Emergence of Problem Gambling From Childhood to Emerging Adulthood: A Systematic Review

Emergence of Problem Gambling From Childhood to Emerging Adulthood: A Systematic Review
Thursday, March 30, 2023 1:00 – 2:30 PM CST
90-Minute Webinar
No fee to attend

Objective:
Emerging technologies on social media, social casino games, loot boxes, internet gambling, sports betting, video gaming, and novel gambling platforms present rapidly changing risks for problem gaming and gambling. It can be difficult to track the emerging forms of gaming and calculate the significance to populations we serve. Here, we provide a high level overview and training in a variety of novel gambling types and evaluate their risk for later problem gambling in youth. Based on a large-scale published review, we examine the types of betting, familiarize clinicians, and describe the risk to various youth groups. The risk for problematic gambling and associated high-risk behaviors is elevated during adolescence and emerging adulthood. Activities with gambling-like features and novel forms of gambling may place youth at an increased risk for problem gambling. We will review data examining the gambling-like features and novel gambling activities and problem gambling among youth while examining the role of psychopathology and cognitive processes. We examine the large-scale literature findings that demonstrate associations between engagement in activities with gambling-like features (e.g., video games, social casino games, loot boxes) and problem gambling. We provide actionable steps clinicians can take to expand their understanding of emerging gambling risks in this area and develop effective screening and referral mechanisms.

• Participants will be able to identify areas of increased risk in activities with gambling-like features and novel forms of gambling (i.e., gaming, skins wagering, social casino games, loot boxes, online gambling).
• Participants will be able to better understand risk factors and their impact on gambling risk in youth including impulsivity, risk-taking, and cognitive distortions and psychopathological features.
• Participants will be able to better engage in conversations on policy and practice impact of these findings. Early detection and intervention will be discussed and better understood.
• Participants will learn about prevention efforts including those with educators, clinicians, parents/caretakers and youth.
• Participants will discuss regulations on industry around marketability and access to certain gaming/gambling environments that may reduce the risk for later problem gambling.

Presenter:
Serena M. King, Ph.D., L.P. is a licensed psychologist, researcher and professor. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Minnesota and conducts research broadly on substance use, psychopathology, gambling and novel forms of betting. She has received grants in the field of problem gambling both from the National Center for Responsible Gambling and served as a consultant on research and community projects with funding from Minnesota Department of Human Services and the Minnesota Alliance on Problem Gambling. She completed one of the largest studies of gambling among the Southeast Asian refugee community and developed prevention programs for underserved communities in Minnesota. Dr. King serves as a consultant on problem gambling and opiate addiction prevention in the Lao, Hmong and Bhutanese community of Minnesota and has developed professional training talks, served as adviser for an addiction training program, and is currently aiming to develop professional trainings with private groups and educational institutions for counselors on behavioral addictions broadly. Dr. King has published in a variety of peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Journal of Gambling Studies, International Gambling Studies, Addiction, Journal of Child psychology and Psychiatry, and several others. She is currently expanding her work to look more intensely at epidemiological trend data in Minnesota around emerging gambling types and has studied the impact of novel betting forms on trends in problem gambling. In addition to research on gambling addiction, she has published in the substance use field broadly. She is Professor and Chair of Psychology at Hamline University in St. Paul, MN and has developed collaborations with Hazelden Betty Ford graduate school to train the next generation of counselors in addiction.