Research on the role of affect in problem gambling remains scarce to date, although it has been proposed that trait-levels of negative self-conscious emotions (SCEs) could be potential risk factors. We report two studies investigating the relationship between negative SCEs, gambling, and risky behavior. In the first study, we investigated shame, guilt and self-disgust in a group of problem-gamblers and control non-gamblers. In the second study, we investigated if experimentally manipulating state levels of guilt, using a narration-induction paradigm, in students with different levels of gambling behavior, would influence their behavior in the Balloon Analog Risk Task. We found that problem gamblers had significantly lower trait-levels of guilt when we adjusted for the influence of depression and anxiety symptoms (p = .008). Problem gamblers also exhibited lower levels of shame, but this difference seemed to be driven by guilt. Lower levels of guilt were significantly associated with higher levels of trait impulsivity (p = .004). In the second study, gamblers had higher state levels of guilt than non-gamblers at the outset, and the narration paradigm successfully induced guilt (p = .001). After the guilt induction, the group of gamblers had significantly less risky behaviour (lower number of pumps) than the group of non-gamblers (p = .021). However, this was primarily driven by an increase in risky behaviour in the non-gamblers (p = .006). Thus, overall our findings suggest that higher trait levels of guilt may act as a protective factor for gambling, whereas high state levels of guilt lead to riskier behaviour but only in people who are not gamblers.

迄今为止，关于情感在问题赌博中的作用的研究仍然很少，尽管有人提出消极自我意识情绪 (SCE) 的特质水平可能是潜在的风险因素。我们报告了两项调查负面 SCE、赌博和危险行为之间关系的研究。在第一项研究中，我们调查了一组问题赌徒和对照非赌徒的羞耻、内疚和自我厌恶。在第二项研究中，我们调查了在具有不同赌博行为水平的学生中，使用叙述诱导范式实验性地操纵内疚状态水平是否会影响他们在气球模拟风险任务中的行为。我们发现，当我们调整抑郁和焦虑症状的影响时，问题赌徒的内疚特质水平显着降低（p = .008)。问题赌徒也表现出较低程度的羞耻感，但这种差异似乎是由内疚驱动的。较低水平的内疚与较高水平的特质冲动显着相关（p  = .004）。在第二项研究中，赌徒一开始的内疚程度高于非赌徒，叙述范式成功地诱发了内疚（p  = .001）。诱导内疚后，赌徒组的风险行为（抽水次数减少）明显低于非赌徒组（p  = .021）。然而，这主要是由于非赌徒风险行为的增加（p = .006)。因此，总体而言，我们的研究结果表明，较高的内疚特质水平可能是赌博的保护因素，而高水平的内疚会导致更危险的行为，但仅限于非赌徒的人。