Abstract
Until recently the study of adolescent gambling has received little academic attention. There is however an emerging literature which not only reveals that adolescents gamble but that some display pathological tendencies. To date in the U.K., most studies of adolescent gambling have focussed on the incidence of fruit machine gambling and its negative effects. This paper reports data obtained from a postal study of former adolescent fruit machine addicts. In addition to demographic data, other information (e.g. reasons for playing, gambling pathology, skill factors (if any) during playing, and mood variables before, during and after play) was collected. Self written personal histories of gambling experiences revealed descriptive insights into their fruit machine addiction and how some of them had managed to overcome their problems without professional help.
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The author would like to thank the U.K. Economic and Social Research Council for funding his work through a research studentship. The author would also like to thank Stephen Lea and Paul Webley for their helpful comments in the preparation of this manuscript.
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Griffiths, M. Factors in problem adolescent fruit machine gambling: Results of a small postal survey. J Gambling Stud 9, 31–45 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01019923
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01019923