title: Age of first arrest varies by gambling status in a cohort of young adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the association between social and problem gambling and first criminal arrest by age 23 in a cohort of urban, mainly African-American youth.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data for this study were derived from several annual interviews being completed on a community sample of 617 participants during late adolescence until age 23. Information on gambling status, engagement in deviant behaviors, illegal drug use, and arrest history were collected through yearly interviews. Analysis was carried out using Nelson-Aalen cumulative hazard models and simple and adjusted Cox proportional hazards models.
  
  
  RESULTS
  More problem gamblers had been arrested before age 23 than social gamblers and non-gamblers, ie, 65% of problem gamblers were arrested before age 23, compared to 38% of social gamblers and 24% non-gamblers. Social gambling was only significantly associated with the hazard of first arrest by age 23 in the unadjusted model (HR: 1.6, p < .001), but not after adjustment for covariates (HR: 1.1, p = .47). Problem gambling was significantly associated with the hazard of first arrest by age 23 years in the unadjusted (HR: 3.6, p < .001) and adjusted models (HR: 1.6, p = .05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Problem gambling was significantly associated with earlier age of being arrested. Dilution effects after adjustment for several deviant behaviors and illegal drug use by age 17 suggest that youth exposure to certain common factors may result in engagement in multiple risky behaviors, including problem gambling. Studies are needed to investigate the developmental pathways that lead to these combined behaviors among youth. (Am J Addict 2014;23:386-392).
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, New York; Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland.
authors.forename: Silvia S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Martins
authors.forename: Grace P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Julian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Santaella
authors.forename: Weiwei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Nicholas S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Ialongo
authors.forename: Carla L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Storr
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003415:Crime / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005715:Gambling; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014505:Urban Population; D055815:Young Adult