Introduction to the Special Issue “20 years of the Pathways Model: understanding disordered gambling and other behavioural addictions”

ABSTRACT The Pathways Model of problem gambling has become a highly influential framework in the field of gambling studies. This special issue commemorates 20 years since the publication of the original paper, highlighting the sustained impact of the Pathways Model across the broader and emergent field of behavioral addictions. As a framework, the Pathways Model set out two distinct objectives: first, to synthesize an array of risk factors and psychological processes that have been implicated in the etiology of gambling problems, and second, to characterize heterogeneity among people with gambling problems. As the articles included in this collection confirm, the three subtypes proposed by Blaszczynski & Nower continue to be an especially powerful stimulus for research.