Gambling Involvement in African American and European Americans: An Analysis By Gender

Background/Purpose:  Problem gambling among adolescents and young adults is a cause for concern due to its adverse consequences including substance use disorders, psychiatric disorders, and increased severity in later life. Although males are more often gamblers than females, the social acceptability of gambling has become common among females.  In fact, females are considered an emerging population of gamblers that have been vastly understudied.  Additionally, gender differences in problem gambling rates indicate that associated risk factors may also vary by gender. In the current research, we examined the association of key risk and protective factors within gender for gambling involvement including neighborhood characteristics, childhood rearing environment, religiosity/spirituality, risky behaviors, conduct problems and substance use in a sample among African American and European Americans. 

Methods: The sample was comprised of young adults (ages 18-26; Mean age=22.8) self-identifying as European American (n=9,909, 52.4% female) or African American (n=3,335, 56.4 % female) who were selected among the larger sample of those participating in Wave III (n=15,170) of the restricted-use National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health.  For these analyses, we examined gambling correlates using logistic regression with a binary gambling involvement outcome variable: gambled in two or more categories of games, gambled within only one category or less. Data were stratified by race and gender, to test the effects of independent risk and protective factors associated with race and gender.

Results: Among African American females, after simultaneously considering all risk factors, childhood physical discipline (OR=1.41, less happy in current residing neighborhood (OR=1.51, [95% C.I. 1.03-2.19]), past year weekly alcohol use (OR=1.56, [95% C.I. 1.06-2.28]), and past year cannabis use (OR=1.68, [95% C.I. 1.26-2.23]) were associated with gambling involvement in the AA cohort. In the African American male cohort, childhood neglect, past year weekly alcohol use, past year cannabis use, and 10 or more lifetime sexual partners were significantly associated with gambling involvement.

Within the European American female cohort, childhood physical discipline (OR=1.07, [95% C.I. 1.02-1.34]), childhood neglect (OR=1.14, [95% C.I. 1.00-1.29]), past-year weekly alcohol use (OR=1.64, [95% C.I. 1.43-1.89]), past year cannabis use (OR=1.28, [95% C.I. 1.11-1.48]), and current smoking (OR=1.27, [95% C.I. 1.13-1.44]) were associated with increased gambling involvement. Less social acceptance among peers (OR=0.72, [95% C.I. 0.53-0.98]) reduced the risk of gambling.  In the European American male cohort, childhood neglect, selling illicit drugs, 10 or more lifetime sexual partners, past year weekly alcohol use, past year cannabis use were significantly associated with gambling involvement. Weekly attendance at religious services was protective and reduced the risk of gambling involvement in all observed cohorts.

Conclusion and Implications: Distinct risk and protective factors were found within African American and European American females, indicating that some predictors of gambling are race and gender specific. While concurrently recognizing that males are at a greater risk for gambling related problems, identifying risk factors by gender may increase much needed focus on gambling problems among females. Additional research is warranted in this area, which may lead to improved and more precisely targeted prevention and treatment strategies.