Gambling Among Adolescents and Emerging Adults: A Cross-Cultural Study Between Portuguese and English Youth

Filipa Calado,Mark D Griffiths,Joana Alexandre

doi:10.1007/s11469-018-9980-y

Abstract

In spite of age prohibitions, most research suggests that a large proportion of adolescents engage in gambling, with problem gambling prevalence rates significantly higher than in adults. There is some evidence suggesting that there are cultural variables that might explain the development of gambling behaviours in this age group. However, cross-cultural studies on this field are generally lacking. The present study tested a model in which individual and family variables are integrated into a single perspective as predictors of youth gambling behaviour in two different contexts (i.e. Portugal and England). A total of 1137 adolescents and young adults (552 Portuguese and 585 English) were surveyed with items relating to problem gambling, gambling frequency, sensation seeking, parental attachment, and cognitive distortions. Moreover, this study is the first to examine the mediation effect of sensation seeking between attachment and youth problem gambling. Results demonstrated that English youth showed a higher prevalence of problem gambling. The findings of this study also demonstrated that sensation seeking was a common predictor, mediating the relationship between attachment and problem gambling in both countries. The findings of this study suggest that although there were some common factors between the two samples, youth problem gambling and some risk factors can be influenced by the cultural context.

Highlights

In spite of age prohibitions, most research suggests that a large proportion of adolescents engage in gambling, with problem gambling prevalence rates significantly higher than in adults
The present study attempted to address the lack of cross-cultural studies in the adolescent gambling literature, and tested a broader model of youth problem gambling, composed of individual and family variables in two samples from two different cultural contexts
Some significant differences were found between the two samples, the most salient being that the rates of problem gambling and at-risk gambling were higher in the English sample

Summary

Introduction

In spite of age prohibitions, most research suggests that a large proportion of adolescents engage in gambling, with problem gambling prevalence rates significantly higher than in adults. A more recent study conducted by Harris et al (2015) with a sample of college students showed that the total score on sensation seeking was significantly correlated with problem gambling severity. Overall, these findings suggest that youth problem gamblers are more inclined to be socially disinhibited and bored with routine, and highlight the need to further examine the mechanisms of this variable in order to better identify personality characteristics that can facilitate the development of gambling-related problems, which may have a preventive value for such risky behaviour

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Conclusion