Moving into gambling: Preliminary results from a qualitative longitudinal study

Søren Kristiansen, PhDAalborg Universitysamf-prodekan@adm.aau.dk

Trends in youth gambling research literature

• Focus on individual risk factors: Gambling problems among youths are often associated with poor school performance (Winters et al. 1993); alcohol, tobacco and drug use (Gupta & Derevensky 1998), impulsivity (Nower et al. 2004); erroneous cognitions (Delfabbro & Thrupp 2003) and irrational beliefs (Emerson et al. 2007).

• Gambling problems among youth populations is significantly more prevalent compared to adults. (Kristiansen & Jensen 2011; National Research Council 1999; Shaffer & Hall 2001), however:

• The majority of children and youngsters have tried to gamble and do so for social and recreational reasons and report no related negative experiences (Di-Cicocco-Bloom & Romer 2011; Michaud 2006).

• Few longitudinal studies, mostly large scale surveys

In addition, we know very little about how peer groups, family and community factors affect the gambling behaviors of current generations of adolescents and young adults

An apparent contradiction: Socially oriented gambling behavior and an individually focused research paradigm

Research aim and questions

• Aim: To integrate (1) a conception of gambling as a primarily social phenomenon with (2) a dynamic and sequential approach to the investigation of risk factors

• Q1: Under what social circumstances do young Danes become engaged in gambling?

• Q2: What roles do social contexts play in initiating child and adolescent gambling?

Theoretical approach

• H. Becker’s (1953) learning theory (+ career concept): An individual will be able to use marihuanna only when he goes through a process of learing to conceive of it as an object which can be used this way. Learn to smoke to produce real effects, learn to recognize effects and connect them with drug use and learn to enjoy the perceived sensations (p.241-42).

• Symbolic interactionism: How is gambling percieved, what are the experiences of gambling, what does gambling mean in the worlds of Danish adolescents

Method and data

• Interview data from a qualitative longitudinal prospective study of gambling behaviors among Danish adolescents aged 12-20 years.

• Part of a panel study with three waves of interviews with young gamblers (classified by SOGS-RA) with a 10-12 month frequency.

• One interview wave has been completed, 52 young Danes have been interviewed August - December 2011

• Verbatim transcripts, data management and analysis supported by Nvivo 9.0

Main findings – the family path

• Spontaneous parent invitations”Sometimes my Dad just says: would you like to check the lotto coupon?”

• Observing the tricks of trade”When I was 12 I was at a family party at my Grand dad’s place and my older cousin had brought a pack of cards. I was watching the game and when one of them left the table I took his place and played his cards. That’s how I learned it.”

• Symbol of adult recognition”I was about 13 when I first tried to play Oddset with my Dad… I was really happy and proud that he would let me try it, it was his money not mine that we wagered.”

Main findings – the family path

• Gambling initation is a social process -joyfull social interaction-internalization of norms and values

• Gambling initation is a gendered process (male and female stereotypes)

• The typical starting arena for younger age groups

Main findings – the peer group path

• Gambling and sports (sports betting, male universe, sense of community, sharing and developing knowledge of teams, scoring statistics etc)”If there is a top match football game in TV, we often arrange to watch it together. Then we go down to the gas station and buy some candy and coke. We enjoy the game and place our odds”

• Social benefits outweights financial loss”When you gamble with your friends and your odds do not work then of course one gets disappointed but we always have a nice time together anyway”

Main findings – the peer group path

• Gambling initiation related to sense of belonging to social community

• Gambling online as a social activity and development of ”online” friendships

• The starting arena for older age groups

Conclusions – the role of social contexts

• Adolescent’s gambling participation is associated with level of gambling among their friends/families

• The conception of gambling is redefined in social processes (from ”risky business” to entertaining leisure pursuit).

• Transfer of skills/knowledge and attitudes towards gambling

• The social aspect of gambling is the main initial driver – not the content or the rules of the game

Questions for further investigation

1. The direction of causal loops: Do peer groups change individual’s gambling behaviors or do individuals’s gambling behaviors change their friendship relations?

2. Friendship relations/family relations and availability are significant factors in terms of gambling initiation. But what about gambling continuation?- actual gambling experiences (wins/losses)- sense of social community- chasing- friendship relations/family relations

- …

Expected use of Nvivo features in strenghthening longitudinal approach

• Coding (themes, statements)• Attributes (for unchanging personal

information)• Formation of sets of participants (T1, T2, T3)

-to scope queries/searches in data-to display/indicate changes between waves of interviews (i.e.matrix tables)…

Acknowledgements

• Research Assistant: Karina V. Johannesen

• Research Funding: The Danish Council for Independent Research