Decision-making under conditions of explicit risk and uncertainty in autistic and typically developing adolescents and young adults.

Adolescence has been characterized as a period of risky and possibly suboptimal decision-making, yet the development of decision-making in autistic adolescents is not well understood. To investigate decision-making in autism, we evaluated performance on 2 computerized tasks capturing decision-making under explicit risk and uncertainty in autistic and non-autistic adolescents/young adults ages 12-22 years. Participants completed the Game of Dice Task (32 IQ-matched participant pairs) to assess decision-making under explicit risk and the modified Iowa Gambling Task (35 IQ-matched pairs) to assess decision-making under uncertainty. Autistic participants overall made riskier decisions than non-autistic participants on the Game of Dice Task, and the odds of making riskier decisions varied by age and IQ. In contrast, the autistic group showed comparable levels of learning over trial blocks to the non-autistic group on the modified Iowa Gambling Task. For both tasks, younger autistic participants performed poorer than their non-autistic counterparts, while group differences diminished in older ages. This age-related pattern suggests positive development during adolescence on risk assessment and decision-making in autism but also implies differential developmental trajectories between groups. These findings also suggest differential performance by the risk type, with additional complex influences of IQ and fluid cognition, which warrants further investigations.

Emotion regulation across psychiatric disorders.

OBJECTIVE: Difficulties with emotion regulation have been associated with multiple psychiatric conditions. In this study, we aimed to investigate emotional regulation difficulties in young adults who gamble at least occasionally (ie, an enriched sample), and diagnosed with a range of psychiatric disorders using the validated Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS). METHODS: A total of 543 non-treatment-seeking individuals who had engaged in gambling activities on at least 5 occasions within the previous year, aged 18-29 were recruited from general community settings. Diagnostic assessments included the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Inventory, Minnesota Impulsive Disorders Interview, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder World Health Organization Screening Tool Part A, and the Structured Clinical Interview for Gambling Disorder. Emotional dysregulation was evaluated using DERS. The profile of emotional dysregulation across disorders was characterized using Z-scores (those with the index disorder vs. those without the index disorder). RESULTS: Individuals with probable ADHD displayed the highest level of difficulties in emotional regulation, followed by intermittent explosive disorder, social phobia, and generalized anxiety disorder. In contrast, participants diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder showed relatively lower levels of difficulties with emotional regulation. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the importance of recognizing emotional dysregulation as a trans-diagnostic phenomenon across psychiatric disorders. The results also reveal differing levels of emotional dysregulation across diagnoses, with potential implications for tailored treatment approaches. Despite limitations such as small sample sizes for certain disorders and limited age range, this study contributes to a broader understanding of emotional regulation's role in psychiatric conditions.

Treatment of harmful gambling: a scoping review of United Kingdom-based intervention research.

BACKGROUND: Understanding and treating the harm caused by gambling is a growing international psychiatric and public health challenge. Treatment of gambling harm may involve psychological and pharmacological intervention, in conjunction with peer support. This scoping review was conducted to identify, for the first time, the characteristics and extent of United Kingdom (UK) based gambling treatment research. We reviewed studies conducted among people seeking treatment for disordered or harmful gambling in the UK, the settings, research designs, and outcome measures used, and to identify any treatment research gaps. METHODS: Systematic searches of PsycInfo, PsycArticles, Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science databases were carried out for gambling treatment research or evaluation studies conducted in the UK. Studies were included if they evaluated the effectiveness of an intervention or treatment designed to improve symptoms of harmful or problematic gambling, reported outcomes of interventions on treatment adherence, gambling symptoms, or behaviours using standardised measures, were conducted in the UK, and were published since 2000. RESULTS: Eight studies met the inclusion criteria. Four were retrospective chart reviews, two were single-participant case reports, one described a retrospective case series, and one employed a cross-sectional design. None used an experimental design. CONCLUSION: The limited number of studies included in this review highlights a relative paucity of gambling treatment research conducted in UK settings. Further work should seek to identify potential barriers and obstacles to conducting gambling treatment research in the UK.

Cluster analysis in gambling disorder based on sociodemographic, neuropsychological, and neuroendocrine features regulating energy homeostasis.

