An Exploratory Study through a Life Course Perspective: Gambling among Older Chinese People in a Canadian Context

Abstract

Gambling is a rising social issue in multicultural Canada, particularly in the Chinese population. This qualitative study aims to depict a collective picture of older Chinese gamblers through a life course perspective which includes five principles: human agency, lifelong development, historical time and place, timing, and linked lives. Fifteen older Chinese gamblers were interviewed in-depth for this study. Many older Chinese-Canadians reported an early onset to gambling in childhood and adolescense when experiencing extreme situations such as wars or poverty. They continued with gambling in Canada in their adulthoods in which they were occupied by extensive work and childrearing. After retirement, casinos seemed to offer a convenient place to escape from mental health issues and relational conflicts. Older Chinese adults’ gambling is further discussed through the five life course perspective principles. Trauma has played a role in this group’s lifelong development of gambling behavior. Human agency, historical time and place and linked lives interacted to contribute to the establishment of gambling behavior in later life that characterized as parallel play where older Chinese gamblers played in solitary rather than interacting with others. The study concludes by elaborating empirical limitations particularly on the lack of data on within-group differences often analyzed through timing.