The effect of social isolation on psychological stress and gambling in the COVID-19 pandemic

Aim: In our study, it was aimed to investigate the effects of social isolation and social distance measures taken during the COVID-19 pandemic process on psychological stress and gambling habits. Materials and Methods: Two hundred and three people who were contacted via e-mail after creating an online questionnaire were included in the study. A structured online questionnaire including a sociodemographic information form, the South Oaks Gambling Screening Test (SOKK), Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10-PDS) and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21) was applied to all participants by the researchers. Results: The average age of the 203 participants who were included in the study was found to be 37.64 (+/- 6.70), 62.1% were men and 37.9% were women. The overall SOKK score was 1.05 (+/- 2.03), the total K10-PSS score was 21.96 (+/- 10.51), the mean DASS-D, DASS-A, DASS-S scores were 3.49 (+/- 3.41), 1.99 (+/- 2.26), 4.04 (+/- 3.44), respectively. No statistically significant correlation was found between the total SOKK score and the DASS-A, DASS-S, DASS-D and K10-PSS scores. For men compared to women, for those who buy digital money (Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ripple, etc.) compared to those who do not gamble at least once in their lifetime, and those who have not gambled at least 1 time in the last month, the total SOKK score was statistically significantly higher (p<0.001, p<0.01, p<0.001 and p<0.01, respectively). The SOKK total score was found to be statistically significantly higher in men than women who gambled at least once in their lifetime, and those who did not apply to psychiatry before (p<0.001 and p<0.05, respectively). Discussion: In this study, it has been shown that social isolation measures taken during the pandemic process can increase psychological distress in people. Besides this, gambling behavior may increase, especially in men, in persons who have bought digital money before and those who have gambled at least once in their life.