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At-risk and problem gambling among adolescents: a convenience sample of first-year junior high school students in Finland

BACKGROUND: Adolescent gambling and substance use are viewed as a public health concern internationally. The early onset age of gambling is a known risk factor for developing gambling problems later in life. The aims of this study are: to evaluate the internal consistency reliability, factorial vali...

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Autores principales: Castrén, Sari, Grainger, Marjut, Lahti, Tuuli, Alho, Hannu, Salonen, Anne H
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4381398/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25879923
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13011-015-0003-8
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author Castrén, Sari
Grainger, Marjut
Lahti, Tuuli
Alho, Hannu
Salonen, Anne H
author_facet Castrén, Sari
Grainger, Marjut
Lahti, Tuuli
Alho, Hannu
Salonen, Anne H
author_sort Castrén, Sari
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Adolescent gambling and substance use are viewed as a public health concern internationally. The early onset age of gambling is a known risk factor for developing gambling problems later in life. The aims of this study are: to evaluate the internal consistency reliability, factorial validity and classification accuracy of the Finnish version of DSM-IV-Multiple Response-Juvenile (DSM-IV-MR-J) criteria measuring at-risk/problem gambling (ARPG); to examine gender differences in gambling participation, ARPG and substance use among first-year junior high school students; and to investigate the association of gambling and gaming (video game playing) participation, substance use and social variables with ARPG. METHODS: This study examined 988 adolescents (mean age 13.4 years) at 11 public schools in Finland between October-December 2013. The response rate was 91.6%. Chi-squared test and binary logistic regression analysis were used. RESULTS: ‘Illegal acts’ was the most endorsed and sensitive, but the least specific criteria identifying ARPG. During the past year, 51.6% of the respondents had gambled, 7.9% were identified as at-risk/problem gamblers (DSM-IV-MR-J score ≥ 2), 8.0% had smoked and 8.9% had been drinking for intoxication, and the first three were significantly more common among boys than girls. The odds ratio of being a male past-year at-risk/problem gambler was 2.27, 5.78 for gambling often or sometimes, 2.42 for video game playing weekly or more often and 6.23 for having peer gamblers. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the Finnish version of the DSM-IV-MR-J had acceptable internal consistency reliability and factorial validity. None of the DSM-IV-MR-J criteria were accurate enough to screen ARPG per se. ARPG past-year prevalence was relatively high with males gambling more than females. ARPG was as common as drinking alcohol for intoxication and smoking. Peer gambling was strongly associated with ARPG. Efficient strategies to minimise the risks of gambling problems, tools for prevention and identification of ARPG among the underage are needed.
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spelling pubmed-43813982015-04-02 At-risk and problem gambling among adolescents: a convenience sample of first-year junior high school students in Finland Castrén, Sari Grainger, Marjut Lahti, Tuuli Alho, Hannu Salonen, Anne H Subst Abuse Treat Prev Policy Research BACKGROUND: Adolescent gambling and substance use are viewed as a public health concern internationally. The early onset age of gambling is a known risk factor for developing gambling problems later in life. The aims of this study are: to evaluate the internal consistency reliability, factorial validity and classification accuracy of the Finnish version of DSM-IV-Multiple Response-Juvenile (DSM-IV-MR-J) criteria measuring at-risk/problem gambling (ARPG); to examine gender differences in gambling participation, ARPG and substance use among first-year junior high school students; and to investigate the association of gambling and gaming (video game playing) participation, substance use and social variables with ARPG. METHODS: This study examined 988 adolescents (mean age 13.4 years) at 11 public schools in Finland between October-December 2013. The response rate was 91.6%. Chi-squared test and binary logistic regression analysis were used. RESULTS: ‘Illegal acts’ was the most endorsed and sensitive, but the least specific criteria identifying ARPG. During the past year, 51.6% of the respondents had gambled, 7.9% were identified as at-risk/problem gamblers (DSM-IV-MR-J score ≥ 2), 8.0% had smoked and 8.9% had been drinking for intoxication, and the first three were significantly more common among boys than girls. The odds ratio of being a male past-year at-risk/problem gambler was 2.27, 5.78 for gambling often or sometimes, 2.42 for video game playing weekly or more often and 6.23 for having peer gamblers. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the Finnish version of the DSM-IV-MR-J had acceptable internal consistency reliability and factorial validity. None of the DSM-IV-MR-J criteria were accurate enough to screen ARPG per se. ARPG past-year prevalence was relatively high with males gambling more than females. ARPG was as common as drinking alcohol for intoxication and smoking. Peer gambling was strongly associated with ARPG. Efficient strategies to minimise the risks of gambling problems, tools for prevention and identification of ARPG among the underage are needed. BioMed Central 2015-03-08 /pmc/articles/PMC4381398/ /pubmed/25879923 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13011-015-0003-8 Text en © Castrén et al.; licensee BioMed Central. 2015 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research
Castrén, Sari
Grainger, Marjut
Lahti, Tuuli
Alho, Hannu
Salonen, Anne H
At-risk and problem gambling among adolescents: a convenience sample of first-year junior high school students in Finland
title At-risk and problem gambling among adolescents: a convenience sample of first-year junior high school students in Finland
title_full At-risk and problem gambling among adolescents: a convenience sample of first-year junior high school students in Finland
title_fullStr At-risk and problem gambling among adolescents: a convenience sample of first-year junior high school students in Finland
title_full_unstemmed At-risk and problem gambling among adolescents: a convenience sample of first-year junior high school students in Finland
title_short At-risk and problem gambling among adolescents: a convenience sample of first-year junior high school students in Finland
title_sort at-risk and problem gambling among adolescents: a convenience sample of first-year junior high school students in finland
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4381398/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25879923
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13011-015-0003-8
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