The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating roles of self-control and social support in the relationship between irrational gambling beliefs and gambling behavior among middle school students. To address this purpose, the following research...
The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating roles of self-control and social support in the relationship between irrational gambling beliefs and gambling behavior among middle school students. To address this purpose, the following research questions were established.
First, what are the relationships among irrational gambling beliefs, self-control, social support, and gambling behavior in middle school students?
Second, does self-control mediate the relationship between irrational gambling beliefs and gambling behavior?
Third, does social support mediate the relationship between irrational gambling beliefs and gambling behavior?
A total of 408 valid responses collected through a survey administered to students at a middle school in Seoul were used for the final analysis. The data were analyzed using SPSS 28.0 and the SPSS PROCESS macro 4.0 (Model 4). The main findings are as follows.
First, irrational gambling beliefs showed significant negative correlations with self-control and social support, and a significant positive correlation with gambling behavior. In addition, both self-control and social support demonstrated significant negative correlations with gambling behavior.
Second, the mediating effect of self-control was confirmed, indicating that irrational gambling beliefs directly influenced gambling behavior and also exerted a significant indirect effect through self-control.
Third, the mediating effect of social support was also verified, showing that irrational gambling beliefs directly affected gambling behavior while simultaneously exerting a significant indirect effect through social support.
Based on these results, this study discusses its implications and limitations and proposes directions for future research.