University of Missouri

The NCRG recently awarded an NCRG Center of Excellence in Gambling Research and four Seed Grants. The center grant of $355,001 was awarded to Dr. Wendy Slutske at the University of Missouri, Columbia. Dr. Slutske’s project seeks to fill the void of research on community-based studies of gambling disorder. Because so few disordered gamblers seek treatment, treatment populations cannot be considered representative of all disordered gamblers; hence, the need for broad community-based studies to answer questions about the origins and trajectory of gambling disorder.

Focusing on four unique datasets from Sweden, New Zealand, Australia and a US sample of reservation-dwelling Native Americans, Slutske’s team will pursue the following questions: (1) is living in a disadvantaged neighborhood a (potentially malleable) environmental cause of disordered gambling (DG), and if so, why? (2) where among the ~20,000 genes in the human genome are the variants associated with the risk for DG, and do these overlap with the genetic variants associated with the risk for other conditions such as alcohol use disorder?, (3) are there certain environments in which the genetic risk for DG is more likely to be expressed?, (4) when in the life course is DG more or less likely to first emerge?, and (5) are the causes of DG similar across the lifespan?

The NCRG also recently awarded four Seed Grants:

The National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG) has named Wendy S. Slutske, Ph.D., professor in the department of psychological sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia, the recipient of the 2011 Scientific Achievement Award in recognition of her contributions to the field of research on gambling disorders. The award was presented at a luncheon today The Sands Expo and Convention Center at The Venetian in Las Vegas, Nev., during the 12th annual NCRG Conference on Gambling and Addiction.

Click below for the NCRG blog team’s exclusive interview with Dr. Matthew Martens, associate professor of educational, school and counseling psychology at the University of Missouri, Columbia. Nathan Smith, program officer for the NCRG, sat down with Dr. Martens to discuss brief interventions for problem gambling and gives advice to campus health professionals on how to address gambling and gambling-related harms on campus.

Do men and women have the same experience with gambling problems or with recovery? Or, are there gender differences that have been observed in studies of other addictive behaviors? The following is an excerpt from the article, “New Study Explores Gender Differences in Treatment-Seeking, Recovery,” which was originally published in the spring 2010 edition of Responsible Gaming Quarterly.

Women are more likely than men to seek treatment for and recover from pathological gambling, although the vast majority of people are able to recover from pathological gambling without formal treatment, according to a new study published in Twin Research and Human Genetics.

The study, conducted by Wendy S. Slutske from the University of Missouri, Alex Blaszczynski from the University of Sydney and Nicholas G. Martin from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, is the first ever to document gender differences in treatment-seeking and recovery from pathological gambling. Participants in the study were 4,764 members of the Australian Twin Registry Cohort II sample.

Do men and women have the same experience with gambling problems or with recovery? Or, are there gender differences that have been observed in studies of other addictive behaviors? The following is an excerpt from the article, “New Study Explores Gender Differences in Treatment-Seeking, Recovery,” which was originally published in the spring 2010 edition of Responsible Gaming Quarterly.

Women are more likely than men to seek treatment for and recover from pathological gambling, although the vast majority of people are able to recover from pathological gambling without formal treatment, according to a new study published in Twin Research and Human Genetics.

The study, conducted by Wendy S. Slutske from the University of Missouri, Alex Blaszczynski from the University of Sydney and Nicholas G. Martin from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, is the first ever to document gender differences in treatment-seeking and recovery from pathological gambling. Participants in the study were 4,764 members of the Australian Twin Registry Cohort II sample.