Research has found that there is a relationship between problem gambling and criminal behaviour. General strain theory suggests that the negative consequences of problem gambling cause people to become involved in crime. The generality of deviance framework suggests that there are risk factors that make people more vulnerable to both problem gambling and criminal behaviour. The aim of this study was to use data from a longitudinal study to examine if problem gambling causes criminal behaviour. Initially the researchers found that people with problem gambling were more likely to be involved in crime. However, when they accounted for background differences such as drug use and delinquency, people with problem gambling were no longer more likely to be involved in crime. These results support the generality of deviance framework.
