An evaluation of gambling addiction and video lottery in the South of Italy
Nowadays, pathological gambling is an emerging health problem. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5 (DSM 5) renames it as 'Gambling Disorder' (GD), thus recognising its highly dependent status. A study was conducted from April 2016 to August 2017 to evaluate the prev...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Milano University Press
2019-06-01
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| Series: | Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Public Health |
| Online Access: | https://ebph.it/article/view/12983 |
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| author | Pasquale Spataro Giuseppa Visalli Francesco Mazzù Bruno Cosenza Maria Angela Rita Palamara Giovanni Campanella Isa Anna Maria Picerno Raffaele Squeri Vincenza La Fauci Cristina Genovese |
| author_facet | Pasquale Spataro Giuseppa Visalli Francesco Mazzù Bruno Cosenza Maria Angela Rita Palamara Giovanni Campanella Isa Anna Maria Picerno Raffaele Squeri Vincenza La Fauci Cristina Genovese |
| author_sort | Pasquale Spataro |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Nowadays, pathological gambling is an emerging health problem. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5 (DSM 5) renames it as 'Gambling Disorder' (GD), thus recognising its highly dependent status. A study was conducted from April 2016 to August 2017 to evaluate the prevalence of this phenomenon by administering an ad hoc questionnaire to adult individuals (both sexes) over the age of 18.
We analysed a sample of 562 individuals with DSM 5 criteria. We obtained a score > 4 indicating a possible mild gambling disorder in 1.6% of the sample and a score > 6 corresponding to a moderate GD in 2.3% of the sample. We observed that the main motivations for gambling were “having fun” and “the prospect of winning” and 10.9% of respondents had played more than they intended. Furthermore, "problematic" players showed to be more prone to alcohol abuse than "social" players (p < 0.001). Only 7.5% of respondents had already gambling problems in their family (involving in particular their mothers). The phenomenon is, therefore, quite common in our area and, indeed, 64.1% of the sample believes that gambling is a problem in their own territory, however only 20.6% would know where to find help. In conclusion, given the high socio-economic impact of this phenomenon, we believe that it is imperative to establish structured preventions programs in order to to contain the spread of this phenomenon.
Key words: Gambling; addiction; disorder; prevalence; Italy; population |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-d1dccc9dbc9a4b05a5936d1a63605c8d |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2282-0930 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2019-06-01 |
| publisher | Milano University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Public Health |
| spelling | doaj-art-d1dccc9dbc9a4b05a5936d1a63605c8d2025-08-20T03:24:02ZengMilano University PressEpidemiology, Biostatistics and Public Health2282-09302019-06-0116210.2427/1298311213An evaluation of gambling addiction and video lottery in the South of ItalyPasquale Spataro0Giuseppa Visalli1Francesco Mazzù2Bruno Cosenza3Maria Angela Rita Palamara4Giovanni Campanella5Isa Anna Maria Picerno6Raffaele Squeri7Vincenza La Fauci8Cristina Genovese9Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morphofunctional Imaging, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria, 98125 Messina, ItalyDepartment of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morphofunctional Imaging,Department of Biomedical Sciences and Morphological and Functional Images, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria, 98125 Messina, ItalyPostgraduate Medical School in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria, 98125 MessinaPostgraduate Medical School in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria, 98125 MessinaPostgraduate Medical School in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria, 98125 MessinaPostgraduate Medical School in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria, 98125 Messina, ItalyDepartment of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morphofunctional Imaging,Department of Biomedical Sciences and Morphological and Functional Images, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria, 98125 Messina, ItalyDepartment of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morphofunctional Imaging,Department of Biomedical Sciences and Morphological and Functional Images, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria, 98125 Messina, ItalyDepartment of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morphofunctional Imaging,Department of Biomedical Sciences and Morphological and Functional Images, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria, 98125 Messina, ItalyDepartment of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morphofunctional Imaging,Department of Biomedical Sciences and Morphological and Functional Images, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria, 98125 Messina, ItalyNowadays, pathological gambling is an emerging health problem. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5 (DSM 5) renames it as 'Gambling Disorder' (GD), thus recognising its highly dependent status. A study was conducted from April 2016 to August 2017 to evaluate the prevalence of this phenomenon by administering an ad hoc questionnaire to adult individuals (both sexes) over the age of 18. We analysed a sample of 562 individuals with DSM 5 criteria. We obtained a score > 4 indicating a possible mild gambling disorder in 1.6% of the sample and a score > 6 corresponding to a moderate GD in 2.3% of the sample. We observed that the main motivations for gambling were “having fun” and “the prospect of winning” and 10.9% of respondents had played more than they intended. Furthermore, "problematic" players showed to be more prone to alcohol abuse than "social" players (p < 0.001). Only 7.5% of respondents had already gambling problems in their family (involving in particular their mothers). The phenomenon is, therefore, quite common in our area and, indeed, 64.1% of the sample believes that gambling is a problem in their own territory, however only 20.6% would know where to find help. In conclusion, given the high socio-economic impact of this phenomenon, we believe that it is imperative to establish structured preventions programs in order to to contain the spread of this phenomenon. Key words: Gambling; addiction; disorder; prevalence; Italy; populationhttps://ebph.it/article/view/12983 |
| spellingShingle | Pasquale Spataro Giuseppa Visalli Francesco Mazzù Bruno Cosenza Maria Angela Rita Palamara Giovanni Campanella Isa Anna Maria Picerno Raffaele Squeri Vincenza La Fauci Cristina Genovese An evaluation of gambling addiction and video lottery in the South of Italy Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Public Health |
| title | An evaluation of gambling addiction and video lottery in the South of Italy |
| title_full | An evaluation of gambling addiction and video lottery in the South of Italy |
| title_fullStr | An evaluation of gambling addiction and video lottery in the South of Italy |
| title_full_unstemmed | An evaluation of gambling addiction and video lottery in the South of Italy |
| title_short | An evaluation of gambling addiction and video lottery in the South of Italy |
| title_sort | evaluation of gambling addiction and video lottery in the south of italy |
| url | https://ebph.it/article/view/12983 |
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