title: Is video-game playing a risk factor for pathological gambling in Australian adolescents?
abstract: Very little research has been conducted to examine the relationship between video-game playing and gambling in adolescence. In this study, 2,669 adolescents aged 13-17 years were surveyed to obtained details of their involvement in gambling and video-game playing as well as a measure of pathological gambling (the DSM-IV-J). The results showed that, the frequency of video game playing was significantly related to pathological gambling, but that the effect size was very small and largely accounted for by the greater popularity of both activities amongst boys. There was some evidence for stronger associations between technologically similar activities, namely arcade video games and an interest in gaming machines, but other factors discussed in the paper may also account for this association. In summary, the findings suggested that playing video-games is unlikely to be a significant risk factor for pathological gambling during adolescence.
authors: School of Psychology, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, 5005, Australia. paul.delfabbro@adelaide.edu.au
authors: Paul
authors: P
authors: Delfabbro
authors: Daniel
authors: D
authors: King
authors: Chrisi
authors: C
authors: Lambos
authors: Stan
authors: S
authors: Puglies
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D005715:Gambling / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D012307:Risk Factors; D012919:Social Behavior; D018910:Video Games / Q000523:psychology*