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“It Runs in Your Blood”: Reflections from Treatment Seeking Gamblers on Their Family History of Gambling

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Abstract

There are considerable gaps in our understanding of the familial transmission of gambling problems. This convergent mixed-methods study aimed to explore the: (1) sources of heterogeneity in the familial (paternal, maternal, and sibling) transmission of gambling problems; (2) degree to which family-of-origin characteristics are associated with family-of-origin problem gambling; and (3) beliefs of gamblers about the nature of the familial transmission of problem gambling. The sample consisted of 97 treatment-seeking gamblers in Australia. One-quarter (25.5%) of participants reported that at least one family member (16.5% father, 7.5% mother, 7.6% siblings) living with them when they were growing up had a gambling problem. Most participants reported that family members with a positive history of problem gambling were biological relatives, lived with them full-time, and experienced long-term difficulties with gambling. Participants with a family history of problem gambling were young (less than 12 years of age) at the onset of parental, but not sibling, problem gambling, were women, and reported difficulties with the same gambling activity as their family member. Participants raised in families with problem gambling were more likely to report parental separation (risk ratio [RR] = 2.32) and divorce (RR = 2.83), and extreme family financial hardship (RR = 1.80), as well as low levels of paternal authoritative parenting than participants raised in non-problem gambling families. Qualitatively, both social learning and genetics were perceived to play a central role in the familial transmission of gambling problems. These findings inform theories of the familial transmission of gambling problems and the design of targeted prevention and intervention strategies.

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Acknowledgements

We extend our appreciation to the participants who contributed their valuable time. We also extend our gratitude to our colleagues at Gambler’s Help City (Vic), Gambler’s Help Southern (Vic), Gambler’s Help Grampians (Vic), Gambler’s Help Eastern (Vic), the Statewide Gambling Therapy Service (SA), Break Even Problem Gambling Service (Tas), Gambler’s Help South West (Vic), and Gambler’s Help East Hume (Vic) for their assistance in recruiting participants for this study.

Funding

The data presented in this manuscript were collected as part of the multi-study Children at Risk Project funded by Gambling Research Australia (Melbourne, Victoria), Tender Number 103/06, awarded to authors Jackson, Thomas, Frydenberg, and Dowling.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, Deakin University, Deakin Geelong, Geelong, Australia

    N. A. Dowling & S. S. Merkouris

  2. Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia

    N. A. Dowling, E. Frydenberg & A. C. Jackson

  3. Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia

    K. L. Francis

  4. School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Australia

    R. Dixon

  5. Research School in Population Health, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

    S. A. Thomas

  6. International Primary Health Care Research Institute, Shenzhen, China

    S. A. Thomas

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  1. N. A. Dowling
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  4. S. S. Merkouris
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Correspondence to N. A. Dowling.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare in relation to this article. Over the past 3 years, ND and SM have received funding from multiple sources, including government departments and the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation (through hypothecated taxes from gambling revenue), as well as the National Association for Gambling Studies (NAGS), a not-for-profit organisation with individual members across all stakeholder groups, which derives its funding from member fees and conference proceeds. SM has been the Victorian state representative (unpaid) on the NAGS Executive Committee (which includes representatives from all stakeholder groups). ST has received research funding support from the Chinese Government for research unrelated to gambling. AJ has received funding from multiple sources including government unrelated to gambling. ND is the recipient of a Deakin University Faculty of Health Mid-Career Fellowship. None of the authors have knowingly received research funding from the gambling industry or any industry-sponsored organization.

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Ethics approval was received from Monash University Standing Committee on Ethics in Research Involving Humans (SCERH) (CF07/1346) and the Human Research Ethics Committee at the University of Tasmania (H10366).

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Dowling, N.A., Francis, K.L., Dixon, R. et al. “It Runs in Your Blood”: Reflections from Treatment Seeking Gamblers on Their Family History of Gambling. J Gambl Stud 37, 689–710 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-020-09959-w

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