BACKGROUND: The heterogeneity of gambling disorder (GD) has led to the identification of different subtypes, mostly including phenotypic features, with distinctive implications on the GD severity and treatment outcome. However, clustering analyses based on potential endophenotypic features, such as neuropsychological and neuroendocrine factors, are scarce so far. AIMS: This study firstly aimed to identify empirical clusters in individuals with GD based on sociodemographic (i.e., age and sex), neuropsychological (i.e., cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control, decision making, working memory, attention, and set-shifting), and neuroendocrine factors regulating energy homeostasis (i.e., leptin, ghrelin, adiponectin, and liver-expressed antimicrobial peptide 2, LEAP-2). The second objective was to compare the profiles between clusters, considering the variables used for the clustering procedure and other different sociodemographic, clinical, and psychological features. METHODS: 297 seeking-treatment adult outpatients with GD (93.6% males, mean age of 39.58 years old) were evaluated through a semi-structured clinical interview, self-reported psychometric assessments, and a protocolized neuropsychological battery. Plasma concentrations of neuroendocrine factors were assessed in peripheral blood after an overnight fast. Agglomerative hierarchical clustering was applied using sociodemographic, neuropsychological, and neuroendocrine variables as indicators for the grouping procedure. Comparisons between the empirical groups were performed using Chi-square tests (χ2) for categorical variables, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) for quantitative measures. RESULTS: Three-mutually-exclusive groups were obtained, being neuropsychological features those with the greatest weight in differentiating groups. The largest cluster (Cluster 1, 65.3%) was composed by younger males with strategic and online gambling preferences, scoring higher on self-reported impulsivity traits, but with a lower cognitive impairment. Cluster 2 (18.2%) and 3 (16.5%) were characterized by a significantly higher proportion of females and older patients with non-strategic gambling preferences and a worse neuropsychological performance. Particularly, Cluster 3 had the poorest neuropsychological performance, especially in cognitive flexibility, while Cluster 2 reported the poorest inhibitory control. This latter cluster was also distinguished by a poorer self-reported emotion regulation, the highest prevalence of food addiction, as well as a metabolic profile characterized by the highest mean concentrations of leptin, adiponectin, and LEAP-2. CONCLUSIONS: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to identify well-differentiated GD clusters using neuropsychological and neuroendocrine features. Our findings reinforce the heterogeneous nature of the disorder and emphasize a role of potential endophenotypic features in GD subtyping. This more comprehensive characterization of GD profiles could contribute to optimize therapeutic interventions based on a medicine of precision.

Impact of online poker gambling on behavioural and neurophysiological responses to a virtual gambling task.

Online poker gambling (OPG) involves various executive control processes and emotion regulation. In this context, we hypothesized that online poker players, accustomed to handling virtual cards, would show high performance on computerized decision-making tasks such as the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). Using press advertisements, we recruited a non-gambler group (NG; n = 20) and an OPG group (n = 22). All participants performed the IGT while their cerebral activity was recorded by electroencephalography. Compared with the OPG group, the NG group showed significantly better progression in the IGT in the last trials. Recording of brain activity revealed the appearance of a temporal map between 150 and 175 ms specific to the gain condition in both groups. A second map was observed at 215-295 ms specifically in the NG group, and the generators were identified in the occipital regions. This activity is indicative of a high level of visual awareness; thus, it reflects additional processing of visual information, which can be assumed to be induced by the lower exposure of the NGs to online card games. We hypothesize that the absence of this activity in the OPG group might be due to their online habituation to virtual environments.

Loss, gain and choice difficulty in gambling patients: Neural and behavioural processes.

Impaired decision-making is often displayed by individuals suffering from gambling disorder (GD). Since there are a variety of different phenomena influencing decision-making, we focused in this study on the effects of GD on neural and behavioural processes related to loss aversion and choice difficulty. Behavioural responses as well as brain images of 23 patients with GD and 20 controls were recorded while they completed a mixed gambles task, where they had to decide to either accept or reject gambles with different amounts of potential gain and loss. We found no behavioural loss aversion in either group and no group differences regarding loss and gain-related choice behaviour, but there was a weaker relation between choice difficulty and decision time in patients with GD. Similarly, we observed no group differences in processing of losses or gains, but choice difficulty was weaker associated with brain activity in the right anterior insula and anterior cingulate cortex in patients with GD. Our results showed for the first time the effects of GD on neural processes related to choice difficulty. In addition, our findings on choice difficulty give new insights on the psychopathology of GD and on neural processes related to impaired decision-making in GD.

