Age-related physical and psychological vulnerability as pathways to problem gambling in older adults

Parke, A, Griffiths, M ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8880-6524, Pattinson, J and Keatley, D, 2018. Age-related physical and psychological vulnerability as pathways to problem gambling in older adults. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 7 (1), pp. 137-145. ISSN 2062-5871

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Abstract

Background: To inform clinical treatment and preventative efforts, there is an important need to understand the pathways to late-life gambling disorder. Aims: This study assesses the association between age-related physical health, social networks, and problem gambling in adults aged over 65 years and assesses the mediating role of affective disorders in this association.

Methods: The sample comprised 595 older adults (mean age: 74.4 years, range: 65–94 years; 77.1% female) who were interviewed using a structured questionnaire to assess physical frailty, geriatric pain, loneliness, geriatric depression, geriatric anxiety, and problem gambling.

Results: Pathway analysis demonstrated associations between these variables and gambling problems, providing a good fit for the data, but that critically these relationships were mediated by both anxiety and depression symptoms.

Conclusions: This study indicates that late-life problem gambling may develop as vulnerable individuals gamble to escape anxiety and depression consequent to deteriorating physical well-being and social support. When individuals develop late-life problem gambling, it is recommended that the treatment primarily focuses upon targeting and replacing avoidant coping approaches.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Journal of Behavioral Addictions
Creators:	Parke, A., Griffiths, M., Pattinson, J. and Keatley, D.
Publisher:	Akadémiai Kiadó
Date:	2018
Volume:	7
Number:	1
ISSN:	2062-5871
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1556/2006.7.2018.18 DOI
Rights:	© 2018 The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium for non-commercial purposes, provided the original author and source are credited.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Jill Tomkinson
Date Added:	01 Mar 2018 15:02
Last Modified:	31 May 2018 11:23
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/32846

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