creator Blanco, Rodney M advisor Haedt-Matt, Alissa While the wide range of social, economic, and psychological problems associated with pathological gambling are well-known; there is need for a better conceptualization of Gambling Disorder (GD). Previous research has shown that individuals with GD have higher levels of impulsivity than control participants and that impulsivity is a significant predictor of gambling severity. Given the strong link between impulsivity and gambling behavior, it would be informative to identify processes that would attenuate this association. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) constructs of experiential avoidance, mindfulness, and values clarification moderate the relation between impulsivity and gambling behavior. Two hundred twelve participants were recruited through an on-line advertisement to complete a series of questionnaires regarding demographics, gambling behavior, impulsivity, experiential avoidance, mindfulness, and values clarification. Results indicated that gambling behavior was positively correlated with impulsivity and experiential avoidance. In addition, experiential avoidance moderated the relation between impulsivity and gambling behavior such that the association between impulsivity and gambling behavior was stronger at greater levels of experiential avoidance. However, contrary to hypotheses, mindfulness and values clarification were not significantly correlated with gambling behavior; however, both values clarification and mindfulness were moderators at a trend level. The findings of this study provide a preliminary picture of how ACT constructs are related to gambling behaviors and impulsivity among a community sample. Submitted by Erma Thomas (thomase@iit.edu) on 2017-05-17T22:06:02Z No. of bitstreams: 1 etdadmin_upload_473049.zip: 632019 bytes, checksum: e2d15ee1cf52048afeb6848e32a3273b (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2017-05-17T22:06:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 etdadmin_upload_473049.zip: 632019 bytes, checksum: e2d15ee1cf52048afeb6848e32a3273b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-12 Ph.D. in Psychology, December 2016 2016 2016-12 http://hdl.handle.net/10560/4051 en experiential avoidance Gambling impulsivity mindfulness values clarification Dissertation born digital application/pdf In Copyright http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/ Restricted Access PSYCH / Institute of Psychology Illinois Institute of Technology Affiliated department