A national study on gambling among US college student-athletes

OBJECTIVE: The authors examined the national prevalence of gambling problems and sports wagering among US college student-athletes. PARTICIPANTS: A national sample of 20,739 student-athletes participated in the study. METHODS: The authors used data from the first national survey of gambling among college athletes, conducted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. RESULTS: Men (62.4%) consistently had higher past-year prevalence of gambling than did women (42.8%). The authors identified 4.3% of men and 0.4% of women as problem or pathological gamblers. Among the most popular forms of gambling were playing cards, lotteries, and games of skill, with male-to-female prevalence ratio ranging 1.3-5.6 across various gambling activities. Athletes in golf and lacrosse were more likely to report sports wagering than were other athletes. Athletes in gender-specific sports wagered more prevalently than did athletes in unisex sports. CONCLUSION: Gambling prevalence may be underestimated in this population because respondents' athletics eligibility is at stake. This study provides important baseline data for future cohorts of athletes.     

建设项目的费用控制以及项目费用管理系统的需求

对于许多项目而言,费用严重超支、交付成果低劣的现象更凸显了需要对项目管理流程进行有效的管理和控制。本文叙述了项目从概念设计阶段到完工整个生命周期的有效费用控制,并介绍了进行这种控制所需要的项目费用管理系统在大型建设项目上的应用。     

Predicting Gambling Problems from Gambling Outcome Expectancies in College Student-Athletes

While previous research has suggested the potential importance of gambling outcome expectancies in determining gambling behaviour among adolescents, the predictive ability of gambling outcome expectancies has not yet been clearly delineated for college-aged youth. The current study aims to explore the relationships between gender and outcome expectancies in the prediction of gambling severity among college student-athletes. Data from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) study assessing gambling behaviours and problems among U.S. college student-athletes were utilized. Complete data was available for 7,517 student-athletes. As expected, male college student-athletes reported more gambling participation as well as greater gambling problems than their female counterparts. Findings showed positive relationships between the outcome expectancies of financial gain, and negative emotional impacts and gambling problems. That is, those who endorsed more items on the outcome expectancy scales for financial gain and negative emotional impacts also tended to endorse more gambling-related problems. Findings also showed a negative relationship between outcome expectancies of fun and enjoyment, and gambling problems over and above the variance accounted for by gender. Those with gambling problems were less likely to have the expectation that gambling would be fun than those without gambling problems. Despite NCAA efforts to curb gambling activity, the results suggest that college student-athletes are at risk for over-involvement in gambling. Therefore, it is important to explore gambling outcome expectancies within this group since the motivations and reasons for gambling might be able to inform treatment initiatives.     

Which Diagnostic Criteria are Most Useful in Discriminating Between Social Gamblers and Individuals with Gambling Problems? An Examination of DSM-IV and DSM-5 Criteria

The current study sought to identify which diagnostic criteria for gambling disorder have the greatest ability to differentiate between social and problem gamblers. This study was conducted on a sample of male and female college student athletes across the U.S. (n = 8674). Classification and regression tree analysis represents an appropriate technique when addressing the question of an item’s diagnostic value, as it sequentially selects variables to isolate sets of observations with similar outcomes. The current results suggest that the item related to preoccupation (“Have there been periods in the past year where you spent a lot of time thinking about gambling?”) was the DSM-5 item best able to differentiate between male and female social and problem gamblers in this sample. When considering only the nine criteria retained in the DSM-5, three criteria were identified as key for distinguishing between social and disordered gamblers among men, and one criterion was identified for distinguishing between groups of women. In addition, these results do not support the notion that the illegal acts criterion has a particularly low base rate and found that it can be an important indicator of disordered gambling in a college-aged sample.     

Telecommunication steering committees and their implications

Rapid advances in telecommunications technology (TT) and its usage have elevated it to a strategic role. This strategic thrust of TT has obvious implications for TT management. This paper reports on a study conducted to identify and analyze the impact of using a distinct steering committee to manage telecommunication technology. Based on statistical analysis of the responses to a survey instrument it is found that having a separate steering committee to manage telecommunication technology has a positive impact on various factors affecting telecommunications usage and management. Implications of our findings for successful TT management are discussed.