Gambling Among Young People, 837 kB

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Corresponding interview sessions were conducted between 1992–1997 in a parallel study of 625 men who were initially aged between 16 and 19 and who were known to the authorities because of their criminal behaviour. As regards gambling, these men were asked about gambling frequency but not about any gambling problems. The risk factors studied were parental control, impulsivity, criminal friends and socio-demographic background. The results indicated that both gambling and the consumption of alcohol were common in all the adolescents and that there was a link between all the behavioural problems – gambling, alcohol and drug abuse, and crime. The link between gambling, alcohol/substance abuse and crime was not strong, however, particularly among girls/women. <strong>Among</strong> the girls/women there was only a weak link between gambling and alcohol and drug consumption, while there was a strong link among the boys/men. As regards risk factors, gambling was distinguishable from the other behavioural problems in the study. However, the risk of the other behavioural problems increased when there was poor parental control and if the participants had criminal friends. The boys/men in the crime study gambled less if their parents had had clearer control over them and if they drank less than the other boys/men. There was only a link between alcohol abuse and frequent gambling among the girls/women if they were regarded as impulsive and if there was poor parental control. Moreover, the risk of gambling at a later age among girls/women increased if they had criminal friends at a young age, but this did not apply to the boys/men. In this study, there was no link between impulsivity, criminal friends and frequent gambling among the boys/men. The conclusion of this study was that gambling is not part of an overall problem syndrome and that the risk factors of gambling, abuse and crime are not the same (35, 103–105). The fact that no link was found in this study between impulsivity and gambling among boys, when one was found in Vitaro’s studies, might be explained by the fact that gambling frequency was studied and not problem or pathological gambling. Finally, Willoughby et al in Canada have studied how various behavioural problems, alcohol/ substance abuse, crime, aggressive behaviour and gambling problems (no difference was made between problem and pathological gambling) are related to each other. This was not a longitudinal study, instead the researchers took a cross-sectional study and tried to find a statistic model for how these types of behaviour might be related to each other. According to the model, all these behavioural problems together form a syndrome, which in turn consists of three factors. Problem/pathological gambling and crime (from less serious crimes like shoplifting to more serious ones using weapons) represent one of these factors. Problem/pathological gambling is weakly associated to the other behavioural problems in this study (106). Social network factors parental influence Several studies indicate that the gambling habits of parents have an impact on the gambling habits of their children. As mentioned previously, children are often introduced to gambling by their parents, and it is often the parents who provide the children and adolescents with, for example, lottery tickets. Adolescents with gambling parents gamble more and from an earlier age and more often have problems with their gambling compared to adolescents with non-gambling parents (3, 4, 9, 21, 24, 31, 68, 70, 102, 107, 108). Moreover, adolescents who are problem/pathological gamblers are more prone to saying that their parents have also previously had the same problems compared to their peers who do not have gambling problems (3, 9, 14, 21, 24, 29, 58, 59, 67). In the longitudinal study carried out by Winters and Stinchfield in Minnesota in the USA, it was, as already mentioned, primarily adolescents with parents who were problem/pathological gamblers who were themselves pathological gamblers, rather than the adolescents who “only” had a gambling problem (77). In a Canadian study where both adolescents and their parents were allowed to report their gambling habits and any gambling problems, the researchers found that it was more common for adolescents who gambled a lot to have parents who either gambled a lot or who had problems with their gambling compared to other adolescents. When the researchers changed the association around and studied the parents, they found that the problem/pathological gambling of the adolescents was 43
44 only linked to the problem/pathological gambling of the fathers. It appeared that the problem/pathological gambling of the mothers did not form a link to the children’s ditto. Moreover, it was also apparent that the parents’ involvement in their children’s actions had an impact on the children’s gambling habits. The children whose parents did not have an insight into or control over what they did in their spare time gambled more often than those with better parental control (109). The way in which parents teach their children how to handle money and their own finances also has an impact on the children’s gambling habits according to a further study. If parents teach their children to stick to a budget and to save money, the children are less likely to gamble in the future (110). parents with problems with alcohol/substance abuse It is also more common for adolescents with a gambling problem/addiction to have a parent who abuses alcohol or drugs (67). As previously mentioned (see prevalence of pathological gambling), a questionnaire has been carried out in Sweden on gambling problems at an upper secondary school in Östersund. In this study, boys were also asked about their parents’ alcohol/ substance abuse. The boys who reported a probable gambling addiction tended to have a parent who abused alcohol or drugs as compared to the boys who were not pathological gamblers (64). financial situation An Australian study examined the socio-economic status of families and the link with gambling habits, and found that in marginalised families family members gambled more, this also applied to the adolescents. This means that adolescents from the native population were over-represented among young problem gamblers in Australia (32). Also Swedish and Norwegian studies have found this link. It would seem that adolescents in families with less money to spend gamble more than other adolescents. It is also more common for adolescents with an immigrant background to gamble often and with high stakes, and problem and pathological gambling is also more prevalent compared with adolescents who do not have an immigrant background (12, 17). When it comes to the disposable income of the adolescents themselves, the opposite seems to hold true. The more money they have to spend, the more they gamble. A Norwegian study found a link between how many hours adolescents worked extra along side their studies and how much they gambled – the more hours they worked, the more they gambled (9, 12, 21, 23, 108, 111). spare time and friends In a study by Moore and Ohtsuka in Australia, the researchers found that adolescents who had a lot of spare time and above all unstructured spare time gambled more than others (15). Many studies indicate that adolescents often choose to gamble together with their friends as a social activity. American and Canadian studies also indicate that adolescents who are problem/pathological gamblers also often have friends with the same problems (6, 9, 14, 67, 91, 94, 70). In his thesis, Ove Svensson describes the family as the gambling debut arena, and that friends only take over the importance of the parents
Page 1 and 2: Gambling Among Young People A Knowl
Page 3 and 4: © swedish national institute of pu
Page 5 and 6: 6. Prevention _____________________
Page 7 and 8: 6 Summary In 2001, the Swedish Nati
Page 9 and 10: 8 Background Adolescent Swedes gamb
Page 11 and 12: 10 Definitions what is meant by gam
Page 13 and 14: 12 types of games You can divide th
Page 15 and 16: 14 Introduction Most surveys on the
Page 17 and 18: 16 few possibilities of obtaining m
Page 19 and 20: 18 the possibility of winning Child
Page 22 and 23: 3. pathological gambling - the asse
Page 24 and 25: problem gambler since she believes
Page 26 and 27: who had scored 0 points was 54 per
Page 28 and 29: that first presented the tool, the
Page 30 and 31: 4. pathological gambling in young p
Page 32 and 33: included nine studies of in total 7
Page 34 and 35: • The game often leads to results
Page 36 and 37: however, tended to try to distract
Page 38 and 39: other addictions According to most
Page 40 and 41: 5. risk factors of pathological gam
Page 42 and 43: different types of problem behaviou
Page 46: later in life. Adolescents happily
Page 49 and 50: 48 Introduction By prevention the a
Page 51 and 52: 50 others and where to turn to for
Page 53 and 54: 52 • For adults who are pathologi
Page 55 and 56: 54 Appendix Table 1. A list of the
Page 57 and 58: 56 23. Ide S, Lea SE. Gambling in y
Page 59 and 60: 58 73. Slutske WS, Jackson KM, Sher
Page 61 and 62: 60 122. Evans R. Some theoretical m

Gambling Among Young People, 837 kB

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