Gambling and Adverse Life Events Among Urban Adolescents

Adolescent gambling is a public health concern and has been linked to suicidality and other risk behaviors and poor health correlates. This study examines relationships between adolescents reporting gambling in the past-year and a range of health risk behaviors, traumatic experiences, school performance, and receipt of social support. Data from the 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey in Connecticut high-school students stratified by gambling status were examined in bivariate and multivariate analyses. Among 1,807 adolescents, past-year gambling was reported by 453 or 25.4% (95% confidence interval [CI]=22.7-28.1%). Gambling prevalence was higher among older males and lower in adolescents of Asian origin. Gambling was further associated with suicidality and risk behaviors including substance use, smoking (traditional tobacco and electronic vapor use), risky use of digital technologies, unsafe sex, and aggressive behaviors. Gambling was also associated with traumatic experiences, depressi...

Journal of Gambling Studies, 2008

A random telephone survey was conducted with a representative sample of 2,274 U.S. residents aged 14-21. The prevalence of problem gambling, as measured by the SOGS-RA, was 2.1%. Sixty-eight percent (68%) of the respondents had gambled in the past year, and 11% had gambled more often than twice per week. Males had much higher gambling involvement than females, and gambling involvement increased among older respondents. Blacks were less likely than average to have gambled in the past year, but if they gambled, they were more likely to do so frequently. Low SES respondents were less likely to have gambled in the past year, but if they gambled, they were more likely to be problem gamblers. Life transitions that are associated with assuming adult roles (employment, living independently of parents, non-student status) are also associated with greater gambling involvement. The rates of problem and pathological gambling were lower than those in an adult survey conducted earlier, when measured with the same questionnaire.

Journal of Gambling Studies, 2007

Data were collected for 1998 middle/high-school students in Ontario to assess involvement in gambling, substance use, and generalized risky behavior. To predict these outcomes, measures for anxiety, family cohesion, and coping style were also administered. Three a-priori models were posited to account for the impact of risk factors, protective factors, and combined risk/protective factors on the development of risky behaviors. A high-risk cohort composed of subjects endorsing at least one risky behavior (gambling, substance use, or generalized risky behavior) within the clinical range was created to test an unobserved outcome variable created from all three measures of risky behavior, which was successfully predicted by two of the three a-priori models. Implications for the inclusion of gambling within a constellation of high-risk behaviors and recommendations for future prevention efforts are discussed. Keywords Youth gambling Á Coping behaviors Á High-risk behavior Background Research into adolescent experimentation with substances and risky behaviors has established that gambling represents one of the earliest and most common ventures by youth, even surpassing behaviors including smoking and drinking alcohol (Gupta & Derevensky, 1998a). This knowledge is still slowly disseminating among the popular audience, and gambling has yet to be accorded the same air of caution by parents and educators as other Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (

Journal of substance abuse and alcoholism, 2018

In the current research, we examined the association of key risk and protective factors for gambling involvement from the domains of family environment, conduct problems/delinquency, substance use, and depressive psychopathology in a nationally representative sample. The sample was comprised of 13,291 young adults (ages 18-26; Meanage = 22.8) self-identifying as European American (n=9,939) or African American (n=3,335) who participated in Wave III (n = 15,170) of the restricted-use National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. We used separate logistic regressions to study participation in specific gam bling categories (lottery games, casino-type games, other games). Childhood neglect, physical discipline, and current alcohol use was associated across each of the three gam bling categories. Our results also revealed differences between European American and African American subjects. Current cannabis use was associated with all three categories among African Americans, ...

Pediatrics, 1998

Objective. To examine the associations between a self-reported history of gambling or problems related to gambling and health risk behaviors in adolescence.

Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 2016

Several studies have shown that gambling problems are cyclical but few have empirically investigated factors that are associated with change. The purpose of this article is to prospectively examine associations between life events and problem gambling severity in a cohort of gamblers. Occurrence of life events and gambling problem severity were assessed 3 times over a period of 2 years in a cohort of nonproblem and problem gamblers (N ϭ 179) drawn from a representative sample derived from a population survey. Cross-lagged analyses revealed that cumulative number of life events were associated with an increase in severity of problem gambling 12 months later. Regression analyses showed that significant life events in several domains, for example, "change in sleeping habits," "accidental injury or illness" or "retirement," are likely to be associated over time to the increase or the continuation of risky gambling habits. This study's findings on the potential negative influence of cumulative number of life events, or of specific ones, are informative for secondary prevention and treatment.

