Rockloff Matthew, Browne Matthew, Russell Alex M T, Newall Philip, Hing Nerilee, Armstrong Tess
CQUniversity, Australia.
CQUniversity, Australia.
Addict Behav. 2023 Oct 26;149:107893. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2023.107893.
Effective gambling messages should curb time and money spent on gambling, since these are the behaviours proximal to gambling-related harm. Studies that aim to find what messages best achieve these objectives are scarce, and most focus on electronic gaming machine (EGM) gambling rather than sports and race betting. The present study aimed to gather longitudinal evidence on previously identified messaging strategies. In an experiment, two types of messages, positive-emotional and norm-based, were contrasted against a control condition with generic messages (e.g., gamble responsibly). By stratified random assignment, participants (N = 2,074, 36% female), were exposed to 3 unique messages in each of 3 weeks, exclusive of pre- and post-surveys in weeks 1 and 5, respectively. There were no significant differences by condition in amounts-bet commercially on sports or race betting, time spent gambling, gambling-harm experienced, gambling-urges nor risk-related gambling beliefs. However, there was a significant decrease in all these outcomes over weeks 1 through 5. The messages may not have been the factor that contributed to the decrease in outcomes over time, as participating in the study may have also prompted self-reflection on gambling expenditure. Positive-emotional messages were rated most helpful and easily understood, and the highest-rated message was the control message, "only bet what you can afford." Despite no differences found between the conditions, the present study provided evidence that self-reflection on gambling expenditure is well-rated by gamblers as being helpful. Future experiments should be conducted to gauge the robustness of this finding.
有效的赌博警示信息应能减少在赌博上花费的时间和金钱，因为这些是与赌博相关危害最直接的行为。旨在找出最能实现这些目标的信息的研究很少，且大多数研究聚焦于电子游戏机赌博，而非体育和赛马博彩。本研究旨在收集关于先前确定的警示策略的纵向证据。在一项实验中，将两种类型的信息，即积极情感型信息和基于规范的信息，与包含通用信息（如“理性赌博”）的对照条件进行对比。通过分层随机分配，参与者（N = 2,074，36%为女性）在第1周和第5周分别进行前后调查，不包括这两周，在中间的3周里每周接触3条独特的信息。在体育或赛马博彩的商业投注金额、赌博时间、经历的赌博危害、赌博冲动以及与风险相关的赌博信念方面，各条件之间没有显著差异。然而，在第1周到第5周期间，所有这些结果都有显著下降。这些信息可能不是导致随着时间推移结果下降的因素，因为参与研究也可能促使人们对赌博支出进行自我反思。积极情感型信息被评为最有帮助且最易理解，评分最高的信息是对照信息“只赌你输得起的”。尽管各条件之间未发现差异，但本研究提供了证据表明，赌博者对赌博支出的自我反思评价很高且很有帮助。未来应进行实验以评估这一发现的稳健性。
