"Online Gambling Addicted Adolescents Are 3 Times More Strongly Addicted Than Offline"

The Main Symptoms of Gambling Addiction in Adolescents: Theft and Dropping Out...

As adolescent gambling addiction emerges as a social issue, a study has found that online gambling addiction shows three times stronger addictiveness than offline gambling.

The research team, led by Professors Baek Ji-hyun and Jung Yoo-sook from the Department of Psychiatry at Samsung Medical Center, and Professor Oh Yoon-hye from the Department of Psychiatry at Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital, confirmed this through a study on "Major Symptoms of Adolescent Gambling According to Exposure Pathways," announced on the 16th.

The research team analyzed survey results conducted in 2018 on 5,619 adolescents with gambling experience, surveyed by the Korea Center on Gambling Problems Prevention and Treatment. The survey consisted of nine questions regarding adolescent gambling symptoms, with each question scored to measure the severity scale of gambling problems. Participants were divided into online and offline groups based on their gambling exposure pathways, and when comparing the total scores of the gambling problem severity scale, the online group showed three times higher severity than the offline group.

Additionally, stealing money emerged as a major symptom of adolescent gambling. Acts of non-participation or dropping out were also symptoms based on impulsivity. The research team explained that these symptoms could be seen as causes leading to early school dropout or withdrawal later on.

Since the online group showed higher severity than the offline group, the symptom characteristics also differed. One of the central symptoms in online gambling was feeling bad due to gambling. According to studies on online game addiction, which is similar to online gambling, patients generally exhibited accompanying depression.

Online gambling is more addictive than offline gambling. The betting amounts are cheaper, usage is faster and more convenient, and it can be used anonymously. Various content and eye-catching marketing also play a role. Adolescents addicted to online gambling experience guilt over situations they cannot control due to addiction, which leads to depression. Moreover, the online group showed a tendency not to associate with friends who do not gamble, and due to the solitary nature of online gambling, this led to social exclusion.

The research team stated, "Gambling addiction is difficult to detect until adolescents seek treatment directly due to overt behavioral problems such as stealing and school absenteeism. Through this study, we were able to analyze both the 'entry pathways' and 'psychological characteristics' of adolescent gambling to identify detailed symptoms," adding, "We expect this to help establish more effective treatment directions for adolescent gambling addicts in the future."

This study was published in the recent issue of the International Journal of the Korean Neuropsychiatric Association, Psychiatry Investigation.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.