Involving lived experience in regional efforts to address gambling-related harms: going beyond 'window dressing' and 'tick box exercises'.

BACKGROUND: Lived Experience (LE) involvement has been shown to improve interventions across diverse sectors. Yet LE contributions to public health approaches to address gambling-related harms remain underexplored, despite notable detrimental health and social outcomes linked to gambling. This paper analyses the potential of LE involvement in public health strategy to address gambling-related harms. It focuses on the example of a UK city-region gambling harms reduction intervention that presented multiple opportunities for LE input. METHODS: Three focus groups and 33 semi-structured interviews were conducted to hear from people with and without LE who were involved in the gambling harms reduction intervention, or who had previous experience of LE-informed efforts for addressing gambling-related harms. People without LE provided reflections on the value and contributions of others' LE to their work. Data analysis combined the Framework Method with themes developed inductively (from people's accounts) and deductively (from the literature, including grey literature). RESULTS: Four themes were identified: (1) personal journeys to LE involvement; (2) the value added by LE to interventions for addressing gambling-related harms; (3) emotional impacts on people with LE; and (4) collective LE and diverse lived experiences. Two figures outlining LE involvement specific to gambling harms reduction in the UK, where public health efforts aimed at addressing gambling-related harms coexist with industry-funded programmes, are proposed. CONCLUSIONS: Integrating a range of LE perspectives in a public health approach to gambling harms reduction requires local access to involvement for people with LE via diverse routes that are free from stigma and present people with LE with options in how they can engage and be heard in decision-making, and how they operate in relation to industry influence. Involving LE in gambling harms reduction requires enabling people to develop the affective and critical skills necessary to navigate complex emotional journeys and a challenging commercial and policy environment.

National burden of gambling in Japan: an estimation from an online-based cross-sectional investigation and national epidemiological survey.

BACKGROUND: Gambling is a popular leisure activity in many countries, often expected to boost regional economies. Nevertheless, its negative impacts remain a significant concern. Gambling disorder is recognized as the most severe consequence; however, even non- or low-risk gamblers may also face negative impacts. This study aimed to estimate the number of Japanese gamblers experiencing gambling-related harm (GRH) and its distribution across six life domains, financial, relational, emotional, health, social and other aspects, based on the severity of their problem gambling risk. METHODS: This cross-sectional study relied on an online survey conducted between August 5 and 11, 2020. Participants aged 20 years and above, who engaged in gambling during 2019 were recruited via a market research company. The survey assessed the prevalence of GRH 72 items among four gambler risk groups (non-problem, low-, moderate-, and high-risk), as categorized by the Problem Gambling Severity Index. The data was adjusted for population weighting using representative national survey data: the 2017 Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions and the 2017 Epidemiological Survey on Gambling Addictions. RESULTS: Out of the 28,016 individuals invited to the survey, 6,124 participated in the screening, 3,113 in the main survey, and 3,063 provided valid responses. After adjusting the survey data, it was estimated that 39.0 million (30.8%) of Japan's 126.8 million citizens gambled in 2019. Among them, 4.44 million (11.4%) experienced financial harm, 2.70 million (6.9%) health harm, 2.54 million (6.5%) emotional harm, 1.31 million (3.4%) work/study harm, 1.28 million (3.3%) relationship harm, and 0.46 million (1.2%) other harm. Although high-risk gamblers experienced severe harm at the individual level, over 60% of gamblers who experienced GRHs were non- and low-risk gamblers, with the exception of other harm, at the population level. CONCLUSIONS: The study highlighted the prevention paradox of gambling in Japan. While national gambling policies primarily focus on the prevention and intervention for high-risk gamblers, a more effective approach would involve minimizing GRH across the entire population.

'Getting addicted to it and losing a lot of money it's just like a hole.' A grounded theory model of how social determinants shape adolescents' choices to not gamble.

