title: Characteristics of Treatment Seeking Finnish Pathological Gamblers: Baseline Data from a Treatment Study.
abstract: This article describes the socio-demographic characteristics and gambling behavior of 39 pathological gamblers who participated in our treatment study in 2009. The inclusion criteria of the study were: score of five or more on both the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) and a pathological gambling screen based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). The first 39 patients meeting the inclusion criterion were recruited into the study. The average age of the subjects was 39 years, and 80 % were males. The lag-time between active gambling (at least three times per week) and the onset of a pathological gambling problem was short: within 2 years of active gambling, 62 % of the subjects reported having become pathological gamblers. Our results also indicated certain gender-specific differences in the age at initiation and in the severity of the gambling problem.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, National Institute for Health and Welfare, P.O.Box 30, 00271 Helsinki, Finland ; Department of Behavioural Sciences and Philosophy, Division of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Tuuli
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lahti
authors.forename: Jukka
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Halme
authors.forename: Maiju
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pankakoski
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sinclair
authors.forename: Hannu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Alho
keywords: DSM-IV; Gambling; Pathological gambling; SOGS