Gambling symptoms, behaviors, and cognitive distortions in Japanese university students

Abstract

BackgroundThis study was conducted to investigate the relationship between symptoms of gambling problems, gambling behaviours, and cognitive distortions among a university student population in Japan ages 20 to 29 years. We aimed to address the gap in knowledge of gambling disorders and treatment for this population.MethodsData were obtained from 1471 Japanese undergraduate students from 19 universities in Japan. Descriptive statistics and hierarchical multivariate regression analysis were used to investigate whether the factors of gambling cognitive distortions would have predictive effects on gambling disorder symptoms.ResultsResults indicated that 5.1% of the participants are classifiable as probable disordered gamblers. The bias of the gambling type to pachinko and pachislot was unique to gamblers in Japan. Of the students sampled, 342 self-reported gambling symptoms via the South Oaks Gambling Screen. Hierarchical multivariate regression analysis indicated that one domain of gambling cognitive distortions was associated significantly with gambling symptoms among the 342 symptomatic participants: gambling expectancy (β = 0.19, p < .05). The multivariate model explained 47% of the variance in the gambling symptoms.ConclusionThis study successfully contributed to the sparse research on university student gambling in Japan. Specifically, our results indicated a statistically significant relationship between gambling cognitive distortions and gambling disorder symptoms. These results can inform the development of preventive education and treatment for university students with gambling disorder in Japan. The report also describes needs for future research of university students with gambling disorder.

The Zone and the Shame: Narratives of Gambling Problems in Japan

“…Excessive gambling also causes substantial stigma for the individual gamblers and their significant others (debt, unemployment, crimes such as embezzlement, theft, fraud, etc.). Despite a number of studies with epidemiological or psychiatric perspectives on gambling (e.g., Akiyama et al, 2019;Horiuchi et al, 2018;Yokomitsu et al 2019), there is a lack of research from a social (Takiguchi & Rosenthal, 2011) and qualitative point of view giving Japanese gamblers a voice.…”

The relationship of gambling with sensation‐seeking behavior and psychological resilience in university students

“…The facilitation of access to gambling‐based games, advertisements promoting gambling, the presence of gambling‐based games that are operated by various public institutions and integrated into the culture, the peer effect, and the presence of gambling in family members can be the reasons of gambling behaviors among young individuals (Nowak & Aloe, 2014). A large majority of the youth have played different types of gambling‐based games through the national lottery, scratch‐and‐win cards, and electronic gambling machines (Yokomitsu et al, 2019).…”

The Effectiveness of Low-investment Pachinko/pachislot in Reducing Gambling-related Harms: A Cross Sectional Study

“…In Japan, a nationwide prevalence study revealed that approximately 1.5% of participants were classified as probably being affected by a gambling disorder [3]. Moreover, 5.1% of probable gambling disorders have been reported among college and university students in Japan [4]. One of the essential characteristics of gambling in Japan is the type of gambling accessible to gamblers.…”

“…One of the essential characteristics of gambling in Japan is the type of gambling accessible to gamblers. In Yokomitsu et al's [4] study, pachinko and slot machines (called pachislot in Japan) were the most common types of gambling activities that university students had engaged in. In addition, Shoun et al conducted a questionnaire study on 5,060 Japanese adults aged from 18-79 years through a low-coverage error sampling method and found that 11.5% of them (n= 582) had played pachinko or pachislot in the past 12 months [5].…”