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Do Predictors of Gambling Involvement Differ Across Male and Female Adolescents?

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Abstract

We examined gender-specific factors, which might be related to adolescent gambling behavior, using a comprehensive set of predictors from neighborhood, school, family, peer, and intrapersonal domains. Discriminate function analyses revealed a unique pattern of results for each gender. The noteworthy predictors for males were similar to what is found to be predictors of other risk behaviors, suggesting that there may be a similar etiology to gambling participation as found with other risk behaviors. Compared to males, the model for females suggests that parents and peers may have a greater influence on engagement in gambling behavior. Participation in unstructured activities, and risk attitudes/perceptions were the only consistent noteworthy predictors across both males and females. Implications are discussed.

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Notes

  1. Sensitivity checking was conducted between the sample of adolescents (N = 3,767) who had less than 50% missing on both the gambling measure and the sample of adolescents who had more than 50% missing data on either of the gambling behavior measures (n = 3,253). Mean comparisons using one-way ANOVAs were based on demographics (age and gender) and variables/behaviors that appeared before the mid-part of the survey (e.g., school grades, attachment to mother and to father, depression, self-esteem). Due to the large sample size, many comparisons based on group averages were statistically significant. In general, the excluded group was slightly younger, comprised of a slightly greater percentage of males, and reported lower average grades. A discriminant function analysis was conducted to determine the extent to which the two samples could be differentiated based on these variables. Together, the demographic and intra/interpersonal variables explained only 2.2% of the separation between groups, Wilkes Λ = .978, χ2 = 149.67, df = 9, p < .001. Discriminant function analyses also were conducted using the full sample (N = 7,290) with missing data imputed. Analyses revealed consistent results with the smaller sample (n = 3,767) suggesting that, when compared to participants excluded from the sample due to missing data, the sample of respondents in this study was not meaningfully different in terms of demographics or inter/intrapersonal variables.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Child and Youth Studies, Brock University, 500 Glenridge Ave. St, L2S 3A1, Catharines, ON, Canada

    Heather Chalmers & Teena Willoughby

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  1. Heather Chalmers
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  2. Teena Willoughby
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Correspondence to Heather Chalmers.

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Chalmers, H., Willoughby, T. Do Predictors of Gambling Involvement Differ Across Male and Female Adolescents?. J Gambl Stud 22, 373–392 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-006-9024-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-006-9024-6

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