If a young man is a chronic gambler, the chances are extremely high that he also suffers from depression. This is one of the findings from a study led by FrÉdÉric Dussault of the University of Quebec at Montreal in Canada.. Published in Springer's Journal of Gambling Studies, it is the first to investigate the extent to which gambling and depression develop hand-in-hand from the teenage years to early adulthood.
Data were drawn from an ongoing long-term study that began in 1984. It follows a group of 1,162 kindergarten boys from economically disadvantaged areas in Montreal in Canada. Over the years information had been collected about the socio-family setting the boys grew up in, how impulsive they were and the quality of their relationships with their parents and friends. The current study includes data from 888 participants who were also asked at the ages of 17, 23 and 28 years old about possible gambling or depression problems.
Only three percent of these young men experienced increasing chronic gambling problems between the ages of 17 and 28 years old. This corresponds with the prevalence rate of problem gambling among adults of between one percent and three percent.
[For more of this story go to http://www.sciencedaily.com/re.../05/150521104820.htm]
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