Flow and dissociation: examination of mean levels, cross-links, and links to emotional well-being across sports and recreational and pathological gambling.
To examine whether flow (Csikszentmihalyi (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. NY: Harper & Row) and dissociation (Jacobs (1986). Journal of Gambling Behavior, 2, 15-31) are experienced across sports and recreational and pathological gambling, we assessed a sample of 511 college students (256 females and 255 males, M age = 19.54) that was comprised of 14 pathological gamblers, 21 non-addicted gamblers, and 476 athletes. The findings showed that both flow and dissociation lay on a continuum of subjective experiences across activity groups. Specifically, pathological gamblers experienced lower levels of flow than athletes, whereas recreational gamblers lay in between the previous groups in this regard. In contrast, pathological gamblers experienced higher mean levels of dissociation than athletes and recreational gamblers who, in turn, were similar in this regard. A LISREL model showed that flow was positively associated with general emotional well-being, whereas dissociation was negatively associated with well-being.
Wanner
Brigitte
B
Research Unit on Children's Psychosocial Maladjustment, University of Montreal, 3050 Blvd. Edouard-Montpetit, H3T 1J7, Montreal, QC, Canada. Brigitte.Wanner@UMONTREAL.ca
Ladouceur
Robert
R
Auclair
Amélie V
AV
Vitaro
Frank
F
D000328:Adult; D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005715:Gambling / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D011998:Recreation / Q000523:psychology; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012931:Social Environment; D013177:Sports / Q000523:psychology*; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States