Internet Gamblers: A Latent Class Analysis of Their Behaviours and Health Experiences |
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Authors: | Joanne Lloyd Helen Doll Keith Hawton William H Dutton John R Geddes Guy M Goodwin Robert D Rogers |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Oxford University, Oxford, OX3 7JX, UK;(2) Department of Public Health, Oxford University, Oxford, UK;(3) Oxford Internet Institute, Oxford, UK; |
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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 Χ
2s > 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. |
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