Habits of young gamblers to be investigated through new research

The gambling habits of young adults will be looked at through the research

USQ Masters student Alisha Weston sees the devastating effects that gambling can have etched on the faces of her clients every day.

So when Alisha, who has worked at Gambling Help for the past 18 months while completing her Masters in Clinical Psychology, was asked to choose a final year project, examining the issues surrounding the gambling habits of young adults was an obvious choice.

Gambling Help is a free and confidential counselling service that offers support to individuals and family members who are affected by their own or another's gambling behaviour.

'Gambling affects approximately 330,000 Australians each year and of particular concern is the number of adolescents and young adults that fall victim to this addiction,' she said.

'Research has shown that adolescents and young adults are two to four times more likely to experience gambling related problems than middle age and older adults.

'However it is surprising and unfortunate that there has been little research conducted in this area and in an effort to contribute to this scarcity of research, I plan to investigate the relationship between young adult gambling, sensation seeking, problem solving and depression.

'The transition phase of adolescence and young adulthood is often turbulent and stressful and young people can use ineffective coping strategies to deal with these stresses.

'My research project will evaluate the relationship between problem solving appraisal and the use of gambling behaviour as a coping mechanism.'

In order to gather information for her research, Alisha has developed an online survey aimed at 18-30 year olds and is seeking people from the community to take part.

'If you have 15 minutes to spare please help us gather information on gambling in young adults by completing the survey,' Alisha said.

'Participants can be individuals who gamble or individuals who don’t gamble and it is completely anonymous.'

The information from these surveys will help us understand what we can do to help treat and prevent problematic gambling in young adults.”

To complete the survey visit this website or call 07 4632 2615 for more information.

Contact Details:
Josh Ada, USQ Media, +61 7 4631 2559 or 0400 025 429