling. Moreover, the studies until now have mainly focused on the personality domains, substantially neglecting the role of personality trait facets in gambling. The present study was aimed to clarify, for the first time, the role of specific maladaptive personality trait facets in youth gambling, as well as to explore the interplay between personality facets, mentalization, and gambling among high school students. Three hundred and sixty-five high school students administered the South Oaks Gambling Screen-Revised for Adolescence (SOGS-RA), the 220-item Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5), and the Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (RFQ-8). Hierarchical linear regression analysis showed that male gender, older age, high scores on Uncertainty about mental states, Perceptual dysregulation, Deceitfulness, and Attention seeking significantly predict gambling severity. The mediation analysis revealed that the effect of Uncertainty about mental states on gambling severity was mediated by Perceptual dysregulation and Deceitfulness. Results indicated that impaired mentalizing could constitute a vulnerable condition for the development of maladaptive personality functioning that, in turn, could predispose to engage in gambling. The present study provides an important contribution, identifying the potential personality dimensions underlying gambling problems and shedding light on the role of mentalizing functioning in the personality, so it turns out to be useful in developing preventive interventions for gambling addiction in youth.