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Is a sense of community belonging associated with problem gambling in Canada?

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Abstract

Purpose

Despite the increasing demand for public health measures to prevent problem gambling, few studies have examined the association between community characteristics and problem gambling. The aim of this nationally representative cross-sectional study was to investigate the relationship between a sense of community belonging and problem gambling in Canada. We also examined whether this relationship was modified by sex and marital status.

Methods

Canadian Community Health Survey (2013–2014) data from 38,968 residents of Quebec, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and British Columbia were analyzed. Problem gambling was assessed using the Canadian Problem Gambling Index. We estimated the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for problem gambling.

Results

The prevalence of problem gambling was 1.4% (1.9% among males; 0.9% among females). We observed an inverse dose–response relationship between a sense of community belonging and problem gambling. Compared with those with a very strong sense of community belonging, the adjusted ORs for problem gambling were 1.07 (95% CI 0.65–1.76) for a somewhat strong sense, 1.27 (95% CI 0.77–2.11) for a somewhat weak sense, and 2.32 (95% CI 1.34–4.02) for a very weak sense of community belonging. The association was more prominent among females (except for those widowed/divorced/separated), whereas no clear association was found among males, irrespective of marital status.

Conclusion

When implementing public health measures to reduce problem gambling, it would be useful to account for possible differential impacts of a sense of community belonging by sex and marital status, which may reflect significant social contexts among residents.

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Data availability

The data are available in a public, open-access repository. Statistics Canada provides PUMF data, which can be accessed directly through the PUMF Collection for a subscription fee.

Code availability

Code available from the authors on request.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Dr. Mieke Koehoorn and Dr. Ashleigh Rich from the University of British Columbia for their valuable comments when writing this manuscript. We also thank Edanz Group (https://en-author-services.edanzgroup.com/) for editing a draft of this manuscript.

Funding

This study was partly supported by the Okayama Medical Research Association. ES is supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (KAKENHI Grant numbers JP19KK0418, JP20K10471, JP18K10104, and JP20K10499).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, 2206 East Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z3, Canada

    Masato Izutsu

  2. Department of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama University, 2-5-1 Shikata-cho, Kita-ku, Okayama, 700-8558, Japan

    Etsuji Suzuki

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  1. Masato Izutsu
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Contributions

MI designed and conducted the study, managed and analyzed the data, and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. ES provided substantial input to the study design, data interpretation, and manuscript writing, and critically revised the manuscript. All authors contributed to writing subsequent drafts of the manuscript and approved the final version for publication.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Masato Izutsu.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

Ethical approval for this study was covered by the University of British Columbia Policy LR9 on Research Involving Human Participants (Clause 7.10.3), which governs the use of publicly released data and exempts this study from requiring specific ethical approval [50] (https://universitycounsel-2015.sites.olt.ubc.ca/files/2019/08/Human-Research-Policy_LR9.pdf).

Additional information

The user is advised that the estimates with coefficient of variation values larger than 33% in the tables do not meet Statistics Canada’s quality standards for this statistical program. Conclusions based on these data will be unreliable and most likely invalid. These data and any consequent findings should not be published. If the user chooses to publish these data or findings, then this disclaimer must be published with the data.

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Izutsu, M., Suzuki, E. Is a sense of community belonging associated with problem gambling in Canada?. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 56, 1871–1880 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-021-02040-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-021-02040-w

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