Sociodemographic predictors of latent class membership of problematic and disordered gamblers

Richard J.E James,Claire O'Malley,Richard J Tunney

doi:10.1016/j.abrep.2016.04.004

Abstract

This paper reports a series of analyses examining the predictors of gambling subtypes identified from a latent class analysis of problem gambling assessment data, pooled from four health and gambling surveys conducted in Britain between 2007 and 2012. Previous analyses have indicated that gambling assessments have a consistent three class structure showing quantitative and potentially qualitative differences. Bringing this data together is useful for studying more severe problem gamblers, where the small number of respondents has been a chronic limitation of gambling prevalence research. Predictors were drawn from sociodemographic indicators and engagement with other legal addictive behaviours, namely smoking and alcohol consumption. The pooled data was entered into a multinomial logistic regression model in which class membership was regressed along a series of demographic variables and survey year, based on previous analyses of gambling prevalence data. The results identified multiple demographic differences (age, general health, SES, being single, membership of ethnic minority groups) between the non-problem and two classes endorsing some problem gambling indicators. Although these two groups tended to share a sociodemographic profile, the odds of being male, British Asian and a smoker increased between the three groups in line with problem gambling severity. Being widowed was also found to be associated with the most severe gambling class. A number of associations were also observed with other addictive behaviours. However these should be taken as indicative as these were limited subsamples of a single dataset. These findings identify specific groups in which gambling problems are more prevalent, and highlight the importance of the interaction between acute and determinant aspects of impulsivity, suggesting that a more complex account of impulsivity should be considered than is currently present in the gambling literature.

Highlights

The aims of population-wide measurements of disordered gambling are to examine or uncover trends in gambling involvement and assess whether problem gambling prevalence is changing
Using the Chief Medical Officer's Guidelines of b 14 units, as ‘low risk’, 14–49 units as ‘increasing risk’, and 50 + units as ‘higher risk’, there was a significant association between latent class and risk group (Table 3). The results of these analyses identify a number of sociodemographic characteristics that predict membership of latent classes derived from indicators of disordered gambling
Compared to the reference class, the subgroup endorsing minimal to zero gambling problems were less likely to come from semi-routine and intermediate occupational groups, less likely to come from a number of ethnic minority groups (Black British and Chinese British/other ethnicity), reported better general health, less incidence of smoking and was more likely to be female

Summary

Introduction

The aims of population-wide measurements of disordered gambling are to examine or uncover trends in gambling involvement and assess whether problem gambling prevalence is changing. Identifying these trends is crucial to directing appropriate resources towards reducing or mitigating harm and informing interventions, as disordered gambling appears to show considerable heterogeneity and may require distinct treatment goals (Blaszczynski & Nower, 2002). Pooling data has the potential to be beneficial in uncovering the demographic correlates of those showing the greatest difficulties with gambling, where individual gambling surveys have tended to be unable to sample enough of these gamblers to draw strong inferences about this group

Methods

Results

Conclusion