Puneet Kaur’s research while affiliated with University of Bergen and other places

Objective The association between depression and gambling disorder (GD) has been well-researched. However, prior research lacks consensus on the temporal association between depression and GD. Furthermore, the extant literature has not explored the nature of the aforementioned relationship using objective research methodology data and large-scale samples. The present study addressed these research gaps by investigating the longitudinal relationship between antidepressant prescriptions and the likelihood of developing GD using registry data over a period of 11 years (2008–2018). Methods Data were derived from the Norwegian Patient Registry (NPR) that was matched with data from the Norwegian Prescription Registry (NorPD). The dataset comprised 27,420 individuals, where 5,131 were diagnosed with GD. A binary logistic regression analysis was conducted where individuals with GD were compared with 22,289 individuals matched on age and gender from NPR. Results The results show that individuals with antidepressant prescriptions had higher odds of developing GD (OR = 2.80, 95% CI: 2.60–3.01, p < 0.001). Furthermore, males and older adults were found to have a higher likelihood of being diagnosed with GD. Conclusions Depression is known to be one of the most common mental health disorders. The findings show that prior antidepressant prescription is associated with GD, which would be in accordance with the escape hypothesis because some individuals gamble to escape dysphoric feelings, such as depression. The study findings add to the existing knowledge on the temporal association of depression and GD. Furthermore, the results also have significant practical implications.

Objective The present study investigates the longitudinal relationship between problematic gambling (PG) and the five factor model’s personality traits using autoregressive cross-lagged models. Methods The data used in the current study was collected by a national survey in 2013 (n = 10,081) and a follow-up study (n = 5,848) in 2015. PG was measured using Canadian Problem Gambling Index (CPGI) while personality was assessed using Mini-International Personality Item Pool (MINI-IPIP). Participants who completed the CPGI and all the personality items during both waves (n = 2,702) were analysed. Results The results show that neuroticism had positive cross-lagged associations with CPGI. In contrast, conscientiousness and agreeableness in 2013 were found to have inverse cross-lagged effect on CPGI in 2015. Finally, openness and extraversion did not have any cross-lagged associations with CPGI. Conclusion PG poses serious negative implications for the involved individuals as well as their associated close social circle. Hence, it is important to understand predictors of PG for prevention purposes. Personality traits are one of the influential frameworks for examining uncontrolled psychopathological behaviors like PG. The study findings offer significant theoretical as well as practical implications.

Sportswashing is defined as individuals, groups, companies, or countries/regimes’ involvement in sports to improve their own reputation and/or to distract from or normalize wrongdoing. This cross-sectional survey is the first empirical study on sportswashing in relation to gambling. The sample consisted of United Kingdom residents who reported past 12-month gambling (N = 786, 50% women, mean age = 45.6, SD = 15.2). We investigated how many were familiar with sportswashing and their attitudes toward gambling when sportswashing is involved. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were conducted on the attitudes scale that was developed for the current study. Multiple regressions were used to examine if individual differences in terms of age, gender, personality, moral foundations, political trust and efficacy, and/or gambling risk were associated with such attitudes. Finally, we examined the percentage of people who avoid gambling on teams/events when sportswashing is involved, including group differences in avoidance and motivations for avoidance according to gambling risk. The results showed that only 32% had heard about sportswashing prior to the survey. CFA indicated that attitudes toward sportswashing and gambling as conceptualized in the scale used in the current study can broadly be categorized into two dimensions: How individuals relate to sportswashing when gambling (“self-factor”) and how individuals think gambling companies and regulators should regulate sportswashing and gambling [an “external-factor,” p < 0.001, CFI = 0.0.996, RMSEA = 0.090, 90% CI (0.077, 0.104)]. Multiple regressions indicated that measures of individual differences explained a significant amount of variance in self-oriented (F (17, 765) = 7.19, p < 0.001, adjusted R² = 0.12) and external-oriented (F (17, 765) = 8.40, p < 0.001. adjusted R² = 0.14) attitude toward gambling and sportswashing. Avoidance of betting when sportswashing is involved was reported by 43%. The proportion was lower among those with moderate gambling risk/problem gambling (35%) compared to those with no/low gambling risk (45%). It is concluded that further scale development could help elucidate individual differences in attitudes toward sportswashing and gambling. Sportswashing remains an important social issue, and the present study indicates that this has high relevance for the gambling field.

techWith the rise of emerging economies such as China, the research environment for the digital economy (DE) has changed significantly. However, our understanding of the productivity impact of DE development in Chinese firms remains in its infancy. The idiosyncrasies of the firm-specific contexts are closely related to further research on the this topic. As a baseline, we hypothesize a U-shaped DE-firm productivity (FP) relationship. We analyze the idiosyncratic influences of firm size and locality on the DE-FP relationship. The findings, which are based on a sample of Chinese firms from 2016 to 2019, show that (a) the U-shaped DE-FP relationship applies to Chinese firms; (b) this relationship is moderate for large firms, substantially steeper for medium firms, and inverted for small firms; (c) the U-shaped DE-FP relationship for eastern region firms is moderate, while the U-shaped relationship for central region firms is steep, but the transition is incomplete, and western region firms have experienced increasing productivity since the early stage of DE development. This study offers an alternative approach to understanding Chinese firms' strategic choices in DE development and provides a more nuanced explanation for the productivity paradox by emphasizing the significance of the firm-specific context. In this way, the study captures the sophisticated and constantly evolving relationships between DE and FP for heterogeneous Chinese firms.

