Your Mother Should Know: A Comparison of Maternal and Paternal Attitudes and Behaviors Related to Gambling among Their Adolescent Children

Parental gambling frequency and adolescent gambling: A cross-sectional path model involving adolescents and parents

INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, most of the research studies in the field of adolescent gambling are focused on individual factors related to problem gambling. The aim of this study was to test an integrated model to explain adolescent problem gambling involving both individual (i.e., correct gambling knowledge, superstitious thinking, and gambling-related cognitive distortions) and environmental factors (i.e., parental gambling frequency). In detail, the aim was to better understand the role of parental gambling behavior on adolescents' gambling frequency and problem gambling severity, to draw indications for prevention.

METHODS

Participants were 680 parents (36% men; Mage = 48.32, SD = 6.14 years) of 680 high school students (51% boys; Mage = 15.51, SD = .55 years) attending the second year of different high schools in Tuscany (Italy). Data collection occurred within the school prevention program PRIZE (Prevention of gambling risk among adolescents).

RESULTS

A path model showed was conducted to detect direct and indirect effects from individual and environmental factors to gambling problem severity. Analyses showed that correct gambling knowledge and superstitious thinking were directly related-respectively in a negative and a positive direction-both to gambling-related cognitive distortions and adolescents' gambling frequency. Parental gambling frequency was directly associated with adolescents' gambling frequency. Correct gambling knowledge and superstitious thinking were indirectly related to adolescents' gambling problem severity through the mediational role of gambling-related cognitive distortions and gambling frequency. Parental gambling frequency was indirectly linked to gambling problem severity by passing through adolescents' gambling frequency.

CONCLUSIONS

The current cross-sectional results confirm that parental gambling behavior has an important role for adolescents' gambling behavior and severity. Thus, results highlight the need for innovative prevention programs which involve adolescents' adult reference figures and integrate the individual risk and protective factors with the environmental ones.

Money used in gaming is associated with problem gambling: Results of the ESPAD 2019 Finland

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

The convergence of gaming and gambling may pose a risk for adolescents. Thus, it is important to find out how these behaviours are associated with other addictive behaviours in order to develop efficient preventive measures for youth. The aim of this study was to examine 1) whether problematic gaming and money used for gaming activities are risk factors for gambling, and 2) what kind of impact adolescents' substance use along with other factors related to friends and parents have on this association.

METHODS

The European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs data, 2019 of Finnish adolescents aged 15 to 16 (N = 4595). Cross-tabulations with Rao-Scott's chisquare tests were applied to study the associations of the background factors with gambling in the past 12 months. A multinomial logistic regression model was fitted for the outcome variable (gambling in the past 12 months) adjusted for all independent and background variables.

RESULTS

Problematic gaming alone was not associated with gambling participation, whereas using money for digital games increased the risk of gambling. Boys gamble more than girls. The use of alcohol and drugs increased the risk of gambling. Parental monitoring reduced the risk of gambling, whereas hanging around weekly with friends increased the risk.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

Using money on gaming sites may put some adolescents at risk of developing problems with either gaming or gambling. The link between using money in digital games and gambling participation calls for preventive measures, intervention and regulatory acts.

Empirical Evidence Relating to the Relative Riskiness of Scratch-Card Gambling

Scratch cards (SCs) or tickets are lottery-based games which are played by scratching to reveal numbers, letters or symbols to win prizes. Such activities have sometimes been likened to paper-based slot-machines, but relatively little systematic analyses have been conducted to examine the risk or harm associated with these activities. In this paper, we provide a narrative review of the peer-reviewed literature relating to the potential association between SCs and problem gambling and what is known from publically available data sources (e.g., prevalence studies and treatment data). Evidence is analysed within the context of the Bradford Hill Criteria. Both prevalence and peer reviewed literature suggest that SCs are less strongly associated with problem gambling than most other gambling activities. We argue that this difference is due to the nature of the products. SC gambling differs from slot-machine gambling in a number of structural ways; it is less continuous; has a slower event frequency; and, emerging literature suggests that near-miss design features are unlikely to have a significant impact upon behaviour. Thus, in our view, and based on the empirical evidence, it appears that earlier parallels between SCs and slot-machines now appear more tenuous. Nevertheless, we encourage further investigation into the potential impact of new and emerging online lottery products because of the more immersive, faster and more technology-based nature of these products.

Teacher Awareness and Attitudes Regarding Adolescent Risk Behaviours: a Sample of Finnish Middle and High School Teachers

Empirical evidence has shown that youth gamble on both regulated and unregulated games, despite legislative prohibitions. This study assesses middle and high school teachers' awareness and attitudes regarding adolescent gambling and other potentially high-risk behaviours in Finland. A convenience sample of teachers (N = 157) from 13 provinces participated in the survey. The results suggest that teachers in Finland were more knowledgeable of the age limits of other adolescent high-risk behaviours than the legal age for gambling. Teachers were somewhat familiar with the behaviours and consequences associated with adolescent gambling. All other risk behaviours were perceived as being more important than gambling. Teachers' awareness about gambling prevention material in Finnish schools was limited. Results suggest that initiatives are required to enhance teachers' knowledge of adolescent problem gambling and its harmful short- and long-term consequences. School policies and guidelines including gambling behavior should be implemented in middle and high schools globally.

Parent problem gambling: A systematic review of prevention programs for children

Parent problem gambling (PG) has pervasive adverse effects on children. These children experience considerable losses such as loss of trust, loss of safety and stability, as well as financial and emotional losses. They are at greater risk for maltreatment and mental health disorders, and they are also at risk for intergenerational transmission of PG. These children are two to four times more likely to develop PG than children of non-PG parents. To date, there has been a dearth of research examining the impact of parent PG on children, and even less research focusing on reducing risks in children of PG parents. The goal of this systematic review was to identify PG prevention programs for children and examine the types of prevention used and whether these programs target specific subgroups. Our search retained 16 studies examining PG prevention programs for children. Results indicated that all of the PG prevention programs in the selected studies are universal and do not target children of PG parents or any other specific subgroups. A large gap is the absence of secondary and tertiary PG prevention programs for children. Another gap is the lack of family focused prevention strategies which the substance use literature has shown to be the most effective form of prevention. Further research is needed on parent PG and ways of reducing risks and increasing protective factors in children and families. A public health framework must be adopted to delay onset, reduce risks and minimize consequences in children of PG parents.

Gender differences in the endowment effect: Women pay less, but won’t accept less

We explore different contexts and mechanisms that might promote or alleviate the gender effect in risk aversion. Our main result is that we do not find gender differences in risk aversion when the choice is framed as a willingness-to-accept (WTA) task. When the choice is framed as a willingness-to-pay (WTP) task, men are willing to pay more and thus exhibit lower risk aversion. However, when the choice is framed as a willingness to accept task, women will not accept less than men. These findings imply gender differences in the endowment effect. We also find that the effect size of the gender difference in risk aversion is reduced or eliminated as the context changes from tasks framed as gambles to other domains; and that attitudes toward gambling mediate the gender effect in gambling framed tasks.