Heather Gray

Cambridge Health Alliance · Division on Addiction

Native adolescents experiencing mental health challenges, including substance misuse, often prefer to seek support from their peers and other informal sources, which may be due to lack of access to, and cultural fit with, professional behavioral health services. xaʔtus (First Face) for Mental Health is a Tribal community-based intervention designed...

‘Responsible drinking’ remains a poorly defined construct despite decades of use among diverse stakeholders including industry, academics, governmental agencies, and addiction advocacy groups. To move the field closer to a consensus definition of responsible drinking that is useful for educational and research purposes, we describe five primary bar...

Objective: Problem gambling may be an underappreciated treatment target for reducing self-harm. Multivariate studies examining the relationship between problem gambling and self-harm have returned inconsistent results, perhaps due to insufficient power or differences in study quality. Method: We conducted a series of meta-analyses examining the...

To mitigate alcohol-related harm, various stakeholders have advanced the construct of ‘responsible drinking.’ However, clarity regarding ‘responsible drinking’ in evaluation research is limited. Additionally, the alcohol industry often uses the term without any mention of clear limits or meaning. At this point it is unclear whether stakeholders are...

Objective: Responsible gambling (RG) tools that include play management software, self-limit features, and self-exclusion are relatively common offerings on major online gambling platforms. However, how online gaming and daily fantasy sports (DFS) players use such tools is less clear. The goals of this article were to understand how players use se...

A considerable body of literature has examined elements of responsible gambling (RG) programs in land-based gambling venues. The present pre-registered study examines GameSense RG program awareness and engagement trends and relationships with gambling beliefs and behaviors, at MGM’s U.S.-based casino properties using three samples of MGM’s loyalty...

Despite the size and scope of responsible gambling (RG) programs in the U.S., relatively few studies have evaluated these programs. Using survey data from 4795 subscribers to a casino loyalty program, we examined respondents’ awareness of and engagement with the GameSense RG program, and gambling beliefs and behaviors. We compared how differences i...

This study presents results from a third wave of data collection of a longitudinal project investigating implementation of an RG program, GameSense, at MGM Resorts International (MGM), and how casino employees perceive responsible gambling (RG) efforts. Survey data at three time periods – Year 1 (baseline, N = 2,192), Year 2 (one-year follow-up, N...

Increasingly, industry operators and governments espouse the view that they play a role in minimizing gambling harm and have developed and implemented programs and policies designed to promote responsible gambling. However, little is known about gamblers’ perceptions of responsibility for minimizing gambling harm or whether these perceptions are li...

Objective: Academics, gambling regulators, and the gambling industry increasingly espouse a shared responsibility view of preventing gambling harm, considering individual gamblers and external stakeholders (e.g., gambling industry employees, government regulators, and public health workers) to be jointly responsible for this task. This study is the...

American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities offer tangible and intangible resources, including centuries of indigenous wisdom and resiliency, to support their young people in recovery from substance use disorders. At the same time, tribal youth returning home from residential or inpatient treatment are vulnerable to relapse, especially if...

We examined gambling venue employees’ experiences with GameSense, an onsite responsible gambling information center designed to be a resource for casino employees as well as patrons. Participants included 492 employees who reported on their engagement with, and opinions and knowledge of, the GameSense information center and its staff (i.e., GameSen...

Historical trauma has contributed to the reality that addiction disproportionately affects tribal communities, including American Indian youth. We sought to understand American Indian youths' own experiences and perceptions of the environments to which they return after completing residential treatment for substance use disorder. We recruited three...

Purpose This study investigates how employees perceive responsible gambling (RG) programs, which are part of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) framework for minimizing negative impacts associated with problematic gambling. Casino employees have different levels of interaction with gamblers, which could affect employees' opinions about RG. De...

Many people worry that exposure to Internet gambling will overpower individuals’ self-control, stimulate addictive behavior patterns, and provide the context to sustain addiction once it emerges. Though many researchers have attempted to evaluate this proposition, they have been limited by their methodological approaches—specifically, their use of...

Increasingly, gambling stakeholders communicate that minimizing gambling harm is a shared societal responsibility. Individual gamblers’ beliefs about responsibility for minimizing gambling harm are worthy of study because these beliefs might influence gambling behavior. In this study, using a sample of casino loyalty program subscribers (N = 4,795)...

