Prevalence and Possible Predictors of Gambling Disorder in a Sample of Students in the Healthcare Professions

Francesca Scandroglio, Giulia Ferrazzi, Alessia Giacobazzi, Vera Vinci, Mattia Marchi, Gian Maria Galeazzi (), Alessandro Musetti and Luca Pingani
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Francesca Scandroglio: Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy
Giulia Ferrazzi: Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy
Alessia Giacobazzi: Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy
Vera Vinci: Dipartimento ad attività integrata di Salute Mentale e Dipendenze Patologiche, Azienda USL-IRCCS di Reggio Emilia, 42122 Reggio Emilia, Italy
Mattia Marchi: Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy
Gian Maria Galeazzi: Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy
Alessandro Musetti: Department of Humanities, Social Sciences and Cultural Industries, University of Parma, 43121 Parma, Italy
Luca Pingani: Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 20, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: The Italian version of the South Oaks Gambling Screen questionnaire (SOGS) and a socio-demographic questionnaire were administered to a sample of 275 healthcare professions students aged 19 to 58 years (mean age = 22.17; females = 81.1%) to address the research objectives: to examine the prevalence and correlates of problem gambling in a population of university healthcare professions students in Italy. Among the sample, 8.7% ( n = 24) of participants showed problem gambling and 1.5% ( n = 4) pathologic gambling. Lottery and scratch cards were the most frequent type of gambling in the sample, followed by cards and bingo. Compared to females, males tend to be more involved in problem gambling and pathological gambling. Males tend to be more involved than females in different types of gambling (such as cards, sports bets, gambling at the casino). Pathological gambling is positively associated with gender, being students lagging behind the regular schedule of exams and parents’ level of education. These findings have important implications in terms of prevention and intervention on gambling and pathological gambling. Universities should make available educational programs and counselling services to address this issue.

Keywords: gambling; pathological gambling; health professions students; students; SOGS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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