2 results
Gambling activity in the old-age general population
- Amparo del Pino-Gutiérrez, Roser Granero, Fernando Fernández-Aranda, Teresa Mena-Moreno, Gemma Mestre-Bach, Mónica Gómez-Peña, Laura Moragas, Neus Aymamí, Isabelle Giroux, Marie Grall-Bronnec, Anne Sauvaget, Ester Codina, Cristina Vintró-Alcaraz, María Lozano-Madrid, Zaida Agüera, Jéssica Sánchez-González, Gemma Casalé, Isabel Baenas, Isabel Sánchez, Hibai López-González, José M. Menchón, Susana Jiménez-Murcia
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- Journal:
- Ageing & Society / Volume 42 / Issue 12 / December 2022
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 23 March 2021, pp. 2757-2783
- Print publication:
- December 2022
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Old age constitutes a vulnerable stage for developing gambling-related problems. The aims of the study were to identify patterns of gambling habits in elderly participants from the general population, and to assess socio-demographic and clinical variables related to the severity of the gambling behaviours. The sample included N = 361 participants aged in the 50–90 years range. A broad assessment included socio-demographic variables, gambling profile and psychopathological state. The percentage of participants who reported an absence of gambling activities was 35.5 per cent, while 46.0 per cent reported only non-strategic gambling, 2.2 per cent only strategic gambling and 16.3 per cent both non-strategic plus strategic gambling. Gambling form with highest prevalence was lotteries (60.4%), followed by pools (13.9%) and bingo (11.9%). The prevalence of gambling disorder was 1.4 per cent, and 8.0 per cent of participants were at a problematic gambling level. Onset of gambling activities was younger for men, and male participants also reached a higher mean for the bets per gambling-episode and the number of total gambling activities. Risk factors for gambling severity in the sample were not being born in Spain and a higher number of cumulative lifetime life events, and gambling severity was associated with a higher prevalence of tobacco and alcohol abuse and with worse psychopathological state. Results are particularly useful for the development of reliable screening tools and for the design of effective prevention programmes.
Contribution of stressful life events to gambling activity in older age
- Roser Granero, Susana Jiménez-Murcia, Fernando Fernández-Aranda, Amparo del Pino-Gutiérrez, Teresa Mena-Moreno, Gemma Mestre-Bach, Mónica Gómez-Peña, Laura Moragas, Neus Aymamí, Isabelle Giroux, Marie Grall-Bronnec, Anne Sauvaget, Ester Codina, Cristina Vintró-Alcaraz, María Lozano-Madrid, Marco Camozzi, Zaida Agüera, Jéssica Sánchez-González, Gemma Casalé-Salayet, Isabel Sánchez, Hibai López-González, Isabel Baenas, José M. Menchón
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- Journal:
- Ageing & Society / Volume 42 / Issue 7 / July 2022
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 26 November 2020, pp. 1513-1537
- Print publication:
- July 2022
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Older subjects are susceptible to develop gambling problems, and researchers have attempted to assess the mechanisms underlying the gambling profile in later life. The objective of this study was to identify the main stressful life events (SLE) across the lifespan which have discriminative capacity for detecting the presence of gambling disorder (GD) in older adults. Data from two independent samples of individuals aged 50+ were analysed: N = 47 patients seeking treatment at a Pathological Gambling Outpatient Unit and N = 361 participants recruited from the general population. Sexual problems (p < 0.001), exposure to domestic violent behaviour (p < 0.001), severe financial problems (p = 0.002), alcohol or drug-related problems (p = 0.004) and extramarital sex (p < 0.001) were related to a higher risk of GD, while getting married (p = 0.005), moving to a new home (p = 0.003) and moving to a new city (p = 0.006) decreased the likelihood of disordered gambling. The accumulated number of SLE was not a predictor of the presence of GD (p = 0.732), but patients who met clinical criteria for GD reported higher concurrence of SLE in time than control individuals (p < 0.001). Empirical research highlights the need to include older age groups in evidence-based policies for gambling prevention, because these individuals are at high risk of onset and/or progression of behavioural addiction-related problems such as GD. The results of this study may be useful for developing reliable screening/diagnostic tools and for planning effective early intervention programmes aimed to reduce the harm related to the onset and evolution of problem gambling in older adults.