Problems of pathological gambling differ for younger and older gamblers
Study says early intervention is key to successful treatment of gambