Abstract
Cultural influences on problem gambling stigma were examined using a between subject vignette study design. Students of East Asian (n = 64) and Caucasian (n = 50) ancestry recruited from a Canadian University rated a vignette describing either an East Asian problem gambler or a Caucasian problem gambler on a measure of attitudinal social distance. In accordance with the hypothesis, a factorial ANOVA revealed that East Asian Canadians stigmatize problem gambling more than Caucasian Canadians. Moreover, East Asian participants stigmatized the East Asian individual described in the vignette more than they did the Caucasian individual. Individuals with gambling problems were generally not perceived as being dangerous. However, participants who perceived problem gambling as a dangerous condition wanted more social distance than those who did not perceive individuals with a gambling problem as dangerous.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allport, G. (1954). The nature of prejudice. New York: Doubleday Anchor Books.
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (3rd ed.). Washington DC: Author.
Berry, J. W. (1992). Acculturation and adaptation in a new society. International Migration, 30, 69–85.
Berry, J. W., Poortinga, Y. H., Segall, M. H., & Dasen, P. R. (1992). Cross cultural psychology: Research and applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Betancourt, H., & Lopez, S. R. (1993). The study of culture, ethnicity, and race in American psychology. American Psychologist, 48, 629–637.
Corrigan, P. W., Edwards, A. B., Green, A., Diwan, S. L., & Penn, D. L. (2001). Prejudice, social distance, and familiarity with mental illness. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 27, 219–225.
Corrigan, P. W., Rowan, D., Green, A., Lundin, R., River, P., Uphoff-Wasowski, K., et al. (2002). Challenging two mental illness stigmas: Personal responsibility and dangerousness. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 28, 293–309.
Derevensky, J., & Gupta, R. (2004). Adolescents with gambling problems: A review of our current knowledge. e-Gambling: The Electronic Journal of Gambling Issues, 10, 119–140.
Ellenbogen, S., Gupta, R., & Derevensky, J. L. (2007). A cross-cultural study of gambling behaviour among adolescents. Journal of Gambling Studies, 23, 25–39.
Ferris, J., & Wynne, H. (2001). The canadian problem gambling index: Final report. Ottawa, ON: Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse.
Holmes, E. P., Corrigan, P. W., Williams, P., Canar, J., & Kubiak, M. A. (1999). Changing attitude about schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 25, 447–456.
Horch, J. D., & Hodgins, D. C. (2008). Public stigma of disordered gambling: Social distance, dangerousness, and familiarity. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 27, 505–528.
Jones, M. (2002). Social psychology of prejudice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Leite, W. L., & Beretvas, S. N. (2005). Validation of scores on the Marlowe-Crowne social desirability scale and the balanced inventory of desirable responding. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 65, 140–154.
Lesieur, H. R., & Klein, R. (1987). Pathological gambling among high school students. Addictive Behaviours, 12, 129–195.
Lesieur, H. R., Cross, J., Frank, M., Welch, M., White, C. M., Rubenstein, G., et al. (1991). Gambling and pathological gambling among university students. Addictive Behaviors, 16, 517–527.
Link, B. G., & Cullen, F. T. (1986). Contact with the mentally ill and perceptions of how dangerous they are. Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, 27, 289–303.
Link, B. G., & Phelan, J. C. (2001). Conceptualizing stigma. Annual Review of Psychology, 27, 363–385.
Link, B. G., Phelan, J. C., Bresnahan, M., Stueve, A., & Pescosolido, B. A. (1999). Public conceptions of mental illness: Labels, causes, dangerousness, and social distance. American Journal of Public Health, 89, 1328–1333.
Link, B. G., Yang, L. H., Phelan, J. C., & Collins, P. Y. (2004). Measuring mental illness stigma. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 30, 511–541.
Marshall, K., & Wynne, H. (2004). Fighting the odds. Perspectives on Labour and Income, 16, 7–15.
Paulhus, D. L. (1988). Assessing self deception and impression management in self-reports: The balanced inventory of desirable responding (Manual available from the author at the Department of Psychology, U BC, Vancouver, B.C., Canada V6T 1Y7).
Penn, D. L., & Martin, J. (1998). The stigma of severe mental illness: Some potential solutions for a recalcitrant problem. Psychiatric Quarterly, 69, 235–247.
