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''The majority of students gambled at least once during the past year (80 percent of boys and 50 percent of girls) and a minority of students gambled weekly or more during the past year (20 percent of boys and five percent of girls),'' said Dr. Stinchfield. ''Boys gambled three to four times more often than girls and older students gambled more often than younger students.''

''This is useful information because these findings provide a reference point to help draw the line of what are normal and abnormal levels of gambling. We can then teach parents and teachers what levels of gambling frequency may be considered outside the range of common gambling behavior for youth. Then the information can be used to identify those youths at risk and help develop prevention efforts,'' said Dr. Stinchfield.
''With gambling becoming more accessible in U.S. society and having the first generation of youth be exposed to this widespread access, it will be important to be able to intervene in children's and adolescent's lives before the activity can develop into a problem behavior,'' said the authors.

Other experts who have studied gambling problems with youth have found similar problems along with some new problems. Psychologists Rina Gupta, Ph.D., and Jeffrey L. Derevensky, Ph.D., of McGill University examined 817 high school students in Montreal to examine how addicting gambling is, game preferences and reasons for gambling. Over 80 percent of the high school students gambled in the previous year and 35 percent gambled at least once a week. These students also reported that they gambled more often than they drank alcohol, smoked or consumed drugs.

Enjoyment and excitement were the most reported reasons for gambling by non-problem gamblers, said Drs. Gupta and Derevensky. ''Pathological gamblers gambled for excitement too, but also to escape, to alleviate depression, to promote relaxation and to cope with loneliness. Interestingly, winning money was not a key motivation for the pathological gambler.'' 

The pathological gamblers were more likely to have parents with gambling problems, to be engaging in illegal activities and to have more suicidal thoughts. The male high school students preferred gambling with sports lottery tickets and sports betting pools, whereas the female high school students preferred gambling with lottery tickets and bingo. 

Presentation: ''Gambling and Problem Gambling Among Youth'' by Randy Stinchfield, Ph.D., University of Minnesota, Rina Gupta, Ph.D., and Jeffrey L. Derevensky, Ph.D., McGill University, Durand Jacobs, Ph.D., Redland, CA, Session 5121, 1:00 PM, August 18, 1998, Moscone Center - South Building, Rooms 232/234.
(Full text available from the APA Public Affairs Office.)