This study looked at self-labelling, casual attributions, and stigma among people who currently or had previously experienced problem gambling. A total of 300 adults were surveyed. The researchers found that participants tended to use clinical terms like 'addicted' and ‘problem gambler’ to describe their experience with gambling, rather than public health terms like ‘person harmed by gambling’. However, only ‘addicted’ was commonly used to describe themselves to others, while other clinical terms and public health terms were rarely used. Participants who experienced more severe problem gambling tended to use more clinical terms. They also reported greater perceived and experienced stigma. Unexpectedly, participants who attributed their problem gambling as being caused by their own actions reported lower experienced stigma. These findings highlight the need for careful language choices in public contexts to reduce gambling-related stigma.
