NCJ Number
186037
Date Published
2000
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This review of literature on youth gambling highlights the goals and contributions of the McGill University Youth Gambling Research and Treatment Clinic, emphasizes the need to identify risk factors associated with problem gambling among adolescents, and makes specific recommendations and a call for collaboration to address this problem.
Abstract
Research conducted over the past decade suggests that gambling remains attractive to today’s youth and that its popularity among both children and adolescents is increasing. One recent study revealed that 80.2 percent of adolescents between ages 12 and 17 reported having wagered money during the past 12 months, 55 percent of adolescents were casual or recreational gamblers, 13 percent reported some problems related to gambling, and 4-6 percent reported a serious problem. However, most adults, adolescents, and educators and many psychologists regard gambling as an innocuous behavior with few harmful consequences. Problematic gambling among adolescents is related to increased juvenile delinquency and crime, relationship disruption, and impaired academic performance and work activities. Adolescent pathological gamblers usually share several specific personality traits. Few children understand the potentially addictive qualities of gambling activities; many schools and religious groups inadvertently endorse gambling by sponsoring bingo or casino nights as social or fundraising events. Governments support gambling through State-supported lotteries. The focus needs to change from a disease model to a prevention model for youth and to include a collaborative effort between the public, industry, legislators, clinicians, and researchers to help resolve this problem. 52 references