Marital relationships and pathological gambling: a descriptive study through the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS)

Abstract

Pathological gambling is a psychological disorder known to severely affect the gambler's family environment and, specifically, his/her marital relationship. The article shows the result of a study relating diverse social and demographic variables to marital relationships assessed with Spanier's Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS). The results present lower dyadic adjustment for marriages with a pathological gambler. Likewise, certain variables such as age, number of children, and years of marriage seem to influence the subjects perception of dyadic adjustment. Finally, the therapeutic relevance of the results will be discussed.