Addiction Treatment
HomeGambling Problems Start Young
By Staff Writer
It seems innocent enough: a group of teenage boys making a friendly wager on their favorite sports team, or letting your child scratch off a lottery ticket or sit in on poker night. But gambling is affecting the lives of younger and younger children, quickly turning into an addiction for some.
Teens gamble for all sorts of reasons – entertainment, challenge, to win money or impress their friends. Those who become problem gamblers often had an early gambling experience, in many cases with a parent or respected adult, or have issues with impulsivity and self-control.
Impulsive Children at Greater Risk
While anyone can develop a gambling problem, some kids are more susceptible than others. Recent research by Linda S. Pagani, PhD, and colleagues from Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Center and the University of Montreal, in Quebec, shows that as early as kindergarten, young children can exhibit risk factors for later gambling problems.
The study findings suggest that young children who demonstrate inattentive, distractible and hyperactive behavior are more likely to be involved in gambling by the sixth grade. Impulsive children who struggle with self-control tend to be attracted to a wide range of risky and exciting behaviors and thus, may require more prevention efforts than other kids.
"Pathological gambling is a growing problem. Most people are unaware that more adolescents show pathological gambling traits than adults. This is a hidden addiction," said study coauthor Jeffrey L. Derevensky, PhD, from McGill University.
Based on their findings, the study authors recommend that parents take an active role in delaying their children’s exposure to gambling. Dr. Pagani noted that early childhood is an important time to intervene because it is a time marked by growth in the brain regions associated with emotional decision-making and cognitive self-control.
"Because of the rapid development of this characteristic prior to formal school entry, there are direct clinical implications for prevention and intervention as important strategies in circumventing later risks associated with classroom impulsivity, detected by kindergarten teachers," she said.
Warning Signs of Problem Gambling
While most children and adolescents will not become addicted to gambling, studies suggest that 11 percent of youth ages 14 to 21 are frequent gamblers and hundreds of thousands are problem gamblers. Here are a few warning signs of adolescent gambling problems:
• Using money for gambling that was intended for something else
• Betting money they don’t have or going into debt because of gambling
• Lying to family or friends about their gambling
• Selling, giving away or losing their possessions to finance their gambling habit
• Stealing from others to finance their gambling habit
• Missing school to gamble
• Obsessively monitoring sports results and becoming overly excited or depressed at the outcome of sports events
• Creating gambling opportunities (i.e., using every game as a chance to bet)
• Losing interest in other activities they once enjoyed
Although they may not yet have careers or marriages that will fall apart because of their compulsive gambling, teens suffer significant developmental setbacks as a result of their gambling habit. Far from innocent fun, teens with gambling problems are more likely to fail out of school, give up extracurricular activities and may even begin stealing from families or friends to finance their gambling habit.
What Parents Can Do
Talk to Your Child. Discuss your family values about money and gambling as well as the signs of gambling addiction. A study in the Journal of Gambling Studies found that parents who spent more time monitoring and supervising their children were less likely to have children who gambled.
Get Them Involved in Other Activities. Encourage your children to get involved in extracurricular activities and spend their time developing new skills and interests.
Get Help. When confronting your child about their gambling and getting them involved in other activities aren’t enough, it may be time to reach out for professional help. If you think your teen has a gambling addiction, talk to a therapist or call a residential treatment facility or wilderness program that specializes in working with teens with behavioral issues and addictions. For example, the Keystone Treatment Center in South Dakota specializes in treating teens with gambling addictions and other compulsive behaviors.
For your sake and the sake of your children, it is equally important for you to seek professional help for yourself if you have a gambling addiction. Children of gambling addicts typically have lower grades, higher substance abuse rates and more frequent suicide attempts, and they are far more likely to become gambling addicts themselves.
Lots of teens gamble, and many can do so without developing a gambling addiction. But if an adolescent is gambling and beginning to engage in other risky behaviors, such as smoking cigarettes, drinking or using drugs, these behaviors may point to a bigger problem.
A little gambling here and there may not seem like a big deal to a teenager, but studies show that teens who gamble are more likely to develop gambling problems in adulthood. This is one issue you can address now, while your children live under your roof and before they have jobs, relationships and access to credit, and the stakes have grown even higher.
Chat With Us Now
