Gambling refusal self-efficacy and protective behavioral strategies mediate and moderate the relationships between impulsivity and gambling outcomes

Why saying no to a bet matters

Many people enjoy the occasional lottery ticket or sports bet, but for some, gambling quietly grows into a serious problem. This study looks at why some impulsive people slide into harmful gambling while others manage to keep it in check. The researchers focus on two everyday skills that anyone can relate to: how confident you feel about refusing a risky bet, and the simple safety habits you use when you do gamble. Understanding these factors can help explain who is most at risk and what might protect them.

The pull of acting on impulse

Impulsivity describes a tendency to act quickly without thinking through the long term costs. Earlier work has linked impulsive traits to many addictive behaviors, including problem gambling. In this study, more impulsive gamblers tended to report more gambling related problems and a stronger overall involvement with gambling, such as gambling more often or for longer periods. However, impulsivity alone did not tell the whole story. The researchers wanted to know which personal skills might weaken or strengthen the link between acting on impulse and ending up with serious gambling harms.

Confidence in walking away

One key skill the team examined was gambling refusal self confidence, meaning how sure people felt that they could say no to gambling in tempting or stressful situations. Examples include being urged to join in by friends or feeling strong emotions. In the survey of 926 adult gamblers, those who were more impulsive tended to feel less confident about refusing a bet. Lower refusal confidence, in turn, was tied to more severe gambling problems and greater gambling involvement. Statistical models suggested that part of the impact of impulsivity on gambling problems flowed through this sense of low confidence: feeling unable to walk away helped explain why impulsive people were more at risk.

Everyday safety habits while gambling

The second protective factor was a set of practical safety habits around gambling, called protective behavioral strategies. These include simple steps such as deciding in advance how much money or time to spend, avoiding gambling venues, or limiting how often you play. In this study, more impulsive gamblers reported using these strategies less often. People who used safety habits more frequently tended to have fewer gambling problems and lower involvement. The analyses showed that these strategies partly explained the link between impulsivity and both problem gambling and overall gambling activity: impulsive gamblers who did not rely on such safeguards were more likely to experience harm.

When safety habits blunt the risk

The researchers also tested whether confidence and safety habits could change how strongly impulsivity was connected to gambling problems. Here, the practical strategies stood out. Among gamblers who rarely used protective strategies, higher impulsivity was clearly tied to more gambling problems and higher involvement. But among those who often used these strategies, the link between impulsivity and harmful outcomes largely faded. In other words, even impulsive gamblers seemed less affected by their impulses when they regularly set limits and avoided risky situations. Refusal confidence did not show the same buffering effect once other factors were taken into account.

What this means for people who gamble

In plain terms, the study suggests that impulsive tendencies do not doom someone to develop gambling problems, but they raise the stakes. Feeling able to say no to a bet and, even more, using simple safety habits can reduce the impact of impulsive urges on real life outcomes. Because the research relied on a single online survey, it cannot prove cause and effect, and it focused on one group of Hungarian gamblers rather than a full national sample. Still, the findings point to clear targets for help and prevention: boosting people’s confidence to refuse gambling in risky moments, and teaching concrete strategies like setting time and money limits, may help keep gambling as a controlled pastime rather than a source of harm.

Citation: Nagy, N., Czakó, A., Demetrovics, Z. et al. Gambling refusal self-efficacy and protective behavioral strategies mediate and moderate the relationships between impulsivity and gambling outcomes. Sci Rep 16, 15952 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-46112-w

Keywords: problem gambling, impulsivity, self control, protective strategies, online gambling