BACKGROUND: Gambling abstinence when underage lowers the risk of harmful gambling in later life. However, little research has examined why many young people refrain from gambling, even though this knowledge can inform protective strategies and lower risk factors to reduce underage gambling and subsequent harm. This study draws on the lived experience of adolescent non-gamblers to explore how social determinants while growing up have shaped their reasons and choices to not gamble. METHODS: Fourteen Australian non-gamblers, aged 12-17 years, participated in an in-depth individual interview (4 girls, 3 boys) or online community (4 girls, 3 boys). Questions in each condition differed, but both explored participants' gambling-related experiences while growing up, including exposure, attitudes and behaviours of parents and peers, advertising, simulated gambling and motivations for not gambling. The analysis used adaptive grounded theory methods. RESULTS: The grounded theory model identifies several reasons for not gambling, including not being interested, being below the legal gambling age, discouragement from parent and peers, concern about gambling addiction and harm, not wanting to risk money on a low chance of winning, and moral objections. These reasons were underpinned by several social determinants, including individual, parental, peer and environmental factors that can interact to deter young people from underage gambling. Key protective factors were parental role modelling and guidance, friendship groups who avoided gambling, critical thinking, rational gambling beliefs, financial literacy and having other hobbies and interests. CONCLUSIONS: Choices to not gamble emanated from multiple layers of influence, implying that multi-layered interventions, aligned with a public health response, are needed to deter underage gambling. At the environmental level, better age-gating for monetary and simulated gambling, countering cultural pressures, and less exposure to promotional gambling messages, may assist young people to resist these influences. Interventions that support parents to provide appropriate role modelling and guidance for their children are also important. Youth education could include cautionary tales from people with lived experience of gambling harm, and education to increase young people's financial literacy, ability to recognise marketing tactics, awareness of the risks and harms of gambling, and how to resist peer and other normalising gambling influences.

"It's changing our lives, not for the better. It's important that we have a say". The role of young people in informing public health and policy decisions about gambling marketing.

BACKGROUND: Marketing has a significant impact on the normalisation of gambling for youth across the globe. This has included shaping positive attitudes towards gambling, as well as increasing the social and cultural acceptance of gambling - particularly aligned with valued activities such as sport. Because of this, public health experts argue that gambling marketing poses a significant risk to the health and wellbeing of youth. While young people are increasingly exposed to, and impacted by marketing for gambling products, they are rarely consulted about policy issues and options. This study aimed to explore young Australians' perceptions of current policy responses to gambling advertising, whether they thought young people should be involved in discussions and decisions about gambling marketing regulations, and their perceptions of the duty of governments to protect young people from gambling industry marketing strategies. METHODS: Qualitative focus groups (n = 22) were held with n = 64, 12-17 year olds in the Australian states of Victoria and New South Wales. Participants were asked to reflect on current gambling policies, particularly relating to marketing, what they thought should be done about gambling marketing, and if and how young people should be included in public health responses to gambling. An interpretivist 'Big Q' approach to reflexive thematic analysis was used. RESULTS: Young people highlighted the need for more effective regulations around the content and frequency of gambling marketing. They also wanted to see more realistic representations of the negative impacts of gambling to counter persistent positive commercial marketing messages. Most thought that young people should be given an opportunity to have a say about responses to gambling due to their unique experiences. Participants identified mechanisms to increase young people's engagement in decision making, such as direct lines of communication to different levels of government, involvement in research, and diversifying ways of engagement. Specific recommendations included more regulatory action such as bans on gambling advertising. CONCLUSIONS: Creating formal structures that facilitate the inclusion of young people's perspectives in decisions made about gambling can result in more innovative and effective strategies to prevent the harms from gambling industry products, promotions, and practices.

