Published in:
01-03-2008 | ORIGINAL PAPER
Gender differences in the associations between past-year gambling problems and psychiatric disorders
Authors:
Rani A. Desai, PhD, MPH, Marc N. Potenza, MD, PhD
Published in:
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
|
Issue 3/2008
Login to get access
Abstract
Background
Psychiatric disorders frequently co-occur with pathological gambling. The extent to which co-occurence extends to subsyndromal levels of gambling or differs between women and men is incompletely understood.
Aim
To examine whether the association between psychiatric disorders and past-year gambling problems is stronger in women than men.
Methods
Data from the national epidemiological survey of alcoholism and related disorders (NESARC) (n = 43,093) were analyzed.
Results
Increasing severity of past-year gambling problems was associated with increasing odds of most past-year Axis I and lifetime Axis II disorders, regardless of gender. Associations between gambling problems and major depression, dysthymia, panic disorder, and nicotine dependence were statistically stronger in women than in men.
Conclusions
A severity-related association exists between past-year gambling problems and psychiatric disorders. The stronger associations in women suggest that gambling research, prevention and treatment efforts consider gender differences.