RESEARCH QUESTIONS
How often do college students who are not yet of legal age gamble? What are these individuals’ gambling preferences and game preferences? What degree of pathology is characteristic of these individuals?
PURPOSE
This study assessed the frequency of gambling, gambling preferences, game preferences, and degree of pathology for college students who were not yet of legal age to wager.
HYPOTHESIS
None stated.
PARTICIPANTS
Participants were 995 American college students (46% males; average age = 21 years) recruited from psychology classes at a university in Las Vegas, Nevada. The majority of the students (68%) were under the legal age (i.e., 21 years) to gamble in the state of Nevada.
PROCEDURE
Participants completed self-report questionnaires of demographics as well as gambling behaviours and severity.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
The South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS assessed severity of gambling. Based on scores on the SOGS, participants were classified as being either: recreational gamblers (score of 0), problem gamblers (score of 1 to 4), or probable pathological gamblers (score of 5 or above). A series of additional questions related to various other gambling behaviors (additional detail regarding the gambling behaviors was not provided in the article) were included.
KEY RESULTS
The percentage of participants classified as probable pathological gamblers by the SOGS was 9% for those under 21 years, and 15% for those over 21 years. Further, there was a significant gender difference with males having a rate of probable pathological gambling nearly double that of females (13% compared to 7%). For participants over 21 years of age, 93% said they had gambled at least once in a casino, compared to 60% of the 18 year olds, 73% of the 19 year olds, and 86% of the 20 year olds. For underage participants, there was no significant gender difference with respect to having ever gambled in a casino. Preferences for favourite game did not differ for those under 21 years versus those over 21 years except that those under 21 years were more than twice as likely to prefer sports betting to those over 21 years. For both groups, machine play (e.g., video poker or slots) was the favourite form of gambling.
LIMITATIONS
The measures employed in the study were all self-report in nature. Self-report measures may only approximate the rate of gambling behavior and they can be influenced by extraneous factors. Until the self-reported claims of casino gambling while underage are supported via forms of independent validation, all conclusions drawn should be met with caution.
CONCLUSIONS
Significant numbers of college students in the present study had gambled in a casino, even though they were not yet of legal age to do so. This was the case for over 50% of the participants for every age bracket from age 18 through 20. Moreover, a large number of those under age 21 gave evidence suggestive of pathological gambling. Although considerable educational efforts are made each fall to assure that college students are knowledgeable about the dangers of alcohol abuse and drug addiction, it appears that it may be time to add gambling to the list of potential threats to an academic career and successful life.
