Claesdotter-Knutsson Emma, Håkansson Anders
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
Psychiatry, Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
JMIR Serious Games. 2021 Nov 3;9(4):e30747. doi: 10.2196/30747.
The COVID‑19 pandemic has affected not only somatic health with over 3.7 million deaths worldwide, but also has had a huge impact on psychological health, creating what amounts to a mental health crisis. The negative effect of the pandemic on traditional addictions is well described and concerning, and the same has been seen for gambling.
This study explores self-reported web-based gambling behavior during the COVID‑19 pandemic in Sweden. We investigated overall changes, but also changes in specific web-based gambling types, and whether they are associated with certain risk factors or lifestyle changes.
Our study is based on an anonymous web-based survey of web panel participants in Sweden (N=1501) designed to study a range of behavioral changes during the COVID‑19 pandemic. Increases in gambling were analyzed using logistic regression models against sociodemographic data and psychological distress.
The majority of the respondents who gambled reported no changes in their gambling habits during the COVID‑19 pandemic. We found significant associations with the problem gambling severity index (PGSI), the Kessler score (indicating psychological distress), employment status, changes in alcohol habits, and self-exclusion when looking at overall changes in gambling activity in the pandemic. In the subgroup that reported an increase in gambling activity, we found an association with both the PGSI and Kessler scores. The PGSI score was also an independent predictor for all specific web-based gambling (horses, sports, poker, and casino) whereas the Kessler score only had a significant impact on changes in casino gambling. In addition, male gender was an independent predictor for gambling on sports and casino gambling.
The majority of respondents who gambled reported no changes in their gambling activity during the COVID‑19 pandemic. The group that reported an increase in overall gambling activity during the COVID-19 pandemic represent a group with gambling problems and psychological distress. The group that reported increased sports and casino gambling were often male, and this group seemed to experience more psychological distress.
新冠疫情不仅在全球造成超过370万人死亡，影响了人们的身体健康，还对心理健康产生了巨大影响，引发了一场心理健康危机。疫情对传统成瘾行为的负面影响已有详尽描述且令人担忧，赌博行为亦是如此。
本研究探讨瑞典在新冠疫情期间基于网络的自我报告赌博行为。我们调查了总体变化情况，以及特定网络赌博类型的变化，还研究了这些变化是否与某些风险因素或生活方式改变相关。
我们的研究基于对瑞典网络面板参与者（N = 1501）进行的一项匿名网络调查，旨在研究新冠疫情期间的一系列行为变化。使用逻辑回归模型分析赌博行为的增加与社会人口统计学数据及心理困扰之间的关系。
大多数参与赌博的受访者表示，在新冠疫情期间其赌博习惯没有变化。在研究疫情期间赌博活动的总体变化时，我们发现赌博问题严重程度指数（PGSI）、凯斯勒评分（表明心理困扰程度）、就业状况、饮酒习惯变化以及自我排除等因素与之存在显著关联。在报告赌博活动增加的亚组中，我们发现其与PGSI和凯斯勒评分均有关联。PGSI评分也是所有特定网络赌博（赛马、体育、扑克和赌场）的独立预测因素，而凯斯勒评分仅对赌场赌博的变化有显著影响。此外，男性是体育赌博和赌场赌博的独立预测因素。
大多数参与赌博的受访者表示，在新冠疫情期间其赌博活动没有变化。在新冠疫情期间报告总体赌博活动增加的群体是存在赌博问题和心理困扰的群体。报告体育和赌场赌博增加的群体通常为男性，且该群体似乎心理困扰更多。
