Testing the Acquired Preparedness Model: Predicting College Student Gambling Frequency and Symptomatology.

The acquired preparedness model posits that impulsivity influences the development of outcome expectancies that then influence the engagement in a specific risk taking behavior. The purpose of this study was to test the acquired preparedness model for gambling behavior of college students using a multidimensional approach to impulsivity. Employing a structural equation approach, it was predicted that a full mediational model that includes multiple dimensions of impulsivity and multiple outcome expectancies would predict gambling frequency and gambling symptomatology. Support was found for the acquired preparedness model in understanding why some college students gamble more frequently or problematically. Specifically, better model fit was found for the full mediational model that included outcome expectancies to predict both frequency and gambling symptomatology than the model that included the direct relation between impulsivity and gambling.