Concerned significant others of people with gambling problems in Finland: a cross-sectional population study

BMC Public Health

Tuuli Lahti¹  Hannu Alho²  Sari Castrén³  Anne H Salonen³ 

[1] Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Behavioral Sciences and Philosophy, University of Turku, Turku, Finland;Research Unit of Substance Abuse Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland;National Institute for Health and Welfare, Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, P.O. Box 30, Helsinki FIN-00271, Finland

关键词: Problem gambling;    Population study;    Cross-sectional;    Concerned significant others;   

Others  :  1131484
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2458-14-398

 received in 2013-12-18, accepted in 2014-04-15,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

Problem gambling not only impacts those directly involved, but also the concerned significant others (CSOs) of problem gamblers. The aims of this study were to investigate the proportion of male and female CSOs at the population level; to investigate who the CSOs were concerned about; and to investigate sociodemographic factors, gender differences, gambling behaviour, and health and well-being among CSOs and non-CSOs.

Methods

The data (n = 4484) were based on a cross-sectional population study. Structured telephone interviews were conducted in 2011–2012. The data were weighted based on age, gender and residency. The respondents were defined as CSOs if they reported that at least one of their significant others (father, mother, sister/brother, grandparent, spouse, own child/children, close friend) had had gambling problems. Statistical significance was determined by chi-squared and Fisher’s exact tests, and logistic regression analysis.

Results

Altogether, 19.3% of the respondents were identified as CSOs. Most commonly, the problem gambler was a close friend (12.4%) of the CSO. The percentage of close friends having a gambling problem was larger among male CSOs (14.4%) compared with female CSOs (10.3%; p ≤ 0.001), while the percentage of partners with gambling problem was larger among females (2.6%) than among males (0.8%; p ≤ 0.001). In the best fitting model, the odds ratio (95% CI) of being a male CSO was 2.03 (1.24–3.31) for past-year gambling problems, 1.46 (1.08–1.97) for loneliness and 1.78 (1.38–2.29) for risky alcohol consumption. The odds ratio (95% CI) of being a female CSO was 1.51 (1.09–2.08) for past-year gambling involvement, 3.05 (1.18-7.90) for past-year gambling problems, 2.21 (1.24–3.93) for mental health problems, 1.39 (1.03–1.89) for loneliness and 1.97 (1.43–2.71) for daily smoking.

Conclusions

CSOs of problem gamblers often experience cumulating problems such as their own risky gambling behaviour, health problems and other addictive disorders. The clearest gender difference was seen in smoking by CSO. In order to develop efficient and targeted support and services for CSOs, it is necessary to understand the correlates related to different subgroups of CSOs.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Salonen et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

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