Adolescent Gambling: Lessons from the Research

Today's adolescents grow up in a world where gambling is increasingly available, popularized, and romanticized. Casino and lottery advertising programs can now be seen across all media. While the effects of this cultural change remain uncertain, we have learned the following.

Being male, living in an urban area, being a member of an ethnic minority group, and believing that a parent has a gambling problem are related to the adolescent gambling more frequently and experiencing gambling related problems.

Compared to their peers, adolescents who gamble problematically are twice as likely to smoke, use alcohol and engage in other risky behaviors.

Studies suggest that the earlier a person begins gambling the more likely they are to develop problems as adults.

More adolescents are gambling. Studies completed in the 80’s found that about 45% of adolescents had gambled. Studies completed in the 90’s found that 66% of adolescents have gambled.

When a lottery is available, it is the most common form of adolescent gambling (despite being illegal). Adolescent Gambling: Lessons from the Research

Other popular forms of wagering include playing dice, flipping cards, and sport betting. Betting on video games and on the internet as well as playing card games such as Texas Hold’Em Poker are also gaining popularity.

Even though illegal, most adolescents who gamble do not experience negative consequences as a result.

However, up to 1 in 10 teens gamble at a rate that is problematic and results in social, psychological and financial difficulties. Rates of problematic gambling are believed to be higher among teenagers than among any other age group.

Adolescents often begin gambling before they begin smoking or drinking alcohol. On average, kids seem to begin gambling around age 12.

Family and Friends Influence Adolescent Gambling

Our Gambling Lab has recently embarked on a series of studies on adolescent gambling. Considering the high rates of problematic gambling seen in previous studies of adolescents and the serious negative consequences of this behavior, it is important to continue to investigate this population.

Our first project examined how friends and families influence urban adolescent gambling. We found that 60 % of the adolescents were gambling and 27 % gambled weekly. In addition, 13 % seem to be experiencing significant negative consequences due to their gambling, and an additional 21% responded to our survey in a manner that suggested they were "At-risk" for the development of such problems. We also found that gambling frequency and the level of gambling problems is related to parent and peer models and attitudes. Specifically, parent disapproval of any problem behavior is associated with lower levels of gambling and gambling problems among adolescents. In addition, both parent and friend behavior models were predictive of gambling involvement and problems. Adolescents who perceived that a parent gambles and adolescents who reported that their friends were involved in problem behaviors were more likely to gamble and to experience gambling-related problems than were teens who did not perceive these parent and peer behaviors. This line of research helps us to better understand the reasons why adolescents begin to gamble and incur problems because of their gambling. In turn this helps us to develop and implement science-based prevention programs aimed at adolescents.

Gambling and the Role of the Family for African American Adolescents

Researchers have warned that ethnic minority adolescents, particularly African American males, may be at risk for gambling involvement and related problems. Family variables are likely to be important when considering the gambling behavior of this population. In our research with African American young men, we have found that those adolescents who have a parent who gambles are more likely to gamble frequently and to perceive themselves as having gambling problems. Other investigators have reported that adolescents who regularly gambled on slot machines had poor relations with their families. These findings highlight the importance of understanding the role of the family in African American adolescents’ gambling behavior. Attention to family variables in adolescent involvement in problem behavior has focused on a number of factors but two we have examined are family configuration and family functioning. Family configuration, that is, who resides in the home, does not appear to be related to African American adolescent male gambling behavior. However, family functioning seems to hold a significant relationship to problem behavior involvement of these teenagers. The supervisory element of family functioning and parental attitudes towards problem behavior have been linked to adolescent participation in substance abuse and problematic gambling behavior. When we more closely examine family functioning variables, young African American men in families with no set rules in the home and less ability to maintain rules were more likely to be identified as problem gamblers. These young men were also more likely to gamble excessively when their families were more reluctant to express feelings with one another. These results suggest that parent gambling and aspects of the family dynamic are important when considering the gambling involvement of African American adolescent males.

Adolescent Gambling and Criminal Behavior

While adolescent gambling has been associated with a constellation of risk-taking behaviors, including aggressiveness, academic difficulties, and drug and alcohol use, researchers and policy-makers have most recently broadened their attention to adolescent gambling and its association with criminal behavior. Specifically , high rates of problematic gambling among adolescents tend to co-occur with particular delinquent acts such as theft and burglary, missing persons, criminal damage, domestic dispute, truancy, stealing from parents, and selling other people’s possessions. It is noteworthy that in studies that have focused on incarcerated populations, problem gambling for adolescents showed a 21% prevalence rate, and pathological gambling occurred at rates between 18 and 38%. The rate of problem gambling for this incarcerated population is nearly 9 times that of the general adolescent population. Further, studies of incarcerated adolescents suggest no significant difference between males and females on measures of money wagered, self-esteem, mood, and sensation seeking. As this literature develops it will be interesting to see the functional association between problem gambling and criminal and illegal activity among adolescents.