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Fruit machine addiction in adolescence: A case study

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Abstract

A majority of the research on adolescent fruit machine gambling has been survey type studies concentrating on incidence, demographics and quantitative analysis of motivations, subjective feelings and negative consequences of fruit machine addiction. The data from this study are reported as a case study of an 18 year old former adolescent fruit machine addict with additional information from the addict's mother. The study examines a number of distinct stages and circumstances in the development of the addiction including die discovery of the problem, the motivations to constantly gamble, the role of family distress, loss chasing, excitement and skill in maintenance of problem gambling, in addition to a personal examination of the problem's confrontation and eventual recovery. These personal insights are discussed with relation to the contemporary literature. It is shown that previous speculations on some issues arising from quantitative analysis may have to be re-evaluated in the light of more detailed qualitative accounts such as this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychology Department, University of Plymouth, PL4 8AA, Drake Circus, Plymouth, UK

    Mark Griffiths

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  1. Mark Griffiths
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Additional information

The author would like to thank the U.K. Economic and Social Research Council for funding this work through a research studentship, and the Parents of Young Gamblers organization for their help in this research.

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Griffiths, M. Fruit machine addiction in adolescence: A case study. J Gambling Stud 9, 387–399 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01014629

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