Experimental Gambling Research Laboratory, School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences, CQUniversity, Level 6, 400 Kent St, Sydney, NSW, 2000, Australia.
Experimental Gambling Research Laboratory, School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences, CQUniversity, Bundaberg, QLD, Australia.
J Gambl Stud. 2022 Dec;38(4):1405-1430. doi: 10.1007/s10899-021-10090-7. Epub 2021 Nov 21.
Do stressful life events cause gambling problems, or do gambling problems cause stressful life events? This study used a retrospective design to examine the temporal order of these associations. Specifically, the study employed a life course calendar in a self-directed online survey to minimise memory biases common in retrospective designs. A total of 1564 US respondents who had gambled at any point in their life (51.0% female, median age 46) were asked whether, for each year of their adult life, they had experienced each of eight stressful life events, and whether they had engaged in casual or heavy gambling, drinking or drug use, with heavy gambling defined in line with a problem gambling definition. We found that five stressful life events were associated with the onset of heavy gambling: work issues, financial issues, legal issues, relationship issues and the death of a loved one. The same five stressful life events predict the cessation of an episode of heavy gambling, indicating a possible tendency for gambling problems to self-resolve in the presence of stress. Insights are also gained into comorbidities with alcohol and drug use, and the course of stressful life events and gambling and substance use throughout the life course, albeit with a non-representative sample. The methodology allows tentative conclusions in terms of possible causation pathways, indicating that stressful life events may play a role both in the onset and the maintenance (or cessation) of gambling problems.
生活中的压力事件会导致赌博问题，还是赌博问题会导致生活中的压力事件？本研究采用回顾性设计来检验这些关联的时间顺序。具体来说，该研究在自我指导的在线调查中使用了生活轨迹日历，以最小化回顾性设计中常见的记忆偏差。共有 1564 名美国受访者参与了这项研究，他们在一生中的任何时候都有过赌博行为（51.0%为女性，中位数年龄为 46 岁），被问及在成年后的每一年是否经历过八种压力生活事件，以及是否有过随意或重度赌博、饮酒或吸毒行为，其中重度赌博的定义符合赌博问题的定义。我们发现，五种压力生活事件与重度赌博的发生有关：工作问题、财务问题、法律问题、人际关系问题和亲人去世。同样的五种压力生活事件也预示着重度赌博行为的结束，这表明在压力存在的情况下，赌博问题可能有自我缓解的趋势。此外，我们还深入了解了与酒精和毒品使用的共病问题，以及整个生命历程中压力生活事件和赌博及物质使用的发生情况，尽管样本不具有代表性。该方法可以在可能的因果关系路径方面得出初步结论，表明压力生活事件可能在赌博问题的发生和维持（或停止）中都起到了一定作用。
