IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v145y2023ics0190740922004364.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

“It’s like you’re not even there…”: Gambling harm experienced by children of gambling parents

Author

Listed:
  • Suomi, Aino
  • Bailey, Megan
  • Lucas, Nina
  • Dowling, Nicki
  • Delfabbro, Paul

Abstract

Child wellbeing is known to be negatively affected by parental gambling, but relatively little is known about the first-hand experiences of individuals exposed to parental gambling as children. This study involved in-depth interviews with 20 Australian adults who had experienced harm due to parental gambling as children to gain insights into the inter-generational psychological and social impacts of parental gambling. Findings highlight the significance of financial instability and parental absence, resulting in strained family relationships and sometimes conflict and violence. In particular, participants reported that, as children, they were at increased risk of abuse by the gambling parent due to constant stress, financial strain, short tempers and parental aggression, which were often trigged by sudden gambling losses. Many also reported being left at risk by a lack of adult supervision or being left with unsafe adults or peers. In some cases, participants had needed to adopt parental roles by taking responsibility of household chores, younger siblings and finances. The combination of financial strain and parentification made it challenging for the participants to complete their formal education. Insights were gained into how these earlier experiences contributed to ongoing relational and psychological difficulties for the participants. Taken together, the findings emphasise the need to recognise problem gambling in households as a child protection concern with long-term consequences for individuals growing up in problem gambling households.

Suggested Citation

  • Suomi, Aino & Bailey, Megan & Lucas, Nina & Dowling, Nicki & Delfabbro, Paul, 2023. "“It’s like you’re not even there…”: Gambling harm experienced by children of gambling parents," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:145:y:2023:i:c:s0190740922004364
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2022.106800
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740922004364
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.childyouth.2022.106800?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joanne Lloyd & Keith Hawton & William H. Dutton & John R. Geddes & Guy M. Goodwin & Robert D. Rogers, 2016. "Thoughts and acts of self-harm, and suicidal ideation, in online gamblers," International Gambling Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(3), pages 408-423, September.
    2. Ruth Grant Kalischuk & Nadine Nowatzki & Kelly Cardwell & Kurt Klein & Jason Solowoniuk, 2006. "Problem Gambling and its Impact on Families: A Literature Review," International Gambling Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(1), pages 31-60, June.
    3. Philip J. Schluter & Max W. Abbott & Maria E. Bellringer, 2008. "Problem Gambling related to Intimate Partner Violence: findings from the Pacific Islands Families Study," International Gambling Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(1), pages 49-61, April.
    4. Mathew Mathews & Rachel Volberg, 2013. "Impact of problem gambling on financial, emotional and social well-being of Singaporean families," International Gambling Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(1), pages 127-140, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Isaac Koomson & Sefa Awaworyi Churchill & Musharavati Ephraim Munyanyi, 2022. "Gambling and Financial Stress," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 163(1), pages 473-503, August.
    2. Esther C. L. Goh & Vincent Ng & Brenda S. A. Yeoh, 2016. "The family exclusion order as a harm-minimisation measure for casino gambling: the case of Singapore," International Gambling Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(3), pages 373-390, September.
    3. Ingo Fiedler, 2018. "Regulation of online gambling," Economics and Business Letters, Oviedo University Press, vol. 7(4), pages 162-168.
    4. Min Ah Kim & JongSerl Chun & HaiSun Shim, 2022. "Using Photovoice With Male Problematic Gamblers to Understand Their Lived Story on the Path to Recovery in South Korea," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, May.
    5. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Smyth, Russell, 2021. "Locus of control and energy poverty," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    6. Gathoni Ndung’u Benson & Simon Munayi & Janet Wanjira & justus Inyega, 2021. "Investigating the effects of online sports betting on the perceived social wellbeing of student athletes," International Journal of Business Ecosystem & Strategy (2687-2293), Bussecon International Academy, vol. 3(2), pages 62-72, April.
    7. Sari Castrén & Kalle Lind & Heli Hagfors & Anne H. Salonen, 2021. "Gambling-Related Harms for Affected Others: A Finnish Population-Based Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-11, September.
    8. Mahendru, Mandeep & Sharma, Gagan Deep & Pereira, Vijay & Gupta, Mansi & Mundi, Hardeep Singh, 2022. "Is it all about money honey? Analyzing and mapping financial well-being research and identifying future research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 417-436.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:145:y:2023:i:c:s0190740922004364. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.