Purpose We conducted a scoping review to map existing research of the potential link between gambling and self-harm. Materials and methods: We searched eight electronic databases and retrieved 190 studies that met our inclusion criteria. Results: Nearly 90% of studies were cross-sectional. Authors most commonly sampled people seeking professional t...

Public health groups, researchers, the beverage alcohol industry, and other stakeholders have promoted and applied the concept of “responsible drinking” for the past 50 years. However, little is known about the state of the existing responsible drinking evaluation research and its application to policy and practice. This project provides a scoping...

These stakeholders discuss responsible gambling in the context of today’s gambling research environment. Currently, the field of gambling studies is in the midst of an unnecessarily combative research environment of accusations and innuendo that lean on the shadow of past industry funding abuses and masquerade as objectivity and empiricism. The aut...

This volume reflects the perspectives of a diverse group of primary stakeholders interested in responsible gambling activities and programs. It also marks a watershed moment in the activities of the International Group on Responsible Gambling. The Reno Model, introduced by Blaszczynski, Ladouceur, and Shaffer in 2004, has provided the seminal archi...

Objective To help mitigate potential gambling harm, responsible gambling information centres are launching across casino venues in North America. The launch of the first such centre in the USA provided an opportunity to achieve three goals: (1) document the centre’s reach among casino patrons, (2) generate a comprehensive description of services pr...

Background: Driving under the influence of alcohol or other substances (DUI) and suicide are both persistent but potentially preventable public health problems. DUI offenders, particularly those who have repeatedly offended, report elevated risk for many suicide risk factors. However, researchers have not systematically studied associations between...

Academic studies of employee perceptions of and engagement with responsible gambling (RG) provide important insight into how employees engage with RG, but typically treat employees as a singular entity. Employees in different departments, however, have different work experiences that affect their likelihood of directly interacting with gamblers. It...

Daily fantasy sports (DFS), a rapidly growing industry, allows players to create fantasy teams of real-life players and potentially win cash prizes, derived from entry fees. Some stakeholders have expressed concern that DFS’s accelerated nature and other features might promote excessive play and related harm. We conducted the first descriptive summ...

Aims: To discuss and review the latest research related to gambling expansion. Method: We completed a literature review and empirical comparison of peer reviewed findings related to gambling expansion and subsequent gambling-related changes among the population. Results: Although gambling expansion is associated with changes in gambling and gamblin...

During 2011, the Governor of Massachusetts signed a bill to allow casino gambling in the state (Commonwealth of Massachusetts 2011). As a result, two resort casinos will begin operations during 2018 and 2019; a smaller slots parlor began operations during June 2015. Prior to this expansion, gambling was widely available in Massachusetts, through th...

As rates of Internet gambling participation increase worldwide, so too does the need to understand how people engage in this form of gambling. This study represents the first examination of actual Internet gambling records within Iceland, a Nordic country with an active Internet lottery market that imposes strict regulations on gambling operator li...

As rates of Internet gambling participation increase worldwide, so too does the need to understand how people engage in this form of gambling. This study represents the first examination of actual Internet gambling records within Iceland, a Nordic country with an active Internet lottery market that imposes strict regulations on gambling operator lic...

Social networks play important roles in mental and physical health among the general population. Building healthier social networks might contribute to the development of self-sufficiency among people struggling to overcome homelessness and substance use disorders. In this study of homeless adults completing a job- and life-skills program (i.e., th...

Gaming industry employees are at higher risk than the general population for health conditions including gambling disorder. Responsible gambling training programs, which train employees about gambling and gambling-related problems, might be a point of intervention. However, such programs tend to use a "one-size-fits-all" approach rather than multip...

As rates of Internet gambling participation increase worldwide, so too does the need to understand how people engage in this form of gambling. This study represents the first examination of actual Internet gambling records within Iceland, a Nordic country with an active Internet lottery market that imposes strict regulations on gambling operator li...

The "involvement effect" refers to the finding that controlling for gambling involvement often reduces or eliminates frequently observed game-specific associations with problem gambling. In other words, broader patterns of gambling behavior, particularly the number of types of games played over a defined period, contribute more to problem gambling...

As the worldwide popularity of Internet gambling increases, concerns about the potential for gambling-related harm also increase. This paper reports the results of a study examining actual Internet gambling behavior during 10 years of play. We examined the electronic gambling records of subscribers (N = 2,066) who triggered a responsible gaming ale...

This study examines the impact of a work-skills program grounded in an integrated services approach on both employment and related life domains among homeless individuals. Six hundred thirty-eight participants in a 14-week work-skills program at a large day center in New England completed assessments at intake between 1999 and 2007; a subsample of...

Evidence suggests that people are often surprisingly accurate when making judgments of others based on mere glimpses. In particular, nonverbal channels of communication- including facial displays, gestures, and tone of voice-are extremely revealing, in that they spontaneously emit clues to the true feelings and qualities of an individual. This chap...

Alcohol identity is the extent to which an individual perceives drinking alcohol to be a defining characteristic of his or her self-identity. Although alcohol identity might play an important role in risky college drinking practices, there is currently no easily administered, implicit measure of this concept. Therefore we developed a computerized i...

In three experiments, the authors investigated the effects of sadness on the desire for social connectedness. They hypothesized that sadness serves an adaptive function by motivating people to reach out to others and preferentially attend to information related to one's current level of social connectedness, but only when it is instigated by social...

Gaming industry employees work in settings that create personal health risks. They also have direct contact with customers who might engage in multiple risky activities (e.g., drinking, smoking, and gambling) and might need to facilitate help-seeking by patrons or co-workers who experience problems. Consequently, the empirical examination of the pr...

Individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) have shown deficits in the ability to recognize emotion. However, these results have been inconsistent. In addition, questions remain about whether any deficit in PD is secondary to depression and broader cognitive impairments, and the effects of stimulus modality, task type, and specific emotion remain unc...

Cognitive measurement techniques, such as self-reports of behavior and reaction time measures, largely dominate the field of psychological research. It is uncommon for researchers to examine a phenomenon of interest by observing actual behavior within natural settings. To illustrate the existence of this methodological trend for gambling research,...

We examined the possibility of an in-group advantage in detecting intergroup anxiety. Specifically, we videotaped White and Black participants while they engaged in same-race or interrace interactions. Then we asked White and Black observers to view these videotapes (unaware of the racial context) and provide their impressions of participants' anxi...

We compared how evaluations by out-group members and evaluations by in-group members affected participants' stress responses--their neuroendocrine reactivity, cognitive appraisals, and observed anxiety--and how participants' implicit racial bias moderated these responses. Specifically, White participants completed measures of racial bias prior to t...

This chapter addresses the question "what kinds of things have minds?" together with some philosophers' speculations regarding mind perceptions, such as whether or not computers have one, or the statement that every mind is in the eye of the beholder. The general conclusion is that mind perception happens on one dimension, and it has not yet been e...

Over the past two decades, a new picture of the cognitive unconscious has emerged from a variety of disciplines that are broadly part of cognitive science. According to this picture, unconscious processes seem to be capable of doing many things that were thought to require intention, deliberation, and conscious awareness. Moreover, they accomplish...

Past work suggests that information related to the self receives ‘preferential access’ to the limited pool of attentional resources. However, these studies have been limited by their reliance on response–time measures, which require overt responding and represent the combined effects of multiple stages of information processing. One aim of the pres...

A series of studies explored how sadness impacts the accuracy of social judgments. In Study 1, induced sadness led to reduced accuracy in judgments of teacher effectiveness from brief samples of nonverbal behavior (thin slices). In Study 2, sad participants showed reduced accuracy in judging relationship type from thin slices as well as diminished...

The activation of positive stereotypes has been shown to produce academic performance boosts. Evidence regarding the role of self-relevance in producing such effects has been mixed. The authors propose that the subtlety of stereotype activation plays a key role in creating performance boosts among targets and nontargets of stereotypes. Study 1 foun...

A series of studies explored how sadness impacts the accuracy of social judgments. In Study 1, induced sadness led to reduced accuracy in judgments of teacher effectiveness from brief samples of nonverbal behavior (thin slices). In Study 2, sad participants showed reduced accuracy in judging relationship type from thin slices as well as diminished...

The activation of positive stereotypes has been shown to produce academic performance boosts. Evidence regarding the role of self-relevance in producing such effects has been mixed. The authors propose that the subtlety of stereotype activation plays a key role in creating performance boosts among targets and nontargets of stereotypes. Study 1 foun...