Pengespill og dataspill

This report addresses gambling and video gaming among Norwegian adolescents. One aim was to determine the extent to which gambling and video gaming are stable phenomena over time. We also aimed at finding reasons why some young people begin to gamble regularly or begin to play videogames frequently, and why some adolescents develop problems related to gambling and gaming. An additional aim was to identify the consequences of gambling and gaming over time. The report is based on a large national study that followed nearly 2,500 adolescents over a two year period. The adolescents were surveyed in the spring of 2010, when they were aged 12 to 17 years, and they were surveyed again in the spring of 2012. The adolescents answered questions about how often they played different types of games, and whether they experienced problems related to gambling and gaming. They also answered questions about gender, age, impulsivity, depression, family situation, education, leisure activities, and risky behavior. The response rate was 53.7 percent. Gambling Stability of gambling participation and problem gambling We measured stability in gambling participation by comparing reported gambling in 2010 with what was reported two years later. Of those who had gambled at all in 2010, six out of ten also gambled in 2012. A part of this stability is due to the fact that many of them had played scratch cards at both time points. If we hold scratch-cards aside and focus on those who played other types of gambling games in 2010, four of ten also gambled in 2012. Lower level of stability was found for regular gambling, that is more than once a week. In 2010, 12 percent gambled regularly, and only a quarter of them also gambled regularly two years later. Regular gambling may not necessarily constitute a problem. We therefore examined stability in "at-risk gambling", which means to experience problems related to gambling, as well being at risk of becoming pathological gamblers. Four percent of the adolescents were considered to be at-risk gamblers, but only seven percent of them were still at-risk gamblers two years later. In other words, we found that most of the adolescents who were at-risk gamblers were not two years later. Risk Factors The adolescents who started gambling regularly over the course of the study shared common features. Most of them were boys. Very few girls started gambling regularly, and it was not possible to carry out robust analyses of their common features. The common features of the boys who started to gamble regularly were that they were a little older, and they had higher levels of impulsivity compared to other boys. They also had greater difficulty concentrating in school, and more of them skipped classes at school. In addition, more of them reported binge drinking, and more of them had been away from home at night without their parents knowing where they were. With regard to gambling experience, more of these boys had played scratch cards, slot-machines abroad, odds or betting games and slot machines in kiosks. These common features could be considered risk factors for regular gambling. We also found common characteristics among the adolescents who became at-risk gamblers. This was investigated by comparing the adolescents who became at-risk gamblers with those who did not. More boys than girls became at-risk gamblers. Among the boys who did, it was more common to have experienced bullying at school compared to other boys. This is difficult to explain, however a possible explanation is that they gambled because they sought experience of coping in arenas other than school, or that they gambled in order to distract themselves from negative emotions. Nevertheless, bullying may be considered a risk factor for at-risk gambling. Consequences We also examined possible consequences of regular gambling. This was done by comparing adolescents who gambled regularly with those who did not, with regard to development over time. The results showed that most of the development that occurs during adolescents was not related to gambling. The only differences we found was that it was more common among the adolescent who gambled regularly to start shoplifting, and more common to start being away from home at night without their parents knowing where they went. Therefore, stealing and sneaking out at night may be regarded as consequences of regular gambling. We also sought to identify the consequences of being at-risk gamblers. This was done by comparing the development over time between at-risk gamblers and other adolescents. We found that the at-risk gamblers showed an increase in level of depression, and decline in school grades over time. In addition, it was more common to begin skipping s and more common to quit being a member of a sports team, to start smoking, to start binge drinking, and to become involved in vandalism. This may therefore be regarded as consequences of at-risk gambling. Video gaming Stability We found a higher degree of stability in the use of video games than in the use of gambling games. Eight out of ten of the adolescents who had played video games in 2010 also played video games two years later. Among the adolescents who played more than two hours a day in 2010, four out of ten also played this much in 2012. To play video games frequently is not the same as having problems with video games. Therefore, we have also identified a group of adolescents who were problem gamers, meaning that they endorsed at least four out of seven criteria for video game addiction. In 2010, six percent of the adolescents were problem gamers, and among them a third were still problem gamers two years later. Thus, the stability of problem gaming was low, but considerably higher compared with at-risk gambling. Risk Factors We found several common characteristics of the adolescents who started to playing video games frequently during the two year period. These characteristics also set them apart from the adolescents who did not start playing extensively. Again there was an over-representation of boys, and there were so few girls who started to play video games extensively that robust analyses were not possible for the girls separately. The boys who began to play video games extensively were younger than the boys who did not, and fewer of them were members of a sports club. It was more common to have played action or fighting games, games on Facebook, and massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPG). These characteristics may be considered risk factors for frequent gaming. More boys than girls developed problems with video games. We found several characteristics of boys who became problem gamers that may distinguish them from those who did not. They were younger than the boys who did not become problem gamer, and they had higher levels of depression. It was more common to have experienced bullying at school, and more common to have played role playing games (RPG), social games, and massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPG). These may therefore be regarded as risk factors problem gaming. Consequences We also sought to determine whether extensive video gaming may have negative consequences. This was done by comparing the development over time between the adolescents who played frequently with those who did not. The results showed that most of the development that occurs during adolescents was not related to gaming. We found that it was more common to start skipping school among those who played frequently. It was also more common to quit sports teams, and to become physically inactive. These possible consequences of frequent gaming were perhaps less grave than the consequences of problem gaming. Consequences of problem gaming were studied by comparing the development over time between problem gamers and the other adolescents. We found that problem video gamers became more depressed over time, and they received poorer grades in school over time. We also found that it was more common to start experiencing bullying at school, to quit being a member of a sports team, to become physically inactive, and to start smoking. In addition, we found that it was more common to become at-risk gamblers. All of these things may be regarded as consequences of problem gaming. Closing comments It must be emphasized that the second round of the study failed to follow up all the adolescents who participated in the first round of the study. Some of the at-risk gamblers and problem gamers did not participate in the survey two years later, thus we may have underestimated the stability. We would still argue that our findings allow us to conclude that at-risk gambling and problem gaming both have a low degree of stability among adolescents. The stability of problems related to gambling and gaming in the population may be attributed to new adolescents becoming at-risk gamblers and problem gamers, while only a small proportion remain at-risk gamblers and problem gamers over time. In the report we discuss various methodological limitations of the study. These limitations imply that the results must be interpreted with caution. The findings may nevertheless contribute to a better understanding of gambling and video gaming among adolescents. The results of the study may help to identify adolescents who are at risk of developing problems related to gambling and gaming, and may hold important implications for both prevention and treatment. The report also provides important information about the duration of gambling and video game problems, and identifies some additional problems that adolescents with gambling or gaming problems may develop