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Casino Gambling in Adolescents: Gambling-Related Attitudes and Behaviors and Health and Functioning Relationships

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Abstract

Recreational and problem gambling have been linked with adverse health and functioning outcomes among adolescents. Youth may gamble and engage in other risk-taking behaviors in casinos. There are limited data available regarding casino gambling in high-school students, and factors linked to adolescent gambling in casinos have yet to be systematically investigated. To address this gap, we analyzed cross-sectional data from 2010 Connecticut high-school students with chi-square tests and logistic regression models to examine casino gambling in relation to at-risk/problem gambling (ARPG) with respect to sociodemographic characteristics, gambling perceptions & attitudes, health/functioning measures and gambling behaviors. Approximately 11 % of adolescents acknowledged gambling in casinos. ARPG was more frequent and gambling perceptions were more permissive among adolescents endorsing casino gambling. Stronger relationships between ARPG and heavy alcohol and drug use and weaker relationships between ARPG and engagement in extracurricular activities, gambling with friends, gambling with strangers and gambling for financial reasons were observed among adolescents endorsing casino gambling. In conclusion, gambling in casinos was endorsed by a sizable minority of adolescents who gamble, and prevention efforts should consider targeting permissive attitudes towards gambling, adolescent drinking and participation in extracurricular activities when addressing underage casino gambling.

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Funding

This project was supported by National Institute of Health grants R01 DA019039, RL1 AA017539, and K12-DA-000167, the Connecticut Mental Health Center, the Connecticut State Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling and a Center of Excellence in Gambling Research Award from the National Center for Responsible Gaming. The funding sources had no role in the study design, collection, analysis or interpretation of the data, writing the manuscript or the decision to submit the paper for publication. This work was funded in part by the State of Connecticut, Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, but this publication does not express the views of the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services or the State of Connecticut. The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Faculdade de Medicina FMUSP, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

    Luis C. Farhat MD

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States

    Dawn W. Foster PhD, Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin PhD, Rani A. Hoff PhD &  Marc N. Potenza MD, PhD

  3. Connecticut Mental Health Center, New Haven, CT, United States

    Dawn W. Foster PhD, Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin PhD &  Marc N. Potenza MD, PhD

  4. Problem Gambling Services, Middletown, CT, United States

    Jeremy Wampler LCSW

  5. Northeast Program Evaluation Center, VA Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, CT, United States

    Rani A. Hoff PhD

  6. Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling, Guilford, CT, United States

    Marc N. Potenza MD, PhD

  7. Yale Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States

    Marc N. Potenza MD, PhD

  8. Departments of Neuroscience, Yale University, 1 Church Street, Room 726, 06510, New Haven, CT, United States

    Marc N. Potenza MD, PhD

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  1. Luis C. Farhat MD
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  2. Dawn W. Foster PhD
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  4. Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin PhD
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  6. Marc N. Potenza MD, PhD
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Contributions

Luis C. Farhat: Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Dawn W. Foster: Writing ? original draft, Writing ? review & editing. Jeremy Wampler: Writing - review & editing. Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin: Funding acquisition, Data curation, Conceptualization, Writing - review & editing. Rani A. Hoff: Funding acquisition, Data curation, Conceptualization, Writing - review & editing. Marc N. Potenza: Funding acquisition, Conceptualization, Data curation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marc N. Potenza MD, PhD.

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Author Disclosures

The authors have no conflicts of interest with the content of this manuscript. Dr. Farhat receives salary support from the grant #2021/08540-0 São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP). Dr. Potenza discloses that he has consulted for and advised Game Day Data, Addiction Policy Forum, AXA, Idorsia and Opiant Therapeutics; been involved in a patent application with Yale University and Novartis; received research support from the Mohegan Sun Casino, the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling and the National Center for Responsible Gaming; consulted for or advised legal and gambling entities on issues related to impulse control and addictive behaviors; provided clinical care related to impulse-control and addictive behaviors; performed grant reviews; edited journals/journal sections; given academic lectures in grand rounds, CME events and other clinical/scientific venues; and generated books or chapters for publishers of mental health texts. The other authors report no disclosures.

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Farhat, L.C., Foster, D.W., Wampler, J. et al. Casino Gambling in Adolescents: Gambling-Related Attitudes and Behaviors and Health and Functioning Relationships. J Gambl Stud 38, 719–735 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-021-10083-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-021-10083-6

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