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Gambling in Emerging Adulthood: the Role of Adolescent Depressive Symptoms, Antisocial Behaviors, and Alcohol Use

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Abstract

Emerging adults (ages 18–29) display higher prevalence of gambling participation and problem gambling as well as co-occurrence with other risk behaviors compared to other age groups. Consequences of these co-occurring conditions may lead to psychological symptoms, behavioral problems, and socioeconomic and medical costs. Depressive symptoms, antisocial behaviors, and alcohol use are known risk factors for gambling participation and problem gambling. However, scarce research has examined the co-occurrence of those adolescent risk factors and later gambling behaviors in emerging adulthood longitudinally. Using multiple waves of National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) data, we examined the relationship between earlier depressive symptoms, antisocial behaviors, alcohol use, and gambling behaviors at wave III, and later gambling participation and problem gambling (wave IV) in emerging adults ages 18–29, using multinomial logistic regression. Our findings suggest that earlier antisocial behaviors and gambling behaviors increased later risk for gambling participation and problem gambling. Past-year alcohol use and heavy drinking were associated with the increased risk of gambling participation but not problem gambling. Earlier depressive symptoms decreased the risk of gambling participation later among those who endorsed antisocial behaviors. Emerging adulthood may be a critical developmental period in the development of comorbid conditions of gambling and other risk behaviors. The results contribute evidence supporting the importance of early prevention and intervention for the co-occurrence of gambling and other risk behaviors in emerging adulthood.

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Acknowledgements

This research uses data from Add Health, a program project directed by Kathleen Mullan Harris and designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and funded by grant P01-HD31921 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Special acknowledgment is due to Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwisle for their assistance in the original design. Information on how to obtain the Add Health data files is available on the Add Health website (http://www.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth).

Funding

This study was funded by Competitive Dissertation Grant from the University of Maryland School of Social Work. No direct support was received from grant P01-HD31921 for this analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Maryland School of Social Work, 525 W. Redwood Street, Baltimore, MD, 21201, USA

    Hyun-Jin Jun & Paul Sacco

  2. Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, 63130, USA

    Renee M. Cunningham-Williams

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  1. Hyun-Jin Jun
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  3. Renee M. Cunningham-Williams
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Correspondence to Hyun-Jin Jun.

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Secondary data analysis of the Add Health data was approved by the university Institutional Review Board where this research was conducted.

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Add Health participants provided written informed consent for participation in all aspects of Add Health in accordance with the University of North Carolina School of Public Health Institutional Review Board guidelines that are based on the Code of Federal Regulations on the Protection of Human Subjects 45CFR46: http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/humansubjects/guidance/45cfr46.html.

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Jun, HJ., Sacco, P. & Cunningham-Williams, R.M. Gambling in Emerging Adulthood: the Role of Adolescent Depressive Symptoms, Antisocial Behaviors, and Alcohol Use. Int J Ment Health Addiction 19, 494–507 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-019-00087-0

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