Profils de joueurs à problèmes : un test empirique du modèle des parcours multiples

The Pathways Model, theorized by Blaszczynski and Nower (2002), suggests the existence of at least three distinct pathways leading to problem-gambling, resulting in three unique profiles of gamblers: behaviorally conditioned, emotionally vulnerable, and biologically vulnerable gamblers. The authors suggest that each one these profiles is characterized by a set of biopsychosocial characteristics that precede or follow the beginning of problem-gambling. In order to distinguish what precedes from what may follow, it is important to use longitudinal data to effectively validate the Pathways Model. Several attempts have been made to verify the theoretical model’s accuracy, only one of which targeted adolescents. However, none of these studies implemented a longitudinal perspective.  Throughout this thesis, three articles will be presented (two of which are empirical studies) with the main goal of validating the Pathways Model among a population of adolescents followed into early adulthood. Both empirical studies have collected data using a prospective approach in two population samples. More precisely, the first empirical study aims to identify the presence of the profiles described by the Pathways Model specifically among problem-gamblers from both samples. To achieve this goal, indicators of personal risk assessed in early adolescence were used for latent profile analyses, in order to explore whether the resulting best-fitting model would bring out profiles consistent with the Pathways Model. These indicators consisted of depression, anxiety, impulsivity, hyperactivity, antisociality, aggressiveness, and drug/alcohol use. The resulting profiles were then compared in terms of their gender distribution, as well as their number of gambling problems in late adolescence and early adulthood. The second empirical article used these same risk indicators and the same statistical techniques among the whole samples (i.e., including non-gamblers), in order to identify as early as the beginning of adolescence profiles that could be at risk for developing gambling problems, and to check once again whether these profiles resembled those described by the Pathways Model. Moreover, various compensatory and protective factors assessed when participants were 14 years old (parental involvement, parent-child connectedness, peer conformity, and peer connectedness), and likely to minimize the occurrence of gambling problems, were put into play. Finally, the third article aims to offer various suggestions for prevention and intervention efforts, which are in line with our study results and the Pathways Model.  Results from the first empirical study point toward the existence of four unique profiles of problem-gamblers; three of which closely resemble those described by the Pathways Model. The fourth profile likely represents an overlap of Emotionally and Biologically Vulnerable pathways. These results are comforted by the second empirical study, which identifies four similar profiles, but among the full population sample. Various compensatory and protective factors were also identified, as a function of participants’ at-risk profiles, and the time-point when gambling problems were assessed (i.e., late adolescence and early adulthood). Taken together, these results advocate a targeted prevention and intervention approach, tailored to participants’ profiles.

Keyphrases: gambling, pathways model, longitudinal design, adolescence, early adulthood, risk factor, protective factors