Penn, D. L., Guynan, K., Daily, T., Spaulding, W. D., Garbin, C. P., et al. (1994). Dispelling the stigma of schizophrenia: What sort of information is best? Schizophrenia Bulletin, 20, 567–574.
Pulford, J., Bellringer, M., Abbott, M., Clarke, D., Hodgins, D., & Williams, J. (2009). Barriers to help-seeking for a gambling problem: The experiences of gamblers who have sought specialist assistance and the perceptions of those who have not. Journal of Gambling Studies, 25, 33–48.
Raylu, N., & Oei, T. P. S. (2002). Pathological gambling: A comprehensive review. Clinical Psychology Review, 22, 1009–1061.
Raylu, N., & Oei, T. P. (2004). Role of culture in gambling and problem gambling. Clinical Psychology Review, 23, 1087–1114.
Sirey, J. A., Bruce, M. L., Alexopoulos, G. S., Perlick, D. A., Raue, P., Friedman, S. J., et al. (2001). Perceived stigma as a predictor of treatment discontinuation in young and older outpatients with depression. American Journal of Psychiatry, 158, 479–481.
Stober, J., Dette, D. E., & Musch, J. (2002). Comparing continuous and dichotomous scoring of the balanced inventory of desirable responding. Journal of Personality Assessment, 78, 370–389.
Suinn, R. M., Rickard-Figueroa, K., Lew, S., & Vigil, P. (1987). The Suinn-Lew Asian self-identity acculturation scale: An initial report. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 47, 401–407.
Tata, S. P., & Leong, F. T. L. (1994). Individualism-collectivism, social-network orientation, and acculturation as predictors of attitudes towards seeking professional psychological help among Chinese Americans. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 41, 280–287.
Tavares, H., Martins, S. S., Zilberman, M. L., & el-Guebaly, N. (2002). Gamblers seeking treatment: Why haven’t they come earlier? Addictive Disorders and Their Treatment, 1, 65–69.
Yang, L. H., Kleinmen, A., Link, B. G., Phelan, J. C., Lee, S., & Good, B. (2007). Culture and stigma: Adding moral experience to stigma theory. Social Science and Medicine, 64, 1524–1535.
Yang, L. H., Phelan, J. C., & Link, B. G. (2008). Stigma and beliefs of efficacy towards traditional Chinese medicine and Western psychiatric treatment among Chinese-Americans. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 14, 10–18.
Yeh, C. J. (2003). Age, acculturation, cultural adjustment, and mental health symptoms of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese immigrant youths. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 9, 34–48.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Appendices
Appendix A
Vignettes
John is an East Asian student in one of your university classes. He enjoys playing tennis and reading and for the past 2 years he has worked part-time at Safeway to earn some extra money while in school. This job has allowed him to enjoy the occasional visit to a casino with his friends. During the last month John has started to gamble more than his usual amount of money. He has even noticed that he needs to gamble much more than he used to in order to get the same feeling of excitement. He has tried to cut down or stop gambling several times, but he can’t. Each time he has tried to cut down, he became agitated and couldn’t sleep, so he gambled again. His family has complained that he has really changed for the worse and that they feel like they don’t even know who he is anymore. They are also beginning to feel resentful about having to help him out financially when things are bad.
John is a Caucasian student in one of your university classes. He enjoys playing tennis and reading and for the past 2 years he has worked part-time at Safeway to earn some extra money while in school. This job has allowed him to enjoy the occasional visit to a casino with his friends. During the last month John has started to gamble more than his usual amount of money. He has even noticed that he needs to gamble much more than he used to in order to get the same feeling of excitement. He has tried to cut down or stop gambling several times, but he can’t. Each time he has tried to cut down, he became agitated and couldn’t sleep, so he gambled again. His family has complained that he has really changed for the worse and that they feel like they don’t even know who he is anymore. They are also beginning to feel resentful about having to help him out financially when things are bad.
Appendix B
See Table 1.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dhillon, J., Horch, J.D. & Hodgins, D.C. Cultural Influences on Stigmatization of Problem Gambling: East Asian and Caucasian Canadians. J Gambl Stud 27, 633–647 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-010-9233-x
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-010-9233-x