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Published in: Journal of Gambling Studies 1/2017

01-03-2017 | Original Paper

Breaking Bad: Comparing Gambling Harms Among Gamblers and Affected Others

Authors: En Li, Matthew Browne, Vijay Rawat, Erika Langham, Matthew Rockloff

Published in: Journal of Gambling Studies | Issue 1/2017

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Abstract

This article examines gambling harms from both gamblers and affected others’ perspectives. Participants (3076 gamblers and 2129 affected others) completed a retrospective survey that elicited information on harms they experienced from gambling across their lifetime. Their responses were analyzed through testing measurement invariance, estimating item-response theoretic parameters, calculating percentages, confidence intervals, and correlations, as well as regressions. The results indicated large commonalities in the experience of harms reported by gamblers and affected others. Further, gamblers appeared to ‘export’ about half of the harms they experienced to those around them. The findings also provided detailed profiles of evolving harms as problem gambling severity varies.
Footnotes
1
Affected others is the general term we employ to describe any person with a significant relationship to a gambler who is affected by the gambler’s behavior.
 
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Metadata
Title
Breaking Bad: Comparing Gambling Harms Among Gamblers and Affected Others
Authors
En Li
Matthew Browne
Vijay Rawat
Erika Langham
Matthew Rockloff
Publication date
01-03-2017
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Journal of Gambling Studies / Issue 1/2017
Electronic ISSN: 1573-3602
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-016-9632-8

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