财务聚焦自我概念与问题性彩票赌博：赌博运气信念与彩票赌博激情的链式中介作用

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry

Sec. Addictive Disorders

Abstract

Background: China operates the world's largest lottery market, yet the psychological mechanisms linking individual dispositions to problem lottery gambling remain insufficiently understood, particularly among mainland Chinese samples. Financially focused self-concept—the tendency to base self-worth on financial success—has been linked to gambling problems. However, the pathways linking it to problem lottery gambling have received little empirical attention. This study aimed to investigate the association between financially focused self-concept and problem lottery gambling among Chinese lottery gamblers, and the mediating roles of gambling-related luck beliefs and lottery gambling passion within this association. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among Chinese lottery gamblers recruited from land-based retail outlets. A total of 879 participants completed measures of financially focused self-concept, gambling-related luck beliefs, lottery gambling passion, and problem lottery gambling. Structural equation modelling and bias-corrected bootstrapping with 5,000 resamples were used to test the proposed mediation model. Results: Correlation analyses showed that financially focused self-concept was positively correlated with gambling-related luck beliefs, obsessive passion, harmonious passion, and problem lottery gambling (p <0.001). Financially focused self-concept showed a nonsignificant positive association with problem lottery gambling after accounting for the mediating variables (β = 0.03, p = 0.24). The specific indirect associations through gambling-related luck beliefs (β = 0.069, 95% CI [0.041, 0.095]), obsessive passion (β = 0.045, 95% CI [0.022, 0.072]), and harmonious passion (β = −0.009, 95% CI [-0.019, -0.001]) were all significant. The serial indirect associations via gambling-related luck beliefs and obsessive passion (β = 0.039, 95% CI [0.023, 0.057]) and via gambling-related luck beliefs and harmonious passion (β = −0.011, 95% CI [-0.019, -0.005]) were also significant. Conclusion: Financially focused self-concept is associated with problem lottery gambling through Gambling-related luck beliefs, obsessive passion, and harmonious passion. The findings are consistent with the Pathways Model and its recent extension. They also highlight the importance of addressing luck beliefs and internalisation processes in prevention efforts targeting financially focused lottery consumers.

Keywords

Belief in luck, Chinese lottery gambler, financially focused self-concept, Gambling passion, Problem Lottery Gambling

Received

25 August 2026

Accepted

22 September 2026

Copyright

© 2026 Hu, Liu, Bai, Gan and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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