Effects of Outcome Expectancies on Chinese Adolescents’ Gambling Intention

Abstract

The effect of expectancy on adolescents’ intention to engage in risky behaviors has long been recognized, yet it is largely neglected in the gambling literature. Wong and Tsang (2012) recently sought to develop the Chinese Adolescent Gambling Expectancy Scale (CAGES) that could evaluate the strength of adolescents’ positive and negative expectancies of gambling. Five expectancy domains for gambling were identified. The present study aimed to examine the impact of gambling outcome expectancy on Chinese adolescents’ gambling intention. Survey data from 1,218 Chinese adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18 years were analyzed using regression analyses. Results showed that the five factors of gambling expectancy in a group were significant predictors of gambling intention. The model explained 18% of the variance in gambling intention. Among the five factors, social benefit was the strongest predictor of Chinese adolescents’ gambling intention. The current finding has important implications for prevention measures for adolescent gambling.