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The Internet represents a relatively new phenomenon, offering players a convenient, easily accessible, and relatively anonymous gambling venue. This study explored Internet gambling in a sample of youth aged 12 to 24 years. Students in high school, CEGEP, and university were asked to report on their involvement in gambling activities both on-line and off-line. In the past 12 months, 4.6% of participants had gambled on the Internet, with higher rates among males (5.8%) compared to females (2.3%). As well, 36.6% of youth reported that in the past 12 months they had gambled on Internet 'practice' gambling sites where no money was required to play. Concerns about the possible effect of Internet gambling on youth are raised and possible future directions for research are explored.

Friend, family and global social support, peer deviance and gambling frequency were examined as predictors of gambling involvement. Analyses focused on the predictors of gambling involvement with the covariate, drug-use, removed. For the 962 college student (mean age 18.5) participants, global social support, peer deviance and gambling frequency were the best predictors of gambling involvement with drug-use removed. Although males and females both reported diminished perceived supports globally and increased peer deviance as their reported level of gambling involvement increased, females reported less perceived support from all three networks. Males did not perceive less support from friends and family as their gambling involvement increased. The social support construct provides a social contextualization for future gambling involvement investigations. One important implication of this research is that diminished global social support will need to be recognized as a significant risk factor predicting problem gambling by researchers, clinicians and politicians alike. Peer deviance will need to be recognized as a significant risk-factor for males as well as females. Males reported more gambling-related problems than females. Although peer deviance significantly increased for both males and females with greater gambling involvement, peer deviance was higher among males than females. Males perceived no diminished sense of family and friend support. However, this shift for females appears to be evidence of diminished perceived support from all sources: family and friends as well as globally. Researchers, clinicians and politicians need to be aware that adolescents and young adults are at increased risk for encountering gambling problems as gambling frequency and peer deviance affiliation increases, and social support perceived to be available globally diminishes.

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As gambling becomes more accessible, problems associated with gambling have begun to affect ever increasing numbers of youth. Despite legal restrictions in some jurisdictions, Internet gambling is undergoing a massive worldwide expansion. The relationship between the convenience, anonymity, and the 24-hour availability of Internet gambling and problem gambling in young people presents a serious concern. This study explored Internet gambling in a sample of university students aged 18 to 20 years. Students reported on their involvement in gambling activities both on and off the Internet. In the past 12 months, 6.7% of participants had gambled for money on the Internet, with higher rates among males (11.0%) than females (.8%). As well, 39.4% of students reported that in the past 12 months they had played gambling-type games on Internet 'practice' sites, where no money was required to play. Concerns about the possible effects of Internet gambling are raised and possible future directions for research are presented.

The study of resilient children has overturned many deficit focused models about the ontogenesis of children raised in adversity. Resilience research has flourished over the last three decades, and emphasis on the development of resilience skills are increasingly being incorporated into prevention programs. This study explores whether youth identified as resilient are as likely as those identified as vulnerable to engage in excessive gambling behaviour, and to examine the impact of several risk and protective factors on gambling severity among adolescents. The sample consisted of 1,273 students aged 12-19. The results suggest that vulnerable youth, low in resilience, are more likely to meet diagnostic criteria for problem gambling. There were no significant differences between resilient and low risk-exposure groups suggesting that the individual protective factors examined in this study may prevent maladaptive outcomes. These findings were interpreted with respect to their implications for resilience and prevention research.

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published_or_final_version / Clinical Psychology / Doctoral / Doctor of Psychology

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