How Satisfied are Spouses with their Leisure Time? Evidence from Europe

This paper first identifies the determinants of spouses’ satisfaction levels within the household with respect to their leisure time and, secondly, characterizes whether their preferences have some degree of altruistic or egoistic character in regard to this particular satisfaction. To that end, it formulates a theoretical framework from the collective family model whose stochastic formulations are estimated for 14 EU countries. The general empirical results first reveal that the presence of children has a significantly negative impact on the leisure satisfaction of both spouses. Then, increases in individual incomes lead to lower own leisure satisfaction levels. Both husbands and wives show egoistic behavior with respect to the labor and non-labor incomes (wage rate) of their respective spouses’ satisfaction levels.

Significant Others and Gambling Treatment Outcomes

Aims This study investigates the effect of significant others on treatment outcomes among treated pathological gamblers. Design This is a cohort study of individuals who received gambling treatment. Setting Oregon Problem Gambling Services (OPGS) for gamblers and their family members. Participants 4,410 adult gamblers who were discharged from treatment between August, 2001 and April, 2007. Measurements OPGS enrollment forms provided gambler gender, age, ethnicity, education level, employment status, gambling-related debt, and whether the gambler had a significant other at the time of enrollment. Termination forms provided information on the type of discharge (successful/unsuccessful) and treatment length (in days). Participation of the gambler’s significant other in the family treatment program was identified. Findings Results showed that age, ethnicity, gambling debt, and having a significant other are associated with the odds of successful treatment. Education level moderates the effect of having a significant other on treatment success. Age, ethnicity, education, employment, and having a significant other participate in treatment significantly impacted gamblers’ length in treatment. Conclusions These findings indicate that there may be a benefit to integrating significant others in gambling treatment methods. Significant others may act as social supports for gamblers seeking treatment, and involving loved ones in gambling treatment models may positively affect gambler treatment outcomes.     

Preliminary Evaluation of a Coping Skills Training Program for Those with a Pathological-Gambling Partner

Individuals living with a pathological-gambling partner can experience significant psychological distress. In this report, we conduct a preliminary evaluation of a coping skills training program (CST) for this population. Twenty-three individuals experiencing stress from living with a pathological-gambling partner who was not in treatment were randomly assigned to either CST or a delayed treatment control (DTC) condition. CST consisted of ten, weekly individual sessions to teach more effective coping skills. At the end of the treatment/delay period, CST participants, relative to those in DTC, showed a large improvement in coping skillfulness that appeared to mediate a corresponding large significant reduction in depression and anxiety relative to DTC. Partner gambling during the period decreased in both conditions but did not differ between them, nor did partner help-seeking differ. CST shows promise as an effective treatment for individuals distressed as a result of a partner’s gambling problem. Larger, longer-term evaluations of the intervention, and comparison with alternate treatment models are needed.