Sophie Vasiliadis

• There was a significant relationship between parent-and-offspring problem gambling. • This relationship persisted after accounting for sociodemographic characteristics. • Self-enhancement and money expectancies mediated intergenerational transmission. • Over-involvement and emotional impact expectancies mediated intergenerational transmission. • Enhancement and coping motives mediated intergenerational transmission. Introduction: The risk for developing a gambling problem is greater among offspring who have a problem gambling parent, yet little research has directly examined the mechanisms by which this transmission of problem gambling occurs. For this reason, the present study sought to examine the degree to which children's ex-pectancies and motives relating to gambling explain, at least in part, the intergenerational transmission of problem gambling. Methods: Participants (N = 524; 56.5% male) were recruited from educational institutions, and retrospectively reported on parental problem gambling. Problem gambling was measured using the Problem Gambling Severity Index and a range of positive and negative expectancies and gambling motives were explored as potential mediators of the relationship between parent-and-participant problem gambling. Results: The relationship between parent-and-participant problem gambling was significant, and remained so after controlling for sociodemographic factors and administration method. Significant mediators of this relationship included self-enhancement expectancies (feeling in control), money expectancies (financial gain), over-involvement (preoccupation with gambling) and emotional impact expectancies (guilt, shame, and loss), as well as enhancement motives (gambling to increase positive feelings) and coping motives (gambling to reduce or avoid negative emotions). All mediators remained significant when entered into the same model. Conclusions: The findings highlight that gambling expectancies and motives present unique pathways to the development of problem gambling in the offspring of problem gambling parents, and suggest that gambling cognitions may be potential candidates for targeted interventions for the offspring of problem gamblers.

This study aimed to investigate the temporal benchmarks in informal gambling recovery pathways, with attention to the broader context of the experience for individuals, and to the experiences of young adults. While problem gambling counselling services are available and promoted, only a small proportion of those who experience gambling-related issues choose to resolve their problems with professional support. Rather, people attempt to recover through self-managed means such as self-help strategies and family support. Further, despite their increased vulnerability to gambling problems, young adults are greatly under-represented in treatment services, suggesting that young adults are even more likely to use informal means of recovery from problem gambling than older people.  The majority of gambling recovery-related research to date has focused on formal treatment services and support programs such as Gambler’s Anonymous, which are most likely to be accessed by people with long-term, severe gambling problems. Gaps remain in the understanding of contextual factors throughout the process, and how they interact with changing self-awareness, and strategies to support recovery. This is particularly so in the case of young adults, whose experiences and expression of gambling recovery may differ from those of older adults given developmental differences and differences in the ways that young adults engage with gambling products. Narrative interviews with 32 young and older adults were conducted to develop an understanding of the motivations and experiences of informal recovery, and the social, environmental and temporal context of informal recovery. Narratives were analysed as a single unit, and attention was paid to any emerging differences in patterns for younger and older adults. Narrative analysis informed three key benchmarks in recovery: recognition of a problem; the impetus to initiate a recovery process; and the strategies used by participants to assist recovery. Differential patterns emerged in the ways that participants experienced these benchmarks but, interestingly, a key finding was in whether the recovering gambler was the agent in recovery, or whether they were compelled by someone or an event. In problem recognition, analysis defined (a) a self-recognised pathway, where the participant was positioned as agent in recognising their own problems, and (b) an externally recognised pathway, where the participant only actively recognised their problem after confrontation from someone close to them (e.g. a family member, friend or employer) or a significant negative event (e.g. hitting rock bottom). Similarly, analysis around the impetus for initiating the recovery process identified differences according to whether the participant was (a) the primary agent in recovery initiation and management to achieve personal goals and life-stage milestones that gambling had delayed (“selfdirected” pathway), or (b) had the recovery process imposed upon them by others who had been affected by their gambling, or a significant negative event (“externally directed” pathway). Regarding strategies used by individuals to resolve problems, the primary contribution of the current study was the identification of differential patterns in strategy management according to the individual's centrality of agency in recovery. The analysis revealed that recovery processes for younger and older participants were more similar than different, however some subtle differences emerged. In comparison to older participants, many young adults tended to have a strong sense of agency in recovery. While young adult participants described their gambling problem as an addiction, they also derived empowerment from a moment of clarity during an urge to gamble, where they felt they could make a decision not to gamble. This sense of empowerment motivated them throughout the recovery process. For many young adult participants, the process and outcome of successful recovery was defined by the prioritisation and pursuit of prosocial and conventional milestones for their age, such as maintaining a long-term romantic relationship, purchasing a home, travelling overseas, or career advancement. Importantly, the study found that delays in recognition of a gambling problem could relate to responses from significant others around the gambler, including the enabling effect of budgeting for gambling within household expenses and the normalisation of gambling and associated harms through others’ gambling. Additionally, the study found that workplaces can play an important role in supporting recovery through informal strategies as well as employer assistance programs. The strong moderating effect of personal, social, financial, and cultural resources on the process of recovery was highlighted, and articulated in terms of how they may impact on the experiences of each of the pathways. In light of these findings, the recovery capital construct that has been articulated in alcohol and other drug recovery literature is proposed as a framework to inform future research and gambling regulation. The findings demonstrated the potential for tailoring primary and secondary intervention and recovery strategies according to the age, and centrality of agency of the individual in the process of recovery.

Clinical practice and empirical research has demonstrated that problem gamblers who present for treatment are often complex cases with multiple diagnoses. The current project utilised a service mapping approach to investigate mental health service use by clients of a problem gambling treatment service. Twenty one clients (9 male) from Gambler's Help services in a regional/ rural area of Victoria, Australia were interviewed. Results indicated that a majority of people had been in contact with a General Practitioner or mental health services but had not disclosed their gambling problem. Although clients generally had long 'careers' as problematic gamblers and were clients of multiple services, none had been screened for problem gambling. The current study indicates the need for screening for problem gambling and protocols for case management between problem gambling counselling services and mental health services.

This paper presents the findings of a systematic search undertaken for the period January 1990 to June 2011 of references including original, empirical findings of the relationship between accessibility of electronic gaming machines and rates of gambling involvement, problem gambling, or gambling-related treatment seeking. Titles and abstracts of 2156 references were reviewed, yielding 39 references meeting inclusion criteria. The review has revealed that the relationships between the physical accessibility dimensions of proximity and density and gambling involvement and problem gambling are complex. Research is only beginning to elucidate these dimensions, and many questions and methodological challenges remain to be addressed. The strengths, limitations, and gaps in the literature are discussed, and recommendations are made for future research.