Impulsion and Addictive Gambling Behaviour

The study examined impulsitivity: A predictor of addictive gambling behavior among youths. 150 participants were drawn from various locations in Jos metropolis comprising of 105 males and 45 females with age range of 18-45 years. The short form of Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS) developed by Marcello Spinella (2005) consisting of 15 items was used to measure impulsivity while the Gambling Addictive Behavior Scale (GABS) developed by Hyun Sook and Sun Young (2012) was used to measure addictive gambling behavior. Three hypotheses were tested using one way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The findings of the study showed that there was no significant effect of impulsivity on addictive gambling behavior F (1, 148) = 0.479, p = 0.490 (p> .05); more so, there was a significant effect of impulsivity on addictive gambling behaviour among young and old participants, F (1, 87) = 4.154, p = 0.045 (p< .05). Finally, there was a significant effect of impulsivity on addictive gambling behaviour among males and females participants. F (1, 87) = 26.383, p = 0.0005 (p<.05). Based on the findings, it's recommended that there should be intensive enlightenment campaign to educate the public on the menace of engaging in addictive gambling behavior.