Betting high, feeling low: a cross-sectional examination of gambling severity and psychological distress among Ghanaian youth.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the nexus between online gambling and psychological distress among youth, especially in Ghana. This study aimed to investigate the effects of online sports betting on psychological distress, focusing on depression, anxiety, and stress among young individuals in the Volta region of Ghana. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out at various betting centers in the Volta region of Ghana. Four hundred and three (403) participants were selected using a multi-stage sampling method. The study used a standardized questionnaire to assess psychological distress with the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS 21) and problematic gambling with the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI). The analysis included both descriptive and inferential methods. These include the implementation of the bootstrap technique within multiple regression models using the current versions of Jeffreys's Amazing Statistics Program (JASP) [0.18.2], Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) [29.0.2], and Microsoft Excel (2019). RESULTS: The study found a prevalence of 40% for problematic gambling and 44% for moderate gambling problems among participants, resulting in an overall gambling prevalence of 84%. Regarding psychological distress, the estimated prevalence of depression among participants was 43.6%, with stress reported at 31.1% and anxiety at 68.8%. The overall prevalence of psychological distress was 48%. When analyzing the link between gambling and psychological distress, the study noted that males were more prone to gambling-related psychological distress than females (ß = 2.036, p = 0.025). Furthermore, individuals with problem gambling showed the highest probability of experiencing more significant psychological distress compared to other groups (ß = 9.228, p = 0.002), followed by those with moderate gambling levels (ß = 3.283, p = 0.002). CONCLUSION: We recommend that the mental health unit of the Ghana Health Service, in collaboration with the Gaming Commission of Ghana, should develop youth-friendly interventions to address the prevalence and onset of problematic gambling among the youth, especially males. This could, in turn, reduce the prevalence of psychological distress among youth engaged in online gambling in Ghana.

A mixed method study exploring similarities and differences in general and social services-specific barriers to treatment-seeking among individuals with a problematic use of alcohol, cannabis, or gambling.

INTRODUCTION: The treatment gap for addictive disorders is one of the largest in health care. Several studies have investigated barriers to treatment for different addictive disorders, but very few studies conducted have explored whether the barriers differ depending on substance or behavior or if they are common among all addictive disorders. In Sweden, addiction care is provided both by the healthcare and social services, where the latter is common, but also less popular. To our knowledge, there are no studies exploring whether the barriers are different depending on where the treatment is given. AIM: The aim was to thoroughly explore both which general and social services-specific barriers to treatment that are common, which barriers that differs, and how the barriers are described among individuals with a problematic use of alcohol, cannabis and/or gambling. METHOD: A mixed method convergent parallel design was conducted. For the quantitative measures, surveys including the validated Barriers to Treatment Inventory as well as questions regarding barriers in the Swedish multi-provider landscape, were collected from individuals with a problematic use of alcohol (n = 207), cannabis (n = 51), and gambling (n = 37). In parallel, 17 semi-structured interviews from the same population were conducted and analyzed with thematic analysis. Thereafter, the quantitative and qualitative data was compared, contrasted, and at last, interpreted. RESULTS: The quantitative data showed that the largest general barriers in all groups were privacy concern and poor availability, and the largest barriers for seeking help from the social services was stigma, unawareness of what is offered, and fear of consequences for all groups. The qualitative data resulted in five general barriers: stigma, ambivalence, accessibility, fear of consequences, and lack of knowledge about addiction and its' treatments, and three barriers specifically towards social services: social services reputation, fear of meeting acquaintances, and lack of knowledge. The themes were developed from data from all groups, but different aspects of the themes were mentioned by different groups. CONCLUSION: There are details and aspects that differentiates both the general and social service-specific barriers to treatment between individuals with a problematic use of alcohol, cannabis, and gambling, but in large they perceive similar barriers.

What is known about population level programs designed to address gambling-related harm: rapid review of the evidence.

BACKGROUND: Gambling and gambling-related harm attract significant researcher and policy attention. The liberalisation of gambling in most western countries is strongly associated with a marked rise in gambling activity and increases in gambling-related harm experienced at the population level. Programs to address gambling-related harm have traditionally focused on individuals who demonstrate problematic gambling behaviour, despite clear evidence of the effectiveness of a public health approach to high-risk activities like gambling. Little is known about the availability or efficacy of programs to address gambling-related harm at a population level. METHODS: The Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation commissioned a rapid evidence review of the available evidence on programs designed to reduce gambling-related harm at a population level. The review was conducted using a public health and harm reduction lens. MEDLINE, ProQuest Central and PsychInfo databases were searched systematically. Included studies were published in English between 2017 - 2023 from all countries with gambling policy contexts and public health systems comparable to Australia's; included primary data; and focused on primary and/or secondary prevention of gambling-related harm or problems. RESULTS: One hundred and sixty-seven articles were eligible for inclusion. Themes identified in the literature included: risk and protective factors; primary prevention; secondary prevention; tertiary prevention; target population group; and public health approach. The evidence review revealed a gap in empirical evidence around effective interventions to reduce gambling-related harm at the population level, particularly from a public health perspective. CONCLUSIONS: Addressing gambling-related harm requires a nuanced, multi-layered approach that acknowledges the complex social, environmental, and commercial nature of gambling and associated harms. Moreover, evidence demonstrates community programs to reduce gambling-related harm are more successful in reducing harm when based on sound theory of co-design and address the social aspects that contribute to harm.

