Differences in gambling behaviors and mental health depending on types of gambling motives among young adults in Korea

ABSTRACT This study explores how various gambling motives are complexly typified among young adults and examines the difference between gambling behavior and problems and mental health according to typed groups of sub-gambling motives. With 243 young adults as subjects, latent class analysis using M-plus was employed to check how the gambling motives of young adults are typified, and chi-test and one-way ANOVA were performed on the differences in gambling behavior, gambling problems, and mental health according to the derived latent group (typing). As a result, the parallel and complex aspects of gambling motives were derived into four types of gambling motives, and according to group characteristics, they were named as follows: low overall motivation group (29.8%), high level of avoidance-focused-complex motivation group (36.4%), high level of excitement and social motivation group (19.0%), and high level of monetary and amusement motivation group (14.9%). According to the types of gambling motives, differences in gambling behavior, gambling problems, and mental health were higher in the high-level avoidance-focused-complex motivation group than in the other groups. Based on these results, we suggest establishing an intervention strategy by carefully evaluating the level of avoidance motivation and its causes when various motives are combined in clinical settings.