Transmission of Problem Gambling Between Adjacent Generations
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Transmission of Problem Gambling Between Adjacent Generations David Forrest1 · Ian G. McHale1 Accepted: 7 September 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract We investigate the extent to which gambling problems at age 20 are linked to parental gambling behaviour during childhood, employing data from a longitudinal study (ALSPAC) which has followed parents and children from Avon, England since pregnancy. 1058 children completed a problem gambling screen at age 20. When those children had been age 6, each of their parents was asked about their own gambling. We used regression to estimate the effect of parental gambling behaviour at child age 6 on the child’s problem gambling risk at age 20. Parental gambling participation at child age 6 was not a predictor of offspring problem gambling; but problem gambling by parents was a predictor of offspring problem gambling. However, this latter result was found only cross-gender (fathers’ behaviour influencing daughters and mothers’ behaviour influencing sons). This pattern was robust to models including measures of parental education and variables capturing family attitudes to health choices and the degree of domestic harmony. The sample illustrates high problem gambling prevalence amongst young adults. Although there is transmission of ‘problem gambling’ between generations, it appears to happen only cross-gender. This limits the importance of parental problem gambling as a source of the high prevalence because relatively few mothers exhibit problem gambling and risks to daughters from fathers are in the context of initially low baseline risks. Preventative policies might therefore be more appropriately targeted at young adults rather than rely on influencing parental gambling behaviour earlier in the child’s life. Keywords Longitudinal data · Youth gambling · Problem gambling · Environmental influences
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s1089 9-020-09977-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * David Forrest [email protected] 1
University of Liverpool Management School, Chatham Street, Liverpool L69 7ZH, UK
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Vol.:(0123456789)
Journal of Gambling Studies
Introduction As with many other physical and psychiatric illnesses, there may be an extent to which individuals are at greater risk of problem gambling where a parent has experienced the disorder. How common the transmission of parental gambling disorders to child gambling behaviour is will influence decisions on public health policy to mitigate prevalence and harm. Possible means of transmission include inheritance of genes and environmental influences during childhood. Studies of twins (for example, by Slutske et al. 2010) show that presence of problem gambling is more correlated between identical than between fraternal twins, controlling for exposure to similar environmental influences. Environmental influences are argued to include the effect of ‘modelling’ behaviour by parents whose heavy engagement ‘norm
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