Abstract
To assess the prevalence of problem gambling in a population of youths in Switzerland and to determine its association with other potentially addictive behaviours. Cross-sectional survey including 1,102 participants in the first and second year of post-compulsory education, reporting gambling, socio-demographics, internet use and substance use. For three categories of gambling (nongambler; nonproblem gambler and at-risk/problem gambler). socio-demographic and addiction data were compared using a bivariate analysis. All significant variables were included in a multinominal logistic regression using nongamblers as the reference category. The prevalence of gamblers was 37.48% (n = 413), with nonproblem gamblers being 31.94% (n = 352) and at-risk/problem gamblers 5.54% (n = 61). At the bivariate level, severity of gambling increased among adults (over 18 years) and among males, vocational students, participants not living with both parents and youths having a low socio-economic status. Gambling was also associated to the four addictive behaviours studied. At the multivariate level, risk of nonproblem gambling was increased in males, older youths, vocational students, participants of Swiss origin and alcohol misusers. Risk of at-risk/problem gambling was higher for males, older youths, alcohol misusers, participants not living with both parents and problem internet users. One-third of youths in our sample had gambled in the previous year and gambling is associated with other addictive behaviours. Clinicians should screen their adolescent patients for gambling habits, especially if other addictive behaviours are present. Additionally, gambling should be included in prevention campaigns together with other addictive behaviours.
Highlights
Parents fear many of the activities that could lead their children to addictive behaviours, especially smoking or alcohol and drug misuse
To assess the prevalence of problem gambling in a population of youths in Switzerland and to determine its association with other potentially addictive behaviours
Severity of gambling increased among adults and among males, vocational students, participants not living with both parents and youths having a low socio-economic status
Summary
Parents fear many of the activities that could lead their children to addictive behaviours, especially smoking or alcohol and drug misuse. Other risk behaviours are widespread but remain largely underestimated. Gambling falls into this category [1] and over the years it has become a common and socially accepted form of entertainment for youths. Evidence suggests that youths are especially vulnerable to problem gambling [15, 16] and its prevalence has been shown to vary between 5% and 7% in youth populations across the globe [3, 7, 9, 11, 13, 17, 18], and even to be double the prevalence among adults [15]. In order to fill this gap and to understand the full extent of this phenomenon, the aim of our work was to assess the prevalence of problem gambling in a population of youths in Switzerland and to determine its association with other potentially addictive behaviours
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
