Problem Gambling Features and Gendered Gambling Domains Amongst Regular Gamblers in a Swedish Population-Based Study

Jessika Svensson,Ulla Romild

doi:10.1007/s11199-014-0354-z

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate, from a gender perspective, how different features of problem gambling present in men and women who gamble regularly in Sweden were distributed in four domains based on gambling type (chance or strategy) and setting (public or domestic). Problem gambling features were based on the nine items in the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI). It was hypothesized that men and women gamble in different domains. Further, it was hypothesized that male gamblers overall experienced more problems with gambling than female gamblers, although in the same domains they would report the same level of problems. A further hypothesis predicted that regular female gamblers would experience more health and social problems and men would experience more financial difficulties. Interviews with a subsample of gamblers (n = 3191) from a Swedish nationally representative sample (n = 8179) was used to examine how features of problem gambling correspond with gender and the domains. Only the first hypothesis was fully supported. Men were more likely to participate in forms of gambling requiring strategy in a public setting, and women were more likely to participate in chance-based gambling in a domestic setting. Male and female gamblers had similar levels of problem gambling in the bi-variate analysis, but if controlling for age and gambling in multiple domains, women were more at risk than men. Additionally, men and women presented similar health and economic situations. The differences between male and female gamblers in Sweden have implications for research and prevention.

Highlights

Gambling is generally permitted and a popular leisure activity in Sweden (Blomqvist 2009; Statens folkhälsoinstitut 2010) as well as in other European countries including United Kingdom (Wardle et al 2011), Finland (Jaakola 2009), the Netherlands (Goudriaan et al 2009) and Spain (Becona 2009)
We examined this hypothesis by four bi-variate analyses of participation in the different domains for women and men presented as proportions
Participation in the chance-domestic domain was the most common among both genders, this was the only domain in which the proportion of participants among those women who were regular gamblers was higher than the proportion of participants among those men who were regular gamblers: with 89 % of the women and 73 % of the men (p

Summary

Introduction

Gambling is generally permitted and a popular leisure activity in Sweden (Blomqvist 2009; Statens folkhälsoinstitut 2010) as well as in other European countries including United Kingdom (Wardle et al 2011), Finland (Jaakola 2009), the Netherlands (Goudriaan et al 2009) and Spain (Becona 2009). Findings from population studies in Canada, United States and United Kingdom, (Welte et al 2006; el-Guebaly et al 2006; Wardle et al 2011) have led researchers to suggest that, similar to drug or alcohol use, participation in gambling ranges along a continuum from non-consumption to controlled consumption to uncontrollable consumption, which may lead to severe social, health and economic problems (Castellani 2000; Shaffer and Kidman 2004). Sex role socialization contributes to opportunities, motives, and the development of skills, all of which may influence both interest and participation in gambling activities (Holdsworth et al 2012; Stevens and Young 2010).

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