IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v15y2018i12p2774-d188670.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Comorbidity of Gambling Disorder among Macao Adult Residents and the Moderating Role of Resilience and Life Purpose

Author

Listed:
  • Juliet Honglei Chen

    (Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Macau, Avenida da Universidade, Taipa, Macao, China)

  • Kwok Kit Tong

    (Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Macau, Avenida da Universidade, Taipa, Macao, China)

  • Anise M. S. Wu

    (Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Macau, Avenida da Universidade, Taipa, Macao, China)

  • Joseph T. F. Lau

    (The Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China)

  • Meng Xuan Zhang

    (Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Macau, Avenida da Universidade, Taipa, Macao, China)

Abstract

Macao, China’s only city with legalized casinos, has maintained a high prevalence of gambling participation and gambling disorder (GD) over the past decade. The mental health risks associated with such high levels have been overlooked. In order to estimate the comorbid prevalence of GD with depression, anxiety, and Internet gaming disorder (IGD) and to explore the potential buffering effect of psychological resilience and purpose in life, this study obtained a representative adult Chinese sample ( N = 1000, 44% male, aged 18–97 years) from a telephone survey conducted between October and November of 2016. As hypothesized, the highest psychiatric comorbid prevalence was observed in the GD subgroup ( n = 19, 21.1% probable IGD, 26.3% probable depression, and 37.0% probable anxiety). All these mental health problems could increase one’s proclivity to GD, and vice versa. Psychological resilience was found to buffer the association between anxiety symptoms and probable GD (χ 2 (1) = 4.30, p = 0.04/GD symptoms, F change (1,162) = 6.29, p = 0.01), whereas purpose in life did not display any hypothesized moderating effect. These results indicate the usefulness of mental health screening for GD, taking into consideration its associated risks, and of fostering psychological resilience in prevention and treatment programs.

Suggested Citation

  • Juliet Honglei Chen & Kwok Kit Tong & Anise M. S. Wu & Joseph T. F. Lau & Meng Xuan Zhang, 2018. "The Comorbidity of Gambling Disorder among Macao Adult Residents and the Moderating Role of Resilience and Life Purpose," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-13, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:12:p:2774-:d:188670
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/12/2774/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/12/2774/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cunningham-Williams, R.M. & Cottler, L.B. & Compton III, W.M. & Spitznagel, E.L., 1998. "Taking chances: Problem gamblers and mental health disorders - Results from the St. Louis epidemiologic catchment area study," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 88(7), pages 1093-1095.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Della L. Dang & Meng Xuan Zhang & Karlas Kin-hei Leong & Anise M. S. Wu, 2019. "The Predictive Value of Emotional Intelligence for Internet Gaming Disorder: A 1-Year Longitudinal Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(15), pages 1-14, August.
    2. Anise M. S. Wu & Mark H. C. Lai & Mengxuan Zhang & Masao Yogo & Shu M. Yu & Sijie Mao & Juliet Honglei Chen, 2022. "Effects of Psychological Distress and Coping Resources on Internet Gaming Disorder: Comparison between Chinese and Japanese University Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-14, March.
    3. Dora Dodig Hundric & Sabina Mandic & Neven Ricijas, 2021. "Short-Term Effectiveness of the Youth Gambling Prevention Program “Who Really Wins?”—Results from the First National Implementation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-16, September.

    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. Humphreys, Brad & Nyman, John & Ruseski, Jane, 2011. "The Effect of Gambling on Health: Evidence from Canada," Working Papers 2011-18, University of Alberta, Department of Economics.
    2. Kim, Yoojung & Lee, Wei-Na & Jung, Jong-Hyuok, 2013. "Changing the stakes: A content analysis of Internet gambling advertising in TV poker programs between 2006 and 2010," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(9), pages 1644-1650.
    3. Atcha Kamolsareeratana & Roy Kouwenberg, 2023. "Compulsive Gambling in the Stock Market: Evidence from an Emerging Market," Economies, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-25, January.

    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:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:12:p:2774-:d:188670. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.