Abstract

The purposes of the study is to classify the psychological characteristics of gamblers using by latent profile analysis and to identify the consequences according toof the latent profiles. The subjects of the study are 473 adults gamblers who responded to a online survey about gambling patterns, basic psychological needs(BPNs), and mental health status(MHS) such as stress, depression, and anxiety. Using latent profile analysis known as the person-centered analysis, the results showed that psychological characteristics of gamblers were classified into three groups: ‘Lower MHS-BPNs’, ‘Middle MHS-BPNs’, and ‘Upper MHS-BPNs’. Also, the as outcome variable, levels of problematic gambling(KCPGI) showed significant differences across the latent profiles such as Problem gambling(M=11.393) on ‘Lower MHS-BPNs’, Moderate-risk gambling(M=4.277) on ‘Middle MHS-BPNs’ and Low-risk gambling (M=1.718) on ‘Upper MHS-BPNs’. Overcoming the limitations of variable-centered analysis in the existing studies, this study providesreveals new insights onin the psychological characteristics of gamblers and how different latent profiles of gamblers may be in theirdistinct levels of problematic gambling. Finally, limitations of the study and future directions for research on gambling problems are discussed.