UPPS-P Impulsivity, Momentary Affect, and Gambling: an Experience Sampling Method Study

Examine the relations among UPPS-P impulsigenic traits (i.e., Negative and Positive Urgency, Lack of Premeditation, Lack of Perseverance, Sensation Seeking) and momentary affect with gambling behaviors in daily life. 

Ninety-nine people who regularly gamble (M_age = 29.61; 69.7% male; 55.6% White) completed baseline self-report assessments of UPPS-P traits and responded to six daily prompts for seven days assessing affective states and gambling behavior. Bayesian mixed-effects models were used to estimate the additive and interactive effects of trait impulsivity and momentary affect on four gambling behaviors: (a) whether participants gambled since the previous signal, (b) time spent gambling, (c) money planned to gamble, and (d) money actually spent. 

Most estimated effects did not meet the preregistered threshold for significance (99% credible intervals excluding zero). The only robust and statistically significant effect was a positive association between Lack of Premeditation and time spent gambling. Momentary affect variables showed heterogeneous associations with gambling outcomes, and zero cross-level interactions between traits, momentary affect, and gambling pathology severity were supported. 

The robust association between Lack of Premeditation and gambling duration highlights the value of modeling impulsivity as a multidimensional construct that has varying relations with different forms of gambling behaviors in daily life. Although most effects were small and uncertain, the Bayesian framework allowed us to quantify uncertainty and provide estimates that may facilitate the use of more informed prior probability distributions in future work.