Background No studies have so far synthesised the current evidence concerning a possible relationship between problem gaming and suicidality. We therefore conducted a systematic review of the literature. Our objective was to investigate the relationship between problem gaming and suicidality. The review was funded by the Norwegian Competence Center for Gambling and Gaming Research. Methods The review was pre-registered in PROSPERO International prospective register of systematic reviews (CRD42021279774). Searches were conducted in Web of Science, PsycINFO, EMBASE, PubMed and Google Scholar, September 2021. Studies that reported data on the relationship between problem gaming and suicidality, published between 2000 and 2021, and written in any European language were included. Studies investigating internet addiction/problematic internet use and not problem gaming, specifically, and studies investigating mental health in general or mental health outcomes other than suicidality, were excluded. Data from the included studies were extracted independently by two coders who also evaluated for risk of bias using the Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale. The results from each included study were presented in a table. Results A total of 12 cross-sectional studies, with in total 88,732 participants, were included in the review. In total 10 studies investigated the association between problem gaming and suicidal ideation. One of these also investigated the association between problem gaming and suicide attempts. Two studies combined suicidal ideation and suicide attempts into one variable and investigated the association between that variable and problem gaming. In total 11 of the 12 included studies found positive, crude associations between problem gaming and suicidal ideation/attempts. Five studies adjusted for possible confounding variables. Three of these still found significant associations between problem gaming and suicidal ideation, one found a positive but not statistically significant association, and the fifth found an inverse, non-significant association. Discussion The current findings indicate that there is an association between problem gaming and suicidal ideation, and likely between problem gaming and suicide attempts. The most important limitation of the included studies is the lack of longitudinal designs. Future studies should aim to investigate the causality and mechanisms in the relationships using more stringent designs.

Literature on the circular economy business model (CEBM) has witnessed a sharp upsurge in recent years. Although, CEBM has been investigated in several ways such as green business model, waste management, digital technology, supply chain, and financial impact of CEBM. Yet, the critical analysis of prior literature has not attracted scholarly attention. The current systematic literature review on CEBM is an attempt in this regard to critically analyse and apprise the prior literature findings by following the robust research protocols. A pool of 88 studies was analysed to identify the research thematic areas, recognize the research gaps, and present future research agendas. Subsequently, this analysis has classified the research themes, namely barriers of CEBM, drivers and enablers of CEBM, and CEBM challenges and opportunities. This highlights a comprehensive assessment of the current state of the art on barriers and drivers involved in the execution of CEBM. The SLR has also recognized the research gaps and presented the avenues for future research enhancing current understanding of the nuances of CEBM implementation. Moreover, an actor-network theory based conceptual framework for CEBM implementation is proposed to be further investigated. The study findings have been concluded by providing the theoretical and practical implications to overcome the barriers and address the challenges involved in CEBM implementation.

Objectives: The aim of the present meta-analysis was to synthesize results from the association between problem gambling (PG) and dimensions of the five factor model of personality and to identify potential moderators (gambling diagnosis: yes/no, comorbidity: yes/no and trait assessment: four or fewer items vs. five items or more) of these associations in meta-regressions. Methods: Searches were conducted in six databases; Medline, Web of Science, PsychInfo, Google Scholar, OpenGrey, and Cochrane Library (conducted on February, 22, 2021). Included studies: (1) reported a relationship between PG and at least one of the personality traits in the five-factor model, (2) contained information of zero-order correlations or sufficient data for such calculations, and (3) were original articles published in any European language. Case-studies, qualitative studies, and reviews were excluded. All articles were independently screened by two authors. Final agreement was reached through discussion or by consulting a third author. Risk of bias of the included studies was assessed by the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Data were synthesized using a random effects model. Results: In total 28 studies, comprising 20,587 participants, were included. The correlations between PG and the traits were as follows: Neuroticism: 0.273 (95% CI = 0.182, 0.358), conscientiousness −0.296 (95% CI = −0.400, −0.185), agreeableness −0.163 (95% CI = −0.223, −0.101), openness −0.219 (95% CI = −0.308, −0.127), and extroversion −0.083 (95% CI = −0.120, −0.046). For all meta-analyses the between study heterogeneity was significant. Presence of gambling diagnosis was the only moderator that significantly explained between-study variance showing a more negative correlation to extroversion when participants had a gambling diagnosis compared to when this was not the case. Discussion: The results indicated some publication bias. Correcting for this by a trim-and-fill procedure showed however that the findings were consistent. Clinicians and researchers should be aware of the associations between personality traits and PG. Previous studies have for example showed neuroticism to be related to treatment relapse, low scores on conscientiousness to predict treatment drop-out and agreeableness to reduce risk of treatment drop-out. Systematic Review Registration: PROSPERO (CRD42021237225).