Gambling in the Shadow of War: Evidence of Increased Problem Gambling for Men with Difficulties in Emotional Regulation During a Mass Trauma

Research suggests that Problem Gambling (PG) may result from maladaptive emotional regulation strategies aimed at escaping emotions and stress caused by negative life events and trauma. The current study, aimed to examine the effect of exposure to the mass trauma of October 7, 2023 terror attack and the consequent Swords of Iron war in Israel, and difficulties in emotional regulation on PG. We utilized longitudinal data of self-reports in the Problem Gambling Severity Index collected before the terror attack (April 2022) and during the Swords of Iron war (December 2023, March 2024, June 2024; N = 899) from a large sample of adult Jewish Israelis. Participants also completed the Difficulties in Emotional Regulation Scale before the war (April 2022). Results indicated that for non-problem gamblers, among men, high difficulties in emotion regulation scores were associated with increased PG scores from the time before to the times during the war (bs > 0.53, p-values < 0.003) but not for women or men with low difficulties in emotion regulation scores (bs < 0.36, p-values > 0.167). Among participants at moderate risk for PG and problem gamblers, there was a decrease in PG scores, especially among participants low in difficulties in emotion regulation, beyond gender. Findings highlight the important role of collective traumatic events and difficulties in emotion regulations as predictors of problem gambling. We discuss the study limitations, including the relatively small number of participants at risk for PG and the specificity of the sample, and offer directions for future research.