Gambling onset and progression in a sample of at-risk gamblers from the general population

The goal of this study was to investigate gambling-related behavior, onset and progression in a sample of at-risk gamblers from the community. A national household survey was conducted in Brazil, covering individuals 14 years old or older. Subjects were screened for at-risk gambling, those testing p...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Carneiro, Elizabeth, Tavares, Hermano, Sanches, Marcos, Pinsky, Ilana [UNIFESP], Caetano, Raul, Zaleski, Marcos, Laranjeira, Ronaldo [UNIFESP]
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2014
País:Brasil
Institución:Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP)
Repositorio:Repositório Institucional da UNIFESP
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.unifesp.br:11600/37786
Acceso en línea:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2014.01.035
http://repositorio.unifesp.br/handle/11600/37786
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Pathological gambling
Gambling trajectory
Community sample
Gambling sub-population
Descripción
Sumario:The goal of this study was to investigate gambling-related behavior, onset and progression in a sample of at-risk gamblers from the community. A national household survey was conducted in Brazil, covering individuals 14 years old or older. Subjects were screened for at-risk gambling, those testing positive answered a questionnaire about gambling progression, preferred games and DSM-IV pathological gambling criteria. Out of 3007 respondents, 118 were considered at-risk gamblers according to the Lie/Bet Questionnaire. According to the DSM-IV, 32.7% and 24.9% of those were considered problem and pathological gamblers, respectively. Early at-risk gamblers (onset prior to 20 years of age), were more likely to be male, to prefer non-commercially structured games, and to chase losses while gambling. Young pathological gamblers (under 35 years of age) progressed faster from regular to problem gambling (roughly 2 years) than mature pathological gamblers (12 years). Such findings had not been described before because previous reports focused mostly on clinical samples that lack young, male, early-onset gamblers. Gambling programs have not satisfactorily covered this segment of gamblers. Outreach strategies and early interventions should be provided to prevent these individuals from rapidly evolving into pathological gambling. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.