Childhood sexual abuse is associated with an increased risk of problem gambling — gambling that leads to financial, psychological and social consequences. People who have experienced such abuse may be two to three times more likely to develop moderate gambling problems by the age of 24. This is the finding of a study led by researchers at the University of Bristol and published in the journal Addictive Behaviors Reports.
The researchers analysed data from 3,794 participants in the UK-based Children of the 90s project, which follows people born in the early 1990s. They examined the association between ten types of adverse childhood experiences, including abuse, bullying, parental mental health problems and family breakdown, and the risk of problem gambling at ages 17, 20 and 24.
The most common adverse experience was parental mental illness or suicidal behaviour, reported by 43% of participants. Sexual abuse was the least common of the factors studied, with 5% of participants reporting such experiences.
Sexual abuse showed the strongest association with gambling problems. Bullying, parental criminal convictions and parental separation were also linked to such problems, although the findings were less consistent. Most of the other adverse childhood experiences studied showed no consistent association with an increased risk of problem gambling.
The study's senior author, Annie Herbert of the University of Bristol, said the findings add to the evidence highlighting the importance of taking childhood psychological trauma into account when examining gambling-related harm.
According to the researchers, understanding the link between traumatic experiences and gambling could help addiction treatment professionals provide better support to patients. The team plans to analyse data from several studies together to obtain more precise results and investigate the role of mental health and other consequences of sexual abuse in this association.
The authors emphasise that adverse childhood experiences are just one risk factor, accounting for up to 11% of gambling-related harm, according to their estimates. Experiencing trauma in childhood does not mean that a person will necessarily develop gambling problems.
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