Correlates of Gambling on High-School Grounds

This study examined adolescent gambling on school grounds (GS+) and how such behavior was associated with gambling-related attitudes. Further, we examined whether GS+ moderated associations between at-risk problem-gambling (ARPG) and gambling behaviors related to gambling partners.

Nearly 40% (39.58%) of students reported past-year GS+, with 12.91% of GS+ students, relative to 2.63% of those who did not report gambling on school grounds (GS-), meeting DSM-IV criteria for pathological gambling (p<0.0001). In comparison to GS- students, GS+ students were more likely to report poorer academic achievement and more permissive attitudes towards gambling behaviors. Weaker links in GS+ students, in comparison with GS-, students, were observed between problem-gambling severity and gambling with family members and gambling with friends.

GS+ is common and associated with pathological gambling and more permissive attitudes towards gambling. The finding that GS+ (relative to GS-) youth show differences in how problem-gambling is related to gambling partners (friends and family) warrants further investigation regarding whether and how peer and familial interactions might be improved to diminish youth problem-gambling severity. The high frequency of GS+ and its relationship with ARPG highlights a need for school administrators and personnel to consider interventions that target school-based gambling.

Via: http://ht.ly/SpEIe 

By: Foster DW1, Hoff RA2, Pilver CE3, Yau YH2, Steinberg MA4, Wampler J5, Krishnan-Sarin S1, Potenza MN6.

• 1Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States; Connecticut Mental Health Center, New Haven, CT, United States.
• 2Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States.
• 3Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, United States; Center for Healthcare Organization and Implementation Research, Boston, MA, United States.
• 4Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling, Guilford, CT, United States.
• 5Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services Problem Gambling Services, Middletown, CT, United States.
• 6Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States; Connecticut Mental Health Center, New Haven, CT, United States; Department of Neurobiology, Child Study Center, New Haven, CT, United States; CASAColumbia, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States