Gambling Disorder among Porto’s University Students
Background: Gambling disorder is an emerging problem among young adults and must be researched to provide the necessary support. This study aims to characterise gambling disorders in Porto’s university students. Methods: A cross-sectional study distributed an online questionnaire to Porto’s universi...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-09-01
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| Series: | Healthcare |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/11/18/2527 |
| _version_ | 1797579904486735872 |
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| author | Nádia Pais Azevedo Paulo Santos Luísa Sá |
| author_facet | Nádia Pais Azevedo Paulo Santos Luísa Sá |
| author_sort | Nádia Pais Azevedo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Gambling disorder is an emerging problem among young adults and must be researched to provide the necessary support. This study aims to characterise gambling disorders in Porto’s university students. Methods: A cross-sectional study distributed an online questionnaire to Porto’s university students. The authors developed a self-administered questionnaire that included the South Oaks Gambling Screen questionnaire—Portuguese Version (SOGS-PV). Results: A total of 1123 responses were included. The participants’ average age was 22.4 years (SD = 6.2), and 60.9% were women. Gambling activities were performed by 66.4% of the students, most commonly online or video games, “scratch card” games, skill games, lotteries, and sports bets. The final scores of the SOGS-PV suggested 19.7% (95% CI: 17.4–22.0) of students may have a gambling disorder, with 16.6% (95% CI: 14.4–18.8) being “probable pathological gamblers” and 3.1% (95% CI: 2.1–4.1) being “problem gamblers”. Gambling in the stocks/commodities market/virtual coins, sports bets, playing cards for money, and the numbers or betting on lotteries presents a higher risk of gambling disorder. The age (OR: 0.953; 95% CI: 0.922–0.986), being male (OR: 2.756; 95% CI: 1.899–4.000), the highest daily gambling amount (OR: 3.938; 95% CI: 2.580–6.012), the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic (OR: 0.129; 95% CI: 0.087–0.191), a mother with gambling disorder (OR: 5.284; 95% CI: 1.038–26.902), the personal services education area (OR: 2.858; 95% CI: 1.179–6.929), and the linguistics education area (OR: 2.984; 95% CI: 1.538–5.788) stand out as contributing factors to the development of this disorder. Conclusions: This study reveals a high level of possible gambling disorder among university students and emphasises the importance of this problem in the academic community. Physician awareness and prevention programmes are needed in this population. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T22:42:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b456f1803e614c8b96b48d25e213d7d9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2227-9032 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T22:42:38Z |
| publishDate | 2023-09-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Healthcare |
| spelling | doaj.art-b456f1803e614c8b96b48d25e213d7d92023-11-19T10:56:11ZengMDPI AGHealthcare2227-90322023-09-011118252710.3390/healthcare11182527Gambling Disorder among Porto’s University StudentsNádia Pais Azevedo0Paulo Santos1Luísa Sá2Department of Community Medicine, Information and Health Decision Sciences (MEDCIDS), Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, 4200-393 Porto, PortugalDepartment of Community Medicine, Information and Health Decision Sciences (MEDCIDS), Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, 4200-393 Porto, PortugalDepartment of Community Medicine, Information and Health Decision Sciences (MEDCIDS), Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, 4200-393 Porto, PortugalBackground: Gambling disorder is an emerging problem among young adults and must be researched to provide the necessary support. This study aims to characterise gambling disorders in Porto’s university students. Methods: A cross-sectional study distributed an online questionnaire to Porto’s university students. The authors developed a self-administered questionnaire that included the South Oaks Gambling Screen questionnaire—Portuguese Version (SOGS-PV). Results: A total of 1123 responses were included. The participants’ average age was 22.4 years (SD = 6.2), and 60.9% were women. Gambling activities were performed by 66.4% of the students, most commonly online or video games, “scratch card” games, skill games, lotteries, and sports bets. The final scores of the SOGS-PV suggested 19.7% (95% CI: 17.4–22.0) of students may have a gambling disorder, with 16.6% (95% CI: 14.4–18.8) being “probable pathological gamblers” and 3.1% (95% CI: 2.1–4.1) being “problem gamblers”. Gambling in the stocks/commodities market/virtual coins, sports bets, playing cards for money, and the numbers or betting on lotteries presents a higher risk of gambling disorder. The age (OR: 0.953; 95% CI: 0.922–0.986), being male (OR: 2.756; 95% CI: 1.899–4.000), the highest daily gambling amount (OR: 3.938; 95% CI: 2.580–6.012), the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic (OR: 0.129; 95% CI: 0.087–0.191), a mother with gambling disorder (OR: 5.284; 95% CI: 1.038–26.902), the personal services education area (OR: 2.858; 95% CI: 1.179–6.929), and the linguistics education area (OR: 2.984; 95% CI: 1.538–5.788) stand out as contributing factors to the development of this disorder. Conclusions: This study reveals a high level of possible gambling disorder among university students and emphasises the importance of this problem in the academic community. Physician awareness and prevention programmes are needed in this population.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/11/18/2527gamblingpathological gamblingyoung adultprimary health care |
| spellingShingle | Nádia Pais Azevedo Paulo Santos Luísa Sá Gambling Disorder among Porto’s University Students Healthcare gambling pathological gambling young adult primary health care |
| title | Gambling Disorder among Porto’s University Students |
| title_full | Gambling Disorder among Porto’s University Students |
| title_fullStr | Gambling Disorder among Porto’s University Students |
| title_full_unstemmed | Gambling Disorder among Porto’s University Students |
| title_short | Gambling Disorder among Porto’s University Students |
| title_sort | gambling disorder among porto s university students |
| topic | gambling pathological gambling young adult primary health care |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/11/18/2527 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT nadiapaisazevedo gamblingdisorderamongportosuniversitystudents AT paulosantos gamblingdisorderamongportosuniversitystudents AT luisasa gamblingdisorderamongportosuniversitystudents |