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Peer Group Identification as Determinant of Youth Behavior and the Role of Perceived Social Support in Problem Gambling

Gambling opportunities have increased rapidly during recent years. Previous research shows that gambling is a popular activity among youth, which may contribute to problem gambling. This study examined how social identification with online and offline peer groups associates with youth problem gambli...

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Autores principales: Savolainen, Iina, Sirola, Anu, Kaakinen, Markus, Oksanen, Atte
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer US 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6474853/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30465150
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10899-018-9813-8
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author Savolainen, Iina
Sirola, Anu
Kaakinen, Markus
Oksanen, Atte
author_facet Savolainen, Iina
Sirola, Anu
Kaakinen, Markus
Oksanen, Atte
author_sort Savolainen, Iina
collection PubMed
description Gambling opportunities have increased rapidly during recent years. Previous research shows that gambling is a popular activity among youth, which may contribute to problem gambling. This study examined how social identification with online and offline peer groups associates with youth problem gambling behavior and if perceived social support buffers this relationship. Data were gathered with an online survey with 1212 American and 1200 Finnish participants between 15 and 25 years of age. Measures included the South Oaks Gambling Screen for problem gambling, and items for peer group identification and perceived social support. It was found that youth who identify strongly with offline peer groups were less likely to engage in problem gambling, while strong identification with online peer groups had the opposite effect. We also found that the associations between social identification and problem gambling behavior were moderated by perceived social support. Online peer groups may be a determinant in youth problem gambling. Focusing on offline peer groups and increasing social support can hold significant potential in youth gambling prevention.
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spelling pubmed-64748532019-05-07 Peer Group Identification as Determinant of Youth Behavior and the Role of Perceived Social Support in Problem Gambling Savolainen, Iina Sirola, Anu Kaakinen, Markus Oksanen, Atte J Gambl Stud Original Paper Gambling opportunities have increased rapidly during recent years. Previous research shows that gambling is a popular activity among youth, which may contribute to problem gambling. This study examined how social identification with online and offline peer groups associates with youth problem gambling behavior and if perceived social support buffers this relationship. Data were gathered with an online survey with 1212 American and 1200 Finnish participants between 15 and 25 years of age. Measures included the South Oaks Gambling Screen for problem gambling, and items for peer group identification and perceived social support. It was found that youth who identify strongly with offline peer groups were less likely to engage in problem gambling, while strong identification with online peer groups had the opposite effect. We also found that the associations between social identification and problem gambling behavior were moderated by perceived social support. Online peer groups may be a determinant in youth problem gambling. Focusing on offline peer groups and increasing social support can hold significant potential in youth gambling prevention. Springer US 2018-11-21 2019 /pmc/articles/PMC6474853/ /pubmed/30465150 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10899-018-9813-8 Text en © The Author(s) 2018 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
spellingShingle Original Paper
Savolainen, Iina
Sirola, Anu
Kaakinen, Markus
Oksanen, Atte
Peer Group Identification as Determinant of Youth Behavior and the Role of Perceived Social Support in Problem Gambling
title Peer Group Identification as Determinant of Youth Behavior and the Role of Perceived Social Support in Problem Gambling
title_full Peer Group Identification as Determinant of Youth Behavior and the Role of Perceived Social Support in Problem Gambling
title_fullStr Peer Group Identification as Determinant of Youth Behavior and the Role of Perceived Social Support in Problem Gambling
title_full_unstemmed Peer Group Identification as Determinant of Youth Behavior and the Role of Perceived Social Support in Problem Gambling
title_short Peer Group Identification as Determinant of Youth Behavior and the Role of Perceived Social Support in Problem Gambling
title_sort peer group identification as determinant of youth behavior and the role of perceived social support in problem gambling
topic Original Paper
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6474853/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30465150
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10899-018-9813-8
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