Binge Drinking and Problem Gambling Association in Adolescents and Young Adults

Abstract

While the association between alcohol use disorders and problem gambling has been object of discussion in previous research literature, less is known about the link between Binge Drinking (BD) and risk gambling in adolescents.Starting from a definition of those two phenomena, shared definitions and criteria for BD (Maurage et al., 2020) and for problem gambling (Neal et al., 2005) have been proposed. Nonetheless, such a topic is still a matter of debate. In the literature concerning BD, one of the most recognized definition of the phenomenon is the one of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA, USA), which describes it as the consumption of >56 g (women) or >70 g (men) of ethanol in <2 hours, bringing blood alcohol concentration to at least 0.08%. As for the relatively recent proposal of an integrated definition of BD, see Maurage et al. (2020). At-risk/problem gambling can, instead, be described as a behavior characterized by "difficulties in limiting money and/or time spent on gambling, which leads to adverse consequences for the gambler, his/her relatives, or the community" (pp. 1) and tends to encompass gamblers who have experienced problem gambling without meeting the diagnostic criteria of gambling disorder (Neal et al., 2005).