Over the past decade, several studies have investigated the relationship between cognitive distortions and emotion regulation among adolescent gamblers, demonstrating the exacerbating role of alcohol consumption when co-occurring with gambling problems. An important construct, that to date has been largely neglected, is mentalizing (i.e. the ability to reflect on one's own and others' mental states). The aim of the present study was (for the first time) to investigate the relative contribution of mentalization, emotional dysregulation, cognitive distortions, and alcohol consumption among adolescent gamblers. A total of 396 students (69.2% females) aged 14–19 years were recruited from secondary schools in Southern Italy. Assessment measures included the South Oaks Gambling Screen Revised for Adolescents (SOGS-RA), the Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (RFQ-8), the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), the Gambling Related Cognitions Scale (GRCS), and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Regression analysis showed that, along with male gender, the best predictors of adolescent gambling were scores on two GRCS subscales (i.e., ‘inability to stop gambling’ and ‘interpretative bias’), the RFQ-8’s ‘uncertainty about mental states’ dimension, and the DERS ‘impulse control difficulties’ factor, with the overall model explaining more than one-third of the total variance. The results clearly indicated that, along with gambling-related cognitive distortions, uncertainty about mental states, and difficulties remaining in control of one’s behavior when experiencing negative emotions contributed significantly to problematic gambling among adolescents.

在过去的十年中，几项研究调查了青少年赌徒的认知扭曲与情绪调节之间的关系，证明了与赌博问题同时发生时饮酒的加剧作用。迄今为止，人们一直忽略了一个重要的构想，那就是心理化（即能够反思自己和他人的心理状态的能力）。本研究的目的是（首次）调查青少年赌徒中心理化，情绪失调，认知障碍和饮酒的相对贡献。从意大利南部的中学招募了396名年龄在14-19岁之间的学生（女性占69.2％）。评估措施包括为青少年修订的南奥克斯赌博屏幕（SOGS-RA），反射功能问卷（RFQ-8），情绪调节困难量表（DERS），赌博相关认知量表（GRCS）和酒精使用障碍识别测试（AUDIT）。回归分析表明，与男性性别一起，青少年赌博的最佳预测指标是两个GRCS子量表的得分（即“无法停止赌博”和“解释性偏见”），RFQ-8的“关于精神状态的不确定性”，和DERS的“脉冲控制困难”因素，整体模型解释了总方差的三分之一以上。结果清楚地表明，与赌博相关的认知扭曲，心理状态的不确定性，