The impact of gambling advertising and marketing on online gambling behavior: an analysis based on Spanish data.

OBJECTIVES: Online platforms have transformed gambling into a daily activity for many, raising concerns about its potential harm. Notably, marketing strategies play a crucial role in influencing gambling behaviors and normalizing gambling. This study aims to explore the relationship between monthly marketing expenditure by the gambling industry, the online amount of money bet, and the number of online accounts (active and new) in Spain. A secondary goal is to assess the impact of marketing restrictions under the Spanish Royal Decree 958/2020 on the relationship between marketing and online gambling behavior. STUDY DESIGN: Longitudinal study. METHODS: Data covering January 2013 to December 2023. Dependent variables included: new accounts, active accounts, gambler deposits, and the total money bet. Independent variables included: expenditure on advertising, bonuses, affiliate marketing, and sponsorship. A Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (SARIMA) model was employed to assess marketing's impact on online gambling behavior. RESULTS: Findings show that investment in advertising (P ≤ 0.025), promotions (P < 0.001), and sponsorships (P ≤ 0.004) significantly increase the number of new and active accounts, deposits, and total money bet. For instance, it has been estimated that, for every €1 invested in bonuses and sponsorship, gamblers deposit €1.6 and €4 into their accounts, respectively. Moreover, the Spanish law regulating gambling advertising has seemingly weakened the link between marketing expenditure and gambling behavior, with the notable exception of bonuses, where the impact has intensified. CONCLUSIONS: These results underline the importance of ongoing monitoring and regulation of gambling behavior in Spain, emphasizing the need for strict adherence to regulations.

'I Can Tell You It's a Bit of a Gamble': A Qualitative Analysis of How People Who Engage in Gaming and Gambling Understand a Link Between These Two Behaviours.

This article explores the attention given to potential motives and determinants of the transition process from video games to gambling. Forty individual interviews were conducted among active video game players (n = 20), and people diagnosed with a gambling disorder who had the experience of playing video games (n = 20). A qualitative thematic analysis was employed to explore the collected empirical data. The range of factors considered responsible for the transition from playing video games to gambling included experiencing similar emotional states, the presence of gambling in video games, advertising of gambling companies in video games, loot boxes. The awareness of factors associated with the development of gambling disorders among video game players has an important role in informing prevention policies in the rapidly changing video gaming and gambling market. Decision-makers should introduce effective regulation of the use of gambling components in video games to protect gamers against the gambling-related harm.

Exploring Socioeconomic, Demographic and Psychological Predictors of At-risk Gambling and Participation in Specific Gambling Activities: A Comparative Approach.

In this research, we aimed to provide a comparative examination of at-risk gambling and four types of gambling activities from the standpoint of socioeconomic, demographic and psychological factors. Using data collected from 7,385 adults aged 18-64 from Serbia, we investigated how specific variables contribute to the likelihood of participation in lottery playing, sports betting, casino games, and slot games across the three time frames (lifetime, last year, and last month), and at-risk gambling. Logistic regressions revealed that male sex, ages 18 to 34, drug use, harmful alcohol use, and elevated levels of distress were significant predictors of participation in any point of life in sports betting, casino games, and slot games, and at-risk gambling. Secondary education, residing in an urban area, and harmful alcohol use predicted - across three time frames - the engagement in lottery playing, sports betting, and slot games playing, respectively. Smoking, and specifically heavy smoking, was shown to be predictive of lifetime participation in all types of gambling, while having single marital status and being unemployed emerged as the factors increasing the odds for the last-month slot games playing. Notably, the 18 to 24 age cohort turned out to be the most vulnerable part of the population, as they displayed the largest odds for at-risk gambling, and both lifetime and last-year involvement in sports betting, casino games, and slot games playing. This highlights the necessity of targeted public health interventions for the young adult population and people who experiment or already experience problems related to substance use.

