“It runs in your blood” : reflections from treatment seeking gamblers on their family history of gambling

Dowling, Nicki; Francis, K.; Dixon, R.; Merkouris, Stephanie; Thomas, Shane

Title: “It runs in your blood” : reflections from treatment seeking gamblers on their family history of gambling
Creator: Dowling, Nicki; Francis, K.; Dixon, R.; Merkouris, Stephanie; Thomas, Shane
Date: 2021
Type: Text; Journal article
Identifier: http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/178201
Identifier: vital:15382
Identifier: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-020-09959-w
Identifier: ISBN:1050-5350 (ISSN)
Abstract: There are considerable gaps in our understanding of the familial transmission of gambling problems. This convergent mixed-methods study aimed to explore the: (1) sources of heterogeneity in the familial (paternal, maternal, and sibling) transmission of gambling problems; (2) degree to which family-of-origin characteristics are associated with family-of-origin problem gambling; and (3) beliefs of gamblers about the nature of the familial transmission of problem gambling. The sample consisted of 97 treatment-seeking gamblers in Australia. One-quarter (25.5%) of participants reported that at least one family member (16.5% father, 7.5% mother, 7.6% siblings) living with them when they were growing up had a gambling problem. Most participants reported that family members with a positive history of problem gambling were biological relatives, lived with them full-time, and experienced long-term difficulties with gambling. Participants with a family history of problem gambling were young (less than 12 years of age) at the onset of parental, but not sibling, problem gambling, were women, and reported difficulties with the same gambling activity as their family member. Participants raised in families with problem gambling were more likely to report parental separation (risk ratio [RR] = 2.32) and divorce (RR = 2.83), and extreme family financial hardship (RR = 1.80), as well as low levels of paternal authoritative parenting than participants raised in non-problem gambling families. Qualitatively, both social learning and genetics were perceived to play a central role in the familial transmission of gambling problems. These findings inform theories of the familial transmission of gambling problems and the design of targeted prevention and intervention strategies. © 2020, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. **Please note that there are multiple authors for this article therefore only the name of the first 5 including Federation University Australia affiliate “Shane Thomas” is provided in this record**
Publisher: Springer
Relation: Journal of Gambling Studies Vol. 37, no. 2 (2021), p. 689-710
Rights: All metadata describing materials held in, or linked to, the repository is freely available under a CC0 licence
Subject: 1506 Tourism; 1608 Sociology; 1701 Psychology; Family; Gambling; Offspring; Parents; Siblings; Transmission
Reviewed
Funder: The data presented in this manuscript were collected as part of the multi-study Children at Risk Project funded by Gambling Research Australia (Melbourne, Victoria), Tender Number 103/06, awarded to authors Jackson, Thomas, Frydenberg, and Dowling.

Hits: 1289
Visitors: 1150
Downloads: 0