Research Update

What if you could examine a group of seven-year-olds and predict which of them were more likely to someday develop a gambling disorder? A recent study in the journal Addiction attempts to do just that by analyzing the association between impulsive behavior at age seven and the development of problem gambling by adulthood. The authors found that, compared to their non-impulsive counterparts, children who exhibited impulsive behaviors at age seven were 3.09 times more likely to report problem gambling behavior in later years. Read on for more details about this investigation, the first to predict gambling problems over a 30-year span.

To understand how many people in a given area have a gambling problem, we must first understand how gambling disorders are defined and measured. We addressed some of the foundational questions of definition and measurement in the NCRG’s "Gambling Disorders Explained" post earlier this year. Now that the definitions have been outlined, we will examine two common methods used to discuss diseases in a population: prevalence and incidence.

What is a “social network analysis” of gambling disorders and responsible gaming? The phrase might evoke images of Mark Zuckerberg in a hooded sweatshirt, or the Oscar-winning film about the creation of Facebook. In reality, a social network analysis (SNA) is a method that researchers use to study how social connections effect behaviors, such as problem or pathological gambling.  

How many people have a gambling problem? That is the simple question posed by prevalence studies on gambling disorders. However, media reports and scientific articles reveal that this is not a simple issue. This Gambling Disorders 360˚ post is the first in a series called “Gambling Disorders Explained.” We are including these types of posts to help simplify and increase understanding of the different types of studies that exist about gambling disorders, as well as explain contributing factors to various research outcomes about this disorder.   

The urge to gamble can be a powerful force among individuals with a gambling disorder and often precipitates relapse among those who are trying to reduce or quit gambling. Researchers are aware of these urges due to studies using self-reported data, but the field of research needs to have more objective data regarding the biological factors at play. There is now evidence of the neurobiological underpinnings of urges thanks to an innovative brain imaging study from the NCRG Center for Excellence in Gambling Research at Yale University. The study used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to examine the responses to sad, happy and gambling scenarios among 10 men with pathological gambling (PG) and a control group of 11 men without gambling problems (Balodis, I.M., Lacadie, C.M., & Potenza, M.N., 2011).

The March 1, 2012 deadline to submit letters of intent to apply to become an NCRG Center of Excellence in Gambling Research and to apply for Large Grants from the NCRG is right around the corner. The NCRG has allocated more than $1.5 million to fund research that advances our understanding about gambling disorders in 2012, and deadlines for two of those opportunities are quickly approaching. Make sure you submit your letter of intent for these two funding opportunities soon!

The National Center for Responsible Gaming is pleased to announce it has allocated more than $1.5 million for grants in support of research on prevention and treatment of gambling disorders in 2012. This is the largest amount of research dollars allocated for project grants in the organization’s 15-year history. The grants, ranging from $1,500 to $402,500, will be awarded on a competitive basis.

In October the Iowa Department of Public Health released a statewide report on gambling behavior and gambling disorders (Gonnerman & Lutz, 2011). Using the NODS instrument^[1] the study found the rate of pathological gambling (PG), the most severe form of the disorder, in the past 12 months to be 0.3 percent. Using the PGSI instrument, researchers found that past-year rates of PG to be 0.6 percent. These rates are similar to the prevalence rate found in large-scale national surveys, such as the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R) that reported a past-year rate for pathological gambling of 0.3 percent (Kessler et al., 2008). The Iowa report used two screening measures to collect data: the National Opinion Research Center’s DSM Screen (NODS) (Gerstein et al., 1999) and the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), a validated brief measure based on the  Canadian Problem Gambling Severity Index (CPGI) (Ferris & Wynne, 2001).

In 2009, the NCRG’s Task Force on College Gambling Policies recommended that colleges and universities promote understanding of gambling disorders as a mental health issue and provide assessment and intervention resources to address gambling disorders among college students. To assist schools with this recommendation and provide science-based tools to address gambling and gambling-related harms on college campuses, the NCRG launched www.CollegeGambling.org, a comprehensive online resource, in March 2011.

Research shows that approximately 75 percent of college students gambled during the past year, whether legally or illegally. Researchers from Montclair State University  recently published a study about problem gambling awareness messages on college counseling center websites (CCW) to determine what types of information students received about gambling disorders and treatment (McKinley & Wright, 2011). This study further highlights the need for resources like CollegeGambling.org.

Responsible gaming programs typically advise gamblers to set a budget for time and money spent gambling and other self-management techniques designed to avoid problems with gambling. Research is now beginning to examine the types of strategies used by recreational gamblers and people with gambling problems. A new study from Australia demonstrates this trend (Moore et al., 2011).