Department of Geography Education, University of Education, Winneba, Ghana.
Department of Geography and Planning, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, K7L 3N6, Canada.
J Gambl Stud. 2023 Mar;39(1):203-224. doi: 10.1007/s10899-022-10143-5. Epub 2022 Jul 8.
Despite the fact that online gambling is increasing among students in low- and middle-income countries, studies on the reasons and attitudes of university students toward gambling and its associated social, economic, and academic implications on their lives have not been adequately explored in the Ghanaian setting. This study employed an exploratory research design to investigate the reasons and attitudes of students toward online gambling and how online gambling has affected their social, economic, and academic lives on campus. An interview guide was used in soliciting data from fifteen participants. The thematic analytical framework was used to analyze the data. The analysis of the empirical data revealed that the ease of making quick money, the anonymous nature of online gambling and a source of entertainment were the main reasons why participants engaged in online gambling. Again, concerning participants' attitudes towards gambling, most of them were frequent gamblers and gambled four to seven times a week while a few were occasional gamblers who gambled one to three times a month. The study also found that participants who gambled online ended up becoming depressed, had difficulties with sleeping, and barely concentrated in class because of their addictive attitudes towards online gambling. The study further revealed that the academic lives of participants were negatively affected as a result of excessive gambling. The study recommends that the university management should introduce university gambling policies and programmes to regulate gambling among university students and its associated socio-economic and academic implications.
尽管在中低收入国家，学生的在线赌博行为呈上升趋势，但在加纳，针对大学生对赌博的原因和态度，以及赌博对他们校园生活的社会、经济和学术影响，还没有进行充分的研究。本研究采用探索性研究设计，调查了学生对在线赌博的原因和态度，以及在线赌博如何影响他们的社交、经济和学术生活。研究采用访谈指南从 15 名参与者那里收集数据。采用主题分析框架对数据进行分析。对实证数据的分析表明，参与者参与在线赌博的主要原因是快速赚钱的便利性、在线赌博的匿名性和一种娱乐来源。此外，关于参与者对赌博的态度，他们中的大多数是经常赌博者，每周赌博四到七次，而少数是偶尔赌博者，每月赌博一到三次。研究还发现，由于对在线赌博的上瘾态度，参与者变得抑郁、睡眠困难，几乎无法集中精力在课堂上。该研究还表明，由于过度赌博，参与者的学习生活受到负面影响。研究建议大学管理层应引入大学赌博政策和计划，以规范大学生的赌博行为及其相关的社会经济和学术影响。
