title: Problem gambling and family violence: prevalence and patterns in treatment-seekers.
abstract: The primary aim of this study was to explore the prevalence and patterns of family violence in treatment-seeking problem gamblers. Secondary aims were to identify the prevalence of problem gambling in a family violence victimisation treatment sample and to explore the relationship between problem gambling and family violence in other treatment-seeking samples. Clients from 15 Australian treatment services were systematically screened for problem gambling using the Brief Bio-Social Gambling Screen and for family violence using single victimisation and perpetration items adapted from the Hurt-Insulted-Threatened-Screamed (HITS): gambling services (n=463), family violence services (n=95), alcohol and drug services (n=47), mental health services (n=51), and financial counselling services (n=48). The prevalence of family violence in the gambling sample was 33.9% (11.0% victimisation only, 6.9% perpetration only, and 16.0% both victimisation and perpetration). Female gamblers were significantly more likely to report victimisation only (16.5% cf. 7.8%) and both victimisation and perpetration (21.2% cf. 13.0%) than male gamblers. There were no other demographic differences in family violence prevalence estimates. Gamblers most commonly endorsed their parents as both the perpetrators and victims of family violence, followed by current and former partners. The prevalence of problem gambling in the family violence sample was 2.2%. The alcohol and drug (84.0%) and mental health (61.6%) samples reported significantly higher rates of any family violence than the gambling sample, while the financial counselling sample (10.6%) reported significantly higher rates of problem gambling than the family violence sample. The findings of this study support substantial comorbidity between problem gambling and family violence, although this may be accounted for by a high comorbidity with alcohol and drug use problems and other psychiatric disorders. They highlight the need for routine screening, assessment and management of problem gambling and family violence in a range of services.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Deakin University, Australia; Problem Gambling Research and Treatment Centre, University of Melbourne, Australia; School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Australia. Electronic address: nicki.dowling@deakin.edu.au.
authors.forename: N A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Dowling
authors.affiliation: Problem Gambling Research and Treatment Centre, University of Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.affiliation: Problem Gambling Research and Treatment Centre, University of Melbourne, Australia; Centre for Gambling Research, The Australian National University, Australia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Suomi
authors.affiliation: Flinders Human Behaviour & Health Research Unit, School of Medicine, Flinders University, Australia.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lavis
authors.affiliation: Problem Gambling Research and Treatment Centre, Monash University, Australia.
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.affiliation: Problem Gambling Research and Treatment Centre, University of Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Patford
authors.affiliation: Flinders Human Behaviour & Health Research Unit, School of Medicine, Flinders University, Australia.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Harvey
authors.affiliation: Flinders Human Behaviour & Health Research Unit, School of Medicine, Flinders University, Australia.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Battersby
authors.affiliation: Trauma Research Centre, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Koziol-McLain
authors.affiliation: Gambling and Addictions Research Centre, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abbott
authors.affiliation: Gambling and Addictions Research Centre, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand.
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Bellringer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D017579:Domestic Violence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005715:Gambling / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015995:Prevalence; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Alcohol; Domestic violence; Family violence; Mental health; Prevalence; Problem gambling