College students and gambling: Gauging the effects of gender on impulse control, sensation seeking, and mental health as predictors of involvement

The main purpose of the current study was to enhance the global understanding of adolescent Internet gambling involvement by examining rates of participation and the influence of impulse control, sensation seeking, and mental health problems as predictors of involvement. In addition to a demographic survey to gather information including year in school, age, gender, mode of gambling participation (online vs. traditional venues), age gambling participation began (for both non-Internet and Internet modes), disposable income, and hours spent online each week, the current research study questionnaire was comprised of a three standardized instruments: (a) the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) (b) the Albert Einstein College of Medicine's Impulse Control Scale (AECOMICS); and (c) the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist - Revised (MAAC-R), Data from 264 undergraduate students age 18-22 years at a state university in a medium-sized midwestern city participated in the current study. From these, 186 students indicated they had gambled for money at least once (via any venue) in the last 12 months. Only data from this subsample of 186 students were analyzed in the current study. Results indicated that rates of probable pathological gambling among adolescents have increased over the past seven years. Among college students who gamble, higher rates of probable pathological gambling were associated with those who gamble via the Internet than with those who do not gamble online. Further, among college students who gamble, gambling mode, gender, and the interaction of gambling mode and gender were not significantly related to impulse control, sensation seeking, or mental health problems (i.e., anxiety, depression, and hostility). Finally, among college students who gamble, only hostility and sensation seeking significantly predict Internet gambling.