关键词:  问题购彩, 命运控制, 逃避动机, 控制幻觉, 预期

Abstract:  Problem lottery playing has received increasing attention nowadays. Previous studies reveal that lottery-specific beliefs, such as lottery attitudes, risk perception, and irrational belief, play significant roles in the development and maintenance of problem lottery playing which are mostly based on social-cognitive theory or theory of planned behavior. Few studies have investigated the relationship between general belief and problem lottery playing. Fate control, as an important general belief, provides an account of our experiences and is also a form of meaning. Studies have shown that fate control is correlate with various psychological indicators (e.g., negative affect, study intention, and problem gambling), and it is particularly strong in Asian cultures. However, little is known about the effect of fate control on problem lottery playing and its mediators explaining this relationship. In the perspective of meaning maintenance model, this study aimed to examine the effect of fate control on problem lottery playing, and the mediating roles of avoidance motivation, illusion of control, and expectation deviation. A sample of 2241 sport lottery players (1592 male, 649 female) were recruited for the study. They were required to complete a battery of self-report questionnaires. Fate control was measured by the subscales of Social Axioms Survey. Avoidance motivation was measured by subscales of lottery playing motivation adapted from five-factor gambling motivation scale. Illusion of control and expectancy were measured by subscales of lottery related cognitions adapted from Gambling Related Cognitions Scale. Problem Gambling Severity Index was adapted to access problem lottery playing. Data was analyzed by using SPSS 17.0 and MPLUS 7.0 which was specifically developed for assessing the complex models with the bias-corrected percentile Bootstrap method. The results of the study showed that fate control, avoidance motivation, illusion of control, expectancy were positively related to problem lottery playing; fate control was positively related to avoidance motivation, illusion of control, expectancy; avoidance motivation was positively related to illusion of control and expectancy. Structure equation modeling revealed significant prediction of fate control on avoidance motivation, illusion of control, expectancy and problem lottery playing. Avoidance motivation, illusion of control and expectancy mediated the relationship between fate control and problem lottery playing. Moreover, avoidance motivation could mediate the relationship among fate control, illusion of control and expectancy. The mediating effect contained five paths: the mediating effect of avoidance motivation, of illusion of control, and of expectancy, the serial mediating effect of avoidance motivation and the serial mediating effect of illusion of control, avoidance motivation and expectancy. The present study offers the following major contributions. First, we investigated the effects of fate control on avoidance motivation, illusion of control, expectancy and problem lottery playing, which support the negative side of fate control. Second, the present study explored the meaning maintenance mechanism of fate control on problem lottery playing by identifying the central role of avoidance motivation based on meaning maintenance model, which broadens the research perspectives of problem lottery playing. Third, this study revealed that general fate control belief could indirectly facilitate problem lottery playing through lottery- specific beliefs.

Key words: problem lottery playing, fate control, avoidance motivation, illusion of control, expectancy