Children and Youth Services Review, 2016

Although gambling is illegal for minors, adolescents do gamble and even higher proportions of adolescents than adults are at risk to become problem gamblers. Moreover, many adolescents suffer from a wide range of gambling related harms, and this study sought to examine what predicts different adverse consequences of adolescent gambling. Our aim was to test whether various cognitive, motivational and behavioural factors were associated with psychosocial consequences and loss of control, and with interpersonal and financial consequences of gambling, as measured by the Canadian Adolescent Gambling Inventory, the only instrument developed specifically for use on adolescents. The data was collected on a convenience sample of 1330 male Croatian students (Mage = 16.58, SDage = 1.16) from all three types of secondary education in Croatia. Results show that a high proportion of adolescents gamble, and that almost half of them are either at risk or can already be considered problem gamblers. Sport betting, VLT machines and betting on virtual horse races were the most frequent gambling activities for Croatian high-school boys. Hierarchical regression models showed that psychosocial consequences and loss of control can be predicted by higher frequency of gambling, previous experience with winning money and a specific motivation to earn money gambling, to become a better gambler and with having a drive to continue gambling after winning. On the other hand, interpersonal and financial consequences were predicted again by a higher frequency of gambling, the motive to be a better gambler and the drive to continue gambling after winning, but also by specific motivation to relax and feel better. Having more cognitive distortions, specifically having poorer understanding of chance and probabilities and more superstitious beliefs, as well as engagement in general risky and antisocial behaviour also predicted more interpersonal and financial consequences. Findings are discussed in the context of practical implications for prevention programs of adolescent gambling.

Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions , 2015

Pathological gambling disorder and problem gambling are addictive disorders with severe consequences for individuals, families, and society. Knowledge about associations between childhood adverse experiences (i.e., physical, sexual, and emotional abuse) and gambling pathology in adulthood is limited. Using data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC), associations between adverse childhood experiences and lifetime gambling status were tested. Strong bivariate associations between adverse childhood experiences and gambling status were found, which were attenuated with the inclusion of clinical covariates. Adverse childhood experiences might be related to pathological gambling in adulthood, but this relationship might not be gambling-specific.

Background: Adverse life events have been associated with gambling and substance use as they can serve as forms of escapism. Involvement in gambling and substance use can also place individuals in adversely stressful situations. Objectives: To explore potential male–female differences in the association between addictive behavior and adverse life events among an urban cohort of adolescents. Method: The study sample comprised of 515 adolescent participants in a randomized prevention trial. With self- reported data, four addictive behavior groups were created: nonsubstance users and nongamblers, substance users only, gamblers only, and substance users and gamblers. Multino- mial logistic regression analyses with interaction terms of sex and adverse life events were conducted. Results: Adverse life events and engaging in at least one addictive behavior were common for both sexes. Substance users and gamblers had more than twice the likelihood of nonsubstance users and nongamblers to experience any event as well as events of various domains (ie, relation- ship, violence, and instability). Neither relationship nor instability events’ associations with the co-occurrence of substance use and gambling significantly differed between sexes. Conversely, females exposed to violence events were significantly more likely than similarly exposed males to report the co-occurrence of substance use and gambling. Conclusion: Findings from the current study prompt fu- ture studies to devote more attention to the development of effective programs that teach adaptive coping strategies to adolescents, particularly to females upon exposure to violence. (Am J Addict 2012;21:516–523)

Addictive behaviors, 2017

The links between gambling problems, trauma and life stressors are known to exist but understanding the extent of these relationships will allow for greater efficacy in early intervention and treatment. We investigated these relationships among men and sought to determine whether links were attenuated by alcohol and drug use problems. A cross-sectional UK representative general population survey was conducted in 2009 with 3025 men aged 18-64years. Measurements included self-reported gambling behaviours, as measured by the South Oaks Gambling Scale (SOGS) and traumatic or stressful life events. Covariates included alcohol and drug dependence and socio-demographics. Binary logistic regression models were used to examine associations. Problem gambling (SOGS 3-4) and probable pathological gambling (SOGS 5+) were associated with increased odds of trauma in childhood (e.g. violence in the home (Adjusted Odd Ratios (AOR) 3.0 (CI=1.8-5.0) and 2.6 (CI=1.7-4.1) respectively), and life stresso...