"Sense for Gambling" Among Jewish Ultra-Orthodox Men With Gambling Disorder.

Making sense of the social world is an intricate process heavily influenced by cultural elements. Gambling is a prevalent leisure-time activity characterized by risk-taking conduct. While some individuals who engage in it do so without experiencing any harm, others will develop gambling problems. Judaism tends to perceive gambling negatively since it contradicts fundamental Jewish principles. The current study focuses on the Jewish Ultra-Orthodox community in Israel which is characterized as a cultural enclave with minimal interaction with the secular world. Hence, it provides a unique and novel socio-cultural context to inquire how individuals with gambling disorder (GD) from this community make sense of gambling. Following constructivist grounded theory guidelines, 22 Ultra-Orthodox men with GD were interviewed using a purposeful sampling design. Sixteen Rabbis were also interviewed, illuminating the socio-cultural context of Halachic regulations and norms regarding gambling in this community. An abductive analysis of the data, interwoven with Bourdieu's concept of habitus, yielded an overarching theme that we dub as "sense for gambling," encompassing matrices of Ultra-Orthodox external (e.g., a conservative cultural structure with numerous prohibitions and life marked by poverty) and internal (e.g., feelings of loneliness, dissatisfaction, and deviance) dispositions imprinted onto the body, creating diverse embodied reactions (emotional and sensory) to gambling, and leading to developing GD. We recommend placing the body, as the locus of internalized dispositions, at the core of examination when researching pathways to GD. We propose that this intricate interplay between external and internal dispositions shapes the decision-making regarding gambling, thus mitigating individual responsibility for GD.

Brand and addiction: A network analysis of scientific literature.

OBJECTIVE: The paper conducts a network analysis of the fragmented literature on brand and addiction. METHOD: A thematic map, thematic evolution, word cloud, co-citation analysis, and cooperation networks were utilized to identify brand addiction study trends and topics. RESULTS: The data show that marketing and psychiatry have interdisciplinary groupings and multidisciplinary publications. These groups reflect societal changes, particularly the shift from traditional to digital challenges. Fast food addiction is different from alcohol and cigarette addictions due to its ease and extensive marketing. The decline in internet and gambling addiction suggests a shift in priorities. CONCLUSIONS: This research helps researchers, policymakers, and practitioners in addiction prevention and intervention. The study also understands brand addiction and its effects on psychology, psychiatry, and management by providing insights into emerging topics, thematic maps and evolution of studies, collaboration opportunities, geographical distribution of studies, and more.

Beyond 'single customer view': Player tracking's potential role in understanding and reducing gambling-related harm.

BACKGROUND: Usage of electronic gaming machines (EGMs) and on-line gambling is strongly associated with gambling-related harm. Player-tracking systems can monitor a gambler's activity across multiple sessions and/or operators, providing a clearer picture of the person's risk of harm with respect to these gambling formats and enabling harm reduction efforts. The Finnish and Norwegian state monopolies have player-tracking systems in place, while the United Kingdom is implementing an operator-led system called 'single customer view' for on-line gambling, and Australian states are proposing similar 'player cards' for land-based EGMs. ARGUMENT: Player tracking can advance harm reduction efforts in three ways. First, player tracking improves our understanding of gambling-related harm by providing data on how the population gambles, which can potentially be linked with operator, government and/or prevalence data sets. Secondly, player tracking can be used to implement harm reduction measures such as expenditure limits, self-exclusion and age verification. Thirdly, player tracking can provide a platform to evaluate harm reduction measures via gold-standard field trials. These potential benefits need to be weighed against various practical and ethical issues. CONCLUSIONS: The potential benefits of player-tracking systems would be maximized via systems administered independently of the gambling industry and implemented universally across all gambling in a given jurisdiction.