Loading...
Internet gamblers: a latent class analysis of their behaviours and health experiences.
Lloyd, Joanne Doll, Helen Hawton, Keith Dutton, William H Geddes, John R Goodwin, Guy M Rogers, Robert D
Lloyd, Joanne
Doll, Helen
Hawton, Keith
Dutton, William H
Geddes, John R
Goodwin, Guy M
Rogers, Robert D
Editors
Other contributors
Affiliation
Epub Date
Issue Date
2010-09
Submitted date
Alternative
Abstract
In order to learn about the behaviours and health experiences of people who gamble on the Internet, we conducted an international online survey with respondents recruited via gambling and gambling-related websites. The mean (SD) age of the 4,125 respondents completing the survey was 35.5 (11.8) years, with 79.1% being male and 68.8% UK residents. Respondents provided demographic details and completed validated psychometric screening instruments for problem gambling, mood disturbances, as well as alcohol and substance misuse, and history of deliberate self harm. We applied latent class analysis to respondents' patterns of regular online gambling activities, and identified subgroups of individuals who used the Internet to gamble in different ways (L (2) = 44.27, bootstrap P = 0.07). We termed the characteristic profiles as 'non-to-minimal gamblers'; 'sports bettors'; 'casino & sports gamblers'; 'lottery players'; and 'multi-activity gamblers'. Furthermore, these subgroups of respondents differed on other demographic and psychological dimensions, with significant inter-cluster differences in proportion of individuals scoring above threshold for problem gambling, mood disorders and substance misuse, and history of deliberate self harm (all Chi (2)s > 23.4, all P-values <0.001). The 'casino & sports' and 'multi-activity-gamblers' clusters had the highest prevalence of mental disorder. Internet gamblers appear to be heterogeneous but composed of several subgroups, differing markedly on both demographic and clinical characteristics.
Citation
Internet gamblers: a latent class analysis of their behaviours and health experiences. 2010, 26 (3):387-99 J Gambl Stud
Publisher
Journal
Research Unit
PubMed ID
20422442
PubMed Central ID
Embedded videos
Additional Links
Type
Journal article
Language
en
Description
Series/Report no.
ISSN
1573-3602
EISSN
ISBN
ISMN
Gov't Doc #
Sponsors
joint funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (RES-164-25-0008) and the Responsibility in Gambling Trust