Oct. 29, 2002 (San Francisco) -- Could part of your teenager's
Oct. 29, 2002 (San Francisco) -- Could part of your teenager's lunch money or wages from an after-school job be going to lottery tickets and poker games? Probably, according to a telephone survey of teenagers in Florida. And if your teenager is gambling, you should be concerned -- nearly 4% of teens who gamble have the behaviors and signs of problem or pathological gambling.
Despite its illegal status for minors, most teenagers do gamble, according to Martin Lazoritz, MD, associate chair of psychiatry at the University of Florida in Gainesville. "We need to know that teenagers gamble, just as adults do," Lazoritz tells WebMD. "They play cards with their friends; they buy lottery tickets. We also need to know that underage gambling is linked to several at-risk behaviors, such as cigarette smoking, and with alcohol and drug use."
Lazoritz presented findings at the 49th annual meeting of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in San Francisco.
He and his colleagues wanted to determine how common gambling-related behaviors and problems were among adolescents age 13 to 17. More than 1,000 Florida teens were interviewed over the telephone in December 2001. They were asked whether they participated in various gambling activities and about various problems associated with gambling such as preoccupation with gambling, borrowing money for gambling, and relationship problems. The study also looked at involvement with drugs and alcohol, and mental health.
Almost 70% of the respondents reported gambling during their lifetime and 43% had done so in the past year, even though gambling is illegal in Florida for individuals who are under 18. The study reported that the average age at which gambling started was 12.5 years old.
Despite an age requirement for lottery ticket purchases, nearly 20% of the participants said that they've bought a State of Florida lottery ticket, and 12.5% did so within the past year.
"Based on established psychiatric criteria, 3.8% of the respondents were problem or pathological gamblers," Lazoritz tells WebMD. "In other words, those respondents were more likely to be preoccupied with gambling, to use gambling to escape, and to 'chase their losses' by continuing gamble in order to recover prior gambling-related losses."
Other warning signs that problem gambling is brewing are a sense of losing control while gambling, risking important relationships, and needing to borrow money from others to pay gambling-related debts, he says.
He and his colleagues also found that adolescent problem gamblers were more likely to drink, smoke cigarettes, use marijuana, abuse prescription medications, and use crack or powder cocaine, as well as other stimulants.
"Several aspects of our culture put teenagers at risk, and gambling is one of them," Dr. Lazoritz said. "Parents are often unaware of teenagers' participation in gambling. We need to be more aware of the possibility of problem gambling in teenagers, because of its hazards, and because it is associated with other risky behaviors."
"This study supports the idea that risk behaviors occur together," Lynn E. Ponton, MD, professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of California-San Francisco, tells WebMD. "For example, gambling occurs with substance abuse. We know that risk behaviors occur in a cluster. A lot of parents don't understand how these behaviors show up together, but we know that they do."
Ponton, who was not involved in the study, encourages parents to include gambling in the mix when they talk to their teenagers about risk-taking behavior, and to be concerned sooner rather than later.
"Be alert when one or two risk-taking behaviors show up," says Ponton, author of the book The Romance of Risk. "If the teenager starts smoking marijuana, staying out late, and driving too fast, gambling may be part of that cluster."
Then, if a problem behavior is identified, search out the right type of help for the problem. "If your son or daughter has a problem with gambling or another risk-taking behavior, get help," she says. "If other family members have struggled successfully with a similar problem, talk to your teenager about that." -->
