Mental Health
Unraveling the Impact of Early Adversity on Problem Gambling in Young Adults: Insights from the Add Health Study Krishna Vaddiparti* Krishna Vaddiparti Alyssa Falise Youngseo Cheon Catalina Lopez-Quintero
Aims: This study aimed to examine factors influencing problematic gambling, focusing on the impact of adverse childhood experiences like trauma, perpetration, and other negative adolescent events, to identify key contributors to its development in young adulthood.
Methods: Secondary data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health was analyzed, including a total of 16,534 participants. Gambling behaviors were categorized as no gambling (n = 1,922), non-problematic gambling (n = 14,028), and problematic gambling (n = 584) based on self-reported responses. Individual-level factors examined included substance use, suicidal behavior, arrests for perpetration, trauma, adverse childhood experiences, and socioeconomic status. Chi-square analyses and logistic regression models were used to assess associations between these factors and gambling status.
Results: Individuals with problematic gambling (3.5%) exhibited significantly higher rates of adverse outcomes, including cigarette use (p < 0.01), alcohol consumption (p < 0.01), marijuana use (p < 0.01), parental incarceration (p = 0.04), witnessing violence (p = 0.02), and being arrested for perpetration before age 18 (p < 0.01), Male gender was strongly associated with problematic gambling (AOR = 4.5), as was substance use (e.g., cigarette use: AOR = 1.9). Although being arrested for perpetration before age 18 was significantly associated with problematic gambling in unadjusted models (OR = 2.4), the association was no longer statistically significant after adjustment. Similarly, while the number of traumas showed a weak trend toward an association with problematic gambling, it did not reach statistical significance.
Conclusions: Adverse childhood experiences, substance use, and male gender significantly increase the risk of problematic gambling in young adulthood. Early interventions addressing these factors are essential to prevent gambling-related harms.