Compulsory school achievement and gambling among men and women aged 18-29 in Finland

What is known about population level programs designed to address gambling-related harm: rapid review of the evidence

BACKGROUND

Gambling and gambling-related harm attract significant researcher and policy attention. The liberalisation of gambling in most western countries is strongly associated with a marked rise in gambling activity and increases in gambling-related harm experienced at the population level. Programs to address gambling-related harm have traditionally focused on individuals who demonstrate problematic gambling behaviour, despite clear evidence of the effectiveness of a public health approach to high-risk activities like gambling. Little is known about the availability or efficacy of programs to address gambling-related harm at a population level.

METHODS

The Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation commissioned a rapid evidence review of the available evidence on programs designed to reduce gambling-related harm at a population level. The review was conducted using a public health and harm reduction lens. MEDLINE, ProQuest Central and PsychInfo databases were searched systematically. Included studies were published in English between 2017 - 2023 from all countries with gambling policy contexts and public health systems comparable to Australia's; included primary data; and focused on primary and/or secondary prevention of gambling-related harm or problems.

RESULTS

One hundred and sixty-seven articles were eligible for inclusion. Themes identified in the literature included: risk and protective factors; primary prevention; secondary prevention; tertiary prevention; target population group; and public health approach. The evidence review revealed a gap in empirical evidence around effective interventions to reduce gambling-related harm at the population level, particularly from a public health perspective.

CONCLUSIONS

Addressing gambling-related harm requires a nuanced, multi-layered approach that acknowledges the complex social, environmental, and commercial nature of gambling and associated harms. Moreover, evidence demonstrates community programs to reduce gambling-related harm are more successful in reducing harm when based on sound theory of co-design and address the social aspects that contribute to harm.

Compulsory School Achievement and Future Gambling Expenditure: A Finnish Population-Based Study

Background: Gambling is associated with many conditions that can compromise young people’s health and wellbeing, such as substance use and poor school achievement. Conversely, low school achievement can be linked to lower socio-economic position. Thus, the aim of this study is to examine whether compulsory school achievement is linked with gambling participation and gambling expenditure (GE) later in youth and whether GE is linked with lower socio-economic position. Methods: The Finnish Gambling Harms survey data (n = 7186) were used. The data were collected in three regions during spring 2017. Participants aged 18–29 years old were selected from the data. Past-year GE was examined using two measures: weekly gambling expenditure (WGE, in €) and relative gambling expenditure (RGE, in %). Logistic regression and log-linear regression models for past-year gambling, WGE and RGE were created. Results: Persons who had no more than a mediocre grade point average (GPA) had a 25% higher WGE and 30% higher RGE in 2016 than those who had an outstanding GPA in the compulsory school. Compared with persons with an outstanding GPA, those with a satisfactory to very good GPA spent 13% more on gambling, and their RGE was 17% higher. Additionally, those with lower socio-economic status (SES) had a higher WGE and RGE compared with higher SES. Conclusions: Even after controlling for other crucial background characteristics, early life success, in the form of compulsory school outcomes, seems to correlate with gambling expenditures later in youth. This suggests that the gambling behaviour can be linked to the cognitive ability of an individual. Our findings also imply that gambling could be more heavily concentrated on individuals that are already more socially disadvantaged. However, it is worth noting that individual factors such as traumas, antisocial personality, anxiety and depression are all associated with gambling and poor academic achievement. Overall, this suggests that various educational tools at a younger age can be effective in preventing gambling-related problems in later life.

Contentious Issues and Future Directions in Adolescent Gambling Research

Background. There is currently considerable public policy and regulatory interest in the nature and prevalence of underage gambling. Research in this area has purported to show that adolescents are at elevated risk of problem gambling and that early exposure to gambling or gambling-like activities could be a potential precursor to future harm. Method. In this commentary, we provide a critical appraisal of these arguments with reference to major studies in the field of gambling studies. It is argued that adolescent gambling research is a contentious area. Some questions remain concerning the validity of adolescent problem gambling measures, the strength of the association between adolescent and adult gambling and the impact of simulated gambling activities. Results. The paper summarises the conceptual and methodological issues that should be considered and addressed in future studies to strengthen the validity of research in this area. Conclusion. The paper encourages the greater use of harm-based measures, longitudinal and individual-level transition analyses and questions that capture the influence of activities rather than just their temporal sequencing.

Gender Differences in Problem Gamblers in an Online Gambling Setting

Background

Problem gambling traditionally is markedly more common in men than in women. However, recent data in online gamblers have indicated at least a comparable risk of problem gambling in women in this sub-group. The present study aimed to compare the characteristics of male and female moderate-risk and problem gamblers in online gamblers in Sweden.

Methods

In a web survey addressing online gamblers (past-year online gambling on 10 or more occasions), women and men with moderate-risk or problem gambling (n=327) were compared with respect to gambling severity, financial consequences, comorbidity, socio-demographic characteristics, and fulfilled screening items.

Results

Female gender was associated with psychological distress, over-indebtedness, higher problem gambling severity and with screening items indicating financial consequences and guilt, with no gender difference for the self-reported need to seek treatment for substance use problems. In the sub-group of problem gamblers, female gender remained associated with psychological distress.

Conclusion

In a setting displaying high rates of online gambling and novel findings of a higher risk of problem gambling in women than previously seen, psychological distress appears to separate female and male problem gamblers. Given the higher level of severity and financial consequence, these findings call for screening and early intervention in female at-risk gamblers.

What are we missing? The profile of non-respondents in the Finnish Gambling 2015 survey

Aims: Population-based gambling surveys provide important information about gambling frequency, problems, attitude and opinions of the general population. This information can be used by social and health care professionals, service providers and policy makers. However, low response rates may cause biased findings. The aim was to define the profile of non-respondents in the Finnish Gambling 2015 survey. Methods: The survey sample (N = 7400) was obtained from the national Population Information System and the survey was conducted using computer-assisted telephone interviews (response rate 62%). The study sample including individuals aged 18-74 was linked to administrative registers to obtain socio-demographic information (sex, age, marital status, education, socio-economic status, net income, residential area) about the respondents and the non-respondents. Register-based information was used to build a non-respondent profile for the survey. Results: The non-response was more prevalent among women, 18- to 24-year-olds, non-married, individuals with primary education, unemployed (vs. self-employed and students) and residents in urban areas. When net income was added to the model, the associations of women and unemployed (vs. self-employed) with non-response became non-significant, while the non-response was more prevalent among the lowest quintile of net income. Conclusions: Socio-economic position was associated with lower response rate which may cause bias while studying gambling behaviour of socio-economically vulnerable individuals. Obtaining additional auxiliary information through record linkage to administrative registers and use of more sophisticated methods for controlling bias caused by non-response, such as multiple imputation, would offer information about the impact of non-response to the results related to gambling and gambling problems.

Gambling involvement, type of gambling and grade point average among 18-29-year-old Finnish men and women

AIMS

This study explores the associations between gambling involvement, type of gambling, at-risk and problem gambling (ARPG) and register-based grade point average (GPA), among Finnish people aged 18-29 years (N = 676). It is assumed that high gambling involvement and engaging in certain types of gambling are linked to ARPG, and that low school achievement is positively associated with these measures.

METHODS

A nationwide cross-sectional random sample was collected in 2015. The data were weighted based on gender, age and region. Analyses were carried out using logistic regression models.

RESULTS

Frequent gambling, playing several game types, online gambling and ARPG were more common among men than women. Those with low GPA played fast and low-paced daily lottery games and used online casinos significantly more often than men and women with average/high GPA. Men with a low GPA were also more likely to gamble on a weekly basis and played casino games and online poker more often. For women with a low GPA online gambling and playing slot machines were more common than for women with an average/high GPA. When controlling for sociodemographic variables and gambling involvement, men's participation in daily lottery games and online poker was significantly associated with a low GPA, but among women none of the game types remained statistically significant. Among women, playing several different game types was linked with a low GPA.

CONCLUSIONS

It seems that poorer school achievement is associated not only with frequent gambling, a large number of game types played and online gambling, but also, to some extent at least, with game type preferences.