How young people react to gambling content on social media

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Author(s): Kaakinen, Markus ; Sirola, Anu ; Savolainen, Iina ; Oksanen, Atte

Journal: Drug and Alcohol Review

Year Published: 2019

Date Added: February 27, 2020

Young people may see gambling content on social media platforms. Exposure to online gambling ideas could influence their views of gambling. This study tested how young people (ages 15–30) reacted to different gambling messages online.

Participants preferred gambling messages with facts over ones about personal experiences. They also preferred gambling messages that were popular with other social media users. Finally, most participants preferred anti-gambling over pro-gambling messages. However, participants who had positive gambling attitudes preferred pro-gambling messages.

Citation: Kaakinen, M., Sirola, A., Savolainen, I., & Oksanen, A. (2019). Young people and gambling content in social media: An experimental insight. Drug and Alcohol Review. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/dar.13010

Article DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/dar.13010

Keywords: gambling ; Internet ; risk factors ; young adults

Topics: Cultural Factors ; Online Gambling

Conceptual Framework Factors: Exposure - Marketing and Messaging ; Social - Social Demographics ; Psychological - Lifespan Development ; Gambling Exposure ; Social Factors

Study Design: Experimental: RCT (randomized controlled trial)

Study Population: Young people ages 15-25 (N=1200) and young people ages 15-30 (N=230) from Finland

Sampling Procedure: There were two samples of participants. Sample 1 were recruited from a pool of volunteer respondents administrated by Survey Sampling International (Finland). Sample 2 was a convenience sample who were recruited from Finnish discussion forums and social networking sites. The researchers posted messages about the experiment on these sites and people could choose to participate to get a chance to win movie tickets.

Study Funding:

This study was supported by the Finnish Foundation for Alcohol Studies.