Is Medicine Use for Nervousness Associated with Adolescent At-Risk or Problem Gambling?

Abstract

Objective: To examine the association between adolescent at-risk or problem gambling (ARPG) and medicine used to treat nervousness in a large-scale nationally representative sample of Italian adolescents. Study design: Data from the 2013/2014 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Survey was used for cross-sectional analyses (a sample of 20,791 15-year-old students). Self-administered questionnaires were completed by a representative sample of high-school students. Respondents' ARPG, use of medicine for nervousness and potential confounding factors were assessed. Multilevel logistic regression analyses were used to test the association between medicine use to treat nervousness and ARPG. Results: The overall prevalence of adolescents reporting medicine use for nervousness in the last month was 6.3%. The odds of ARPG were 3 times higher among adolescents who used medicine for nervousness compared to that among adolescents who did not take such medicine (OR 2.96, 95% CI 2.07-4.25). Importantly, the association between medicine used to treat nervousness and ARPG did not vary significantly when viewed in light of psychological symptoms. Conclusions: Medicine use to treat nervousness is associated with increased risk of gambling-related harm.

Problem gambling among Czech adolescents: An exploration of its relationship to early initiation of tobacco smoking

“…Empirical evidence also shows that gambling in adolescence is associated not only with the use of tobacco, but also with other substances such as alcohol, illicit drugs (especially cannabis, but also cocaine or non-medical use of prescription drugs), or energy drinks (Canale et al, 2017;Cook et al, 2015;Vieno et al, 2018). It is also associated with risky sexual behavior (Martins, Lee, Kim, Letourneau, & Storr, 2014;Räsänen, Lintonen, Joronen, & Konu, 2015) and other health risks and various forms of anti-social behavior such as driving under the influence of alcohol, being involved in a fight, or carrying a weapon (Chaumeton, Ramowski, & Nystrom, 2011;Mishra, Lalumière, Morgan, & Williams, 2011;Proimos, DuRant, Pierce, & Goodman, 1998).…”