Gambling Addiction among Teenagers: Risk Factors, Protective Factors, Prevention

Abstract

Gambling has recently become one of the major public health problems. Although most efforts are focused on adult gamblers, there is growing concern about teenagers and young adults being more vulnerable to gambling addiction. Gambling practices and opportunities have evolved to the point where they are widely available and seen as a socially acceptable form of entertainment while becoming increasingly attractive to young people. My aim in this paper was to identify risk factors, protective factors in gambling addiction in adolescents, and prevention methods for this type of addiction. With the help of data obtained from studies and specialized literature, I was able to highlight the most important features of this addiction among teenagers. Male sex, young age, alcohol and drug consumption, depression, and poor academic performance were identified as risk factors for gambling. In terms of protective factors, parental supervision, and high socioeconomic status are recognized. Considering that there is a significant prevalence of adolescent gambling and numerous adverse effects associated with it, prevention efforts such as awareness programs and a healthy family environment can be helpful.

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©2024 Published by LUMEN Publishing. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
BRAIN. Broad Research in Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience
ISSN: 2068-0473 | e-ISSN: 2067-3957
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2024, Volume 15, Issue 1, pages: 41-45 | https://doi.org/10.18662/brain/15.1/534
Gambling Addiction
Among Teenagers: Risk
Factors, Protective
Factors, Prevention
Caterina GIOSAN1
Alexandru Bogdan CIUBARA*2
Gabriela STOLERIU3
Lucian Ştefan BURLEA4
Simona Mitincu CARMFIL5
Anamaria CIUBARA6
1 Resident doctor in psychiatry, "Elisabeta
Doamna" Psychiatric Hospital; Galaţi,
România
2 “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi,
Galaţi, România, Bogdan.ciubara@ugal.ro
3 “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi,
Galaţi, România
4 University of Medicine and Phaemacy
“Grigore T Popa” Iaşi, România
5 “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi,
Galaţi, România
6 “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi,
Galaţi, România,
Abstract: Gambling has recently become one of the major public
health problems. Although most efforts are focused on adult gamblers,
there is growing concern about teenagers and young adults being more
vulnerable to gambling addiction. Gambling practices and opportunities
have evolved to the point where they are widely available and seen as a
socially acceptable form of entertainment while becoming increasingly
attractive to young people. My aim in this paper was to identify risk
factors, protective factors in gambling addiction in adolescents, and
prevention methods for this type of addiction. With the help of data
obtained from studies and specialized literature, I was able to highlight
the most important features of this addiction among teenagers. Male
sex, young age, alcohol and drug consumption, depression, and poor
academic performance were identified as risk factors for gambling. In
terms of protective factors, parental supervision, and high socioeconomic
status are recognized. Considering that there is a significant prevalence
of adolescent gambling and numerous adverse effects associated with it,
prevention efforts such as awareness programs and a healthy family
environment can be helpful.
Keywords: psychiatry, adolescents, addictions, gambling.
How to cite: Giosan, C., Ciubara, A. B., Stoleriu, G.,
Burlea, L. Ş., Caramfil, S. M., & Ciubara, A. (2024).
Gambling addiction among teenagers: risk factors,
protective factors, prevention. BRAIN. Broad Research in
Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience, 15(1), 41-45.
https://doi.org/10.18662/brain/15.1/534

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INTRODUCTION
Gambling is becoming more popular, being frequently mentioned in
the media and private space. One of the elements that favor gaming, abuse,
or perhaps addiction is the availability and accessibility of games, especially
the earlier the exposure.
According to one analysis, 0.2 to 12.3% of young people meet the
criteria for problem gambling, with some experts anticipating that the
incidence of problem gambling among adolescents will be comparable to
that of adult populations (Calado et al., 2017).
Poor school performance, school dropout, financial difficulties,
depressive symptoms, suicide, low self-esteem, deterioration of social
relationships, and substance abuse are examples that can lead to gambling
addiction among teenagers.
More than two-thirds of adult gamblers reported that exposure to
gambling during youth was a major factor in current gambling addiction,
indicating that increased preventive efforts to limit gambling during
adolescence could minimize the prevalence of problem gambling in the adult
population (Min et al., 2007).
AIM
This paper aims to identify risk factors, protective factors in
gambling addiction in adolescents, and prevention methods for this type of
addiction.
I especially wanted to underline the importance of a good family
support system and a healthy school environment that can protect young
adults against this type of addiction.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
We carried out a review study that evaluates gambling addiction
among young people, as well as the risk factors, protective factors, but also
the prevention of this addiction.
With the help of data obtained from studies and specialized
literature, we highlighted the most important features of this addiction
among teenagers.

Gambling Addiction Among Teenagers: Risk Factors, Protective Factors…
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43
RESEARCH RESULTS
We identified several key risk factors associated with gambling in
adolescents and young adults that have been consistently reported in studies,
such as:
 Young men engage in more gambling and have more gambling
problems than women (Bozzato et al., 2020)
 Poor academic performance was linked to problem gambling in
both males and females.
 Positive attitudes towards gambling from family or friends
(Andrie et al., 2019)
 Substance and/or alcohol abuse
 Weak attachments to both their parents and their peers
When it comes to protective factors, they are linked to the family
support and friendship system, some of which are (Paleologou et al, 2019):
 Positive relationships with both parents and other siblings
 Participation in extracurricular activities
 Offline communication rather than those who use the online
environment to socialize.
The main goal of pathological gambling prevention actions is to
reduce or avoid future consequences at the individual level that may or may
not be associated with the signs of the disorder. To achieve this, the social
environment of adolescents must be changed, through awareness raising,
education, learning new skills, and changes in social and public policies.
Because gambling is widely spread through advertisements and extremely
easily accessible to all age groups, these safety measures must be
implemented from an early age (Yu& Ma, 2019).
It is very important to insist on abstinence from games until reaching
the legal age, to minimize the impact of a premature start of this addiction.
STUDIES
According to a study carried out in 2015 (Kang et al., 2019) among
Korean students grades 7–11 (ages 13–17 years) and included 14,011 study
subjects (average age 14.9 years, 52.5% male) they where able to identify
factors such as personal relationships with friends that gamble, male
adolescents, school dropout as risk factors for this addiction.
Another study conducted in schools from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,
among students from age 12 to 21 years (Abdi et al., 2015) also concluded

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that severe problematic gambling occurs in young male with low support
system at home, usually associated with another addiction as well such as
alcohol or substance abuse
CONCLUSIONS
Male sex, young age, alcohol and drug use, depression, and poor
academic performance have been identified as risk factors for gambling
addiction.
Regarding the protective factors, parental supervision, high
socioeconomic status, social connectivity, and involvement in extracurricular
activities are recognized.
Given the significant prevalence of gambling in adolescents and its
numerous adverse effects, prevention efforts are important for this age
group in this regard, and prevention programs can be used in the school
environment and at home.
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