Gambling behaviors and attitudes in adolescent high-school students: Relationships with problem-gambling severity and smoking status

Abstract

Background and Aims Smoking is associated with more severe/extensive gambling in adults. The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between smoking and gambling in adolescents. Methods Analyses utilized survey data from 1,591 Connecticut high-school students. Adolescents were classified by gambling (Low-Risk Gambling [LRG], At Risk/Problem Gambling [ARPG]) and smoking (current smoker, non-smoker). The main effects of smoking and the smoking-by-gambling interactions were examined for gambling behaviors (e.g., type, location), and gambling attitudes. Data were analyzed using chi-square and logistic regression; the latter controlled for gender, race/ethnicity, grade, and family structure. Results For APRG adolescents, smoking was associated with greater online, school, and casino gambling; gambling due to anxiety and pressure; greater time spent gambling; early gambling onset; perceived parental approval of gambling; and decreased importance of measures to prevent teen gambling. For LRG adolescents, smoking was associated with non-strategic gambling (e.g., lottery gambling); school gambling; gambling in response to anxiety; gambling for financial reasons; greater time spent gambling; and decreased importance of measures to prevent teen gambling. Stronger relationships were found between smoking and casino gambling, gambling due to pressure, earlier onset of gambling, and parental perceptions of gambling for ARPG versus LRG adolescents. Discussion Smoking is associated with more extensive gambling for both low- and high-risk adolescent gamblers. Conclusion Smoking may be a marker of more severe gambling behaviors in adolescents and important to consider in gambling prevention and intervention efforts with youth.

Parallel role for the dopamine D1 receptor in gambling and amphetamine reinforcement in healthy volunteers

“…To avoid possible effects of nicotine withdrawal during the four-hour test phase, volunteers who smoked >20 cigarettes per day were ineligible. Given the strong association between smoking and problem gambling (Barnes et al, 2015;Weinberger et al, 2015), this criterion also strengthened the external validity of the present sample with regard to non-problematic gamblers in the community. To minimize novelty effects, all subjects were required to have played a slot machine on at least three previous occasions.…”

Consumos de riesgo: menores y juegos de azar online. El problema del “juego responsable”.

“…Datos de varios países indican que el juego patológico se inicia a edades tan tempranas como 10 u 11 años (Becoña, 2004;Brunelle et al, 2012;Splevins et al, 2010;Weinberger et al, 2015;Olason et al, 2011). La infl uencia de los padres es muy importante: si los padres juegan con sus amigos o con sus hijos o compran lotería a los hijos o tarjetas de rascar, los hijos desde pequeños ya desarrollan conceptos de juegos de azar observando a sus padres (Lesieur, 2003;Floros et al, 2012).…”

“…Los juegos de azar, para muchos adolescentes, son parte de un conjunto más amplio de comportamientos de riesgo como el tabaquismo, el alcohol y otras drogas (Weinberger et al, 2015;Barnes et al, 2011). Los adolescentes que son jugadores patológicos padecen también depresión y síntomas de ansiedad con más frecuencia que otros adolescentes (Cosenza y Nigro, 2015;Messerlian et al, 2005).…”

Glücksspielsucht über das Internet – eine Übersicht der Situation in der Schweiz

“…Die Spielstörung ist auf dieser nationalen Screening-Empfehlung nicht aufgeführt [42]. Informationen über Glücksspiele müssen in schulbasierten Präventionsprogramme zusammen mit Informationen über Tabak und Alkohol integriert werden und ebenfalls an die Eltern gerichtet sein, um eine Früherkennung von gestörtem Spielverhalten zu bezwecken [36,43]. Auch müssen tiefere Einkommensklassen und weniger gebildete Personen erreicht werden, da diese in manchen Studien gefährdeter waren für die Entwicklung einer Spielstörung [13,24,30].…”