Mancini Vincent O, Brett Jack D, Heirene Robert M, Fisher Krista, Nevill Thom P, Mitrou Francis
Human Development and Community Wellbeing, The Kids Research Institute Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
Centre for Child Health Research, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
J Gambl Stud. 2025 Jun 11. doi: 10.1007/s10899-025-10403-0.
Young men aged 18-25 years are at disproportionately increased risk for gambling problems compared to their older or female counterparts. The unique mechanisms that precipitate these problems in this group remain unclear. Data from the largest longitudinal cohort study on Australian men's health (the Ten to Men Study) were used to identify the psychosocial, health-related, and gambling-related behavioral predictors of problem gambling severity in 265 young men aged 18-25 years. Hierarchical multiple ordinal logistic regression analyses found these predictors to explain a moderate proportion of variance in problem gambling severity. Four of the 17 predictors included accounted for unique variance. Specifically, higher levels of problem gambling severity were explained by lower levels of anxiety, higher levels of depression, and a higher frequency of prior engagement in sports gambling and fantasy sports gambling. Other psychosocial factors (e.g., masculine norm adherence), health-related behaviors (e.g., problem alcohol use), and gambling-related behaviors (e.g., casino or electronic gaming machines) did not explain any further variance. These findings are the first to longitudinally examine the risk factors for problem gambling severity in Australian men aged 18-25 years. The findings highlight unique developmental and sociocultural factors that may increase young men's vulnerability to problem gambling. Whilst mental health difficulties are a known risk factor for gambling pathology, the identification of sports and fantasy sports gambling frequency as the greatest risks for later gambling problems emphasizes a need for initiatives that can identify and support young men susceptible to this form of gambling.
与年龄较大的男性或女性相比，18至25岁的年轻男性出现赌博问题的风险不成比例地增加。导致该群体出现这些问题的独特机制尚不清楚。来自澳大利亚男性健康领域最大规模纵向队列研究（“十岁至成年男性研究”）的数据，被用于确定265名18至25岁年轻男性中问题赌博严重程度的社会心理、健康相关及赌博相关行为预测因素。分层多元有序逻辑回归分析发现，这些预测因素可解释问题赌博严重程度中适度比例的方差。所纳入的17个预测因素中有4个解释了独特的方差。具体而言，较低水平的焦虑、较高水平的抑郁以及先前参与体育赌博和梦幻体育赌博的较高频率，解释了较高水平的问题赌博严重程度。其他社会心理因素（如对男性规范的遵循）、健康相关行为（如问题饮酒）以及赌博相关行为（如赌场或电子游戏机）并未进一步解释任何方差。这些发现首次纵向研究了18至25岁澳大利亚男性中问题赌博严重程度的风险因素。研究结果突出了可能增加年轻男性问题赌博易感性的独特发展和社会文化因素。虽然心理健康问题是赌博病态的已知风险因素，但将体育和梦幻体育赌博频率确定为后期赌博问题的最大风险，强调了需要采取举措来识别和支持易受这种赌博形式影响的年轻男性。
