A Multivariate Evaluation of 25 Proximal and Distal Risk-Factors for Gambling-Related Harm

Abstract

Individual differences in the risk of developing gambling-related harm play an important role in theoretical models and practical interventions. The present study attempted comprehensive measurement and evaluation of 25 known risk factors for gambling-related harm in order to determine which factors provided large and unique explanatory power. We surveyed 1650 regular gamblers from an online panel, screening in 1174 (466 male) who passed all checks of attention and response consistency. We evaluated each risk factor based on bivariate correlations with harms, then made separate multivariate evaluations of proximal (e.g., gambling motivations) and distal (e.g., religiosity) risk factors. Almost all bivariate correlations were significant, but most distal factors were not significant in multivariate models. Trait impulsivity was the most important risk factor by a large margin. Excessive consumption, less use of safe gambling practices, and more fallacies were key proximal risks of harm. Many well-known correlates of gambling harm (e.g., youth, lower educational attainment) do not show a direct role in the development of gambling harm when controlling for other factors. The results support theoretical models that emphasise early conditioning and biological vulnerability (manifested through impulsivity). Since maladaptive cognitive and behavioural schemas appear to be more important than motivations (e.g., escape, excitement, ego), interventions may benefit by targeting these proximal drivers of harm.

Is There a Health Inequality in Gambling Related Harms? A Systematic Review

“…Despite not including data on play frequency four highly rated studies suggest that living in an urban area, having a low income, less feelings of school connectedness, or being unemployed predicted more harms from gambling 41,46,55,66 . And while three studies reported little or no signi cant differences 46,54,56 , Melendez-Torres et al 52 reported that more a uent participants had more harms with a higher frequency of play.…”

“…Browne et al 54 found that age had no impact on harm pro les, and Lloyd et al 55 found no association between age and gambling-induced thoughts of self-harm. Browne et al 56 found that although younger age appeared to correlate with harm this was not statistically signi cant, and 43 reported that guilt was not associated with age. Goh et al 57 found that verbal abuse was most common from young males, however older males were more likely to coerce money from their spouse.…”

Is There a Health Inequality in Gambling Related Harms? A Systematic Review

“…Eighteen studies include data on age, and several of these found that being younger was associated with a higher risk of experiencing gambling harms [40,41,42,43,33,44] . In particular one study found that younger age groups (16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34) were at risk of dependence and social harms [45] , however some studies found younger gamblers were less at risk of financial harms [46,47] , despite one suggesting that they spent more [48] .…”

“…Fifteen studies examined gender, and few of these found any evidence that harms affected men and women differently [53,21,40,41] . Where differences were found these could be Health Inequality in Gambling -17 explained by other factors, such as studies that show men have a higher prevalence of harms than women [42,43,54] , being explained by men gambling more frequently than women and spending more money when gambling [45,47,55] .…”

“…Two studies within the search looked at motivations for gambling, and although Browne et al [40] found no link between motivation of play and harms, Lee, Chung and…”