Problem Gambling among Southeastern Nigerian Male Sample: Understanding the Indirect Effect of Dispositional Greed on its Association with Emotional Regulation.

The growing popularity of various gambling platforms, the dispositional greed to indulging in it, and the emotional attachment associated with it have led to an unusually alarming attractiveness to gambling behaviors in most young males. This study established a mechanism and adopted Ryan and Deci (2017) self-determination theory(STD) to explain problem gambling through dispositional greed and emotional regulation. A total of 1123 Southeastern Nigerian male sample whose ages ranged from 18 to 30 years (mean age = 24 years, SD = 3.80) participated in the study.The study adopted a cross-sectional design, and participants responded to Problem Gambling Severity of Index (PGSI), Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), and Greed Scale. Results of the correlation analysis and Hayes Process Macro showed that emotion regulation was not associated with problem gambling. However, the expressive suppression dimension became positively associated with problem gambling after being enhanced by dispositional greed, which positively associated with problem gambling and further mediated its relationships with both dimensions of emotion regulation. Interventions targeting emotional regulations and dispositional greed may be effective in reducing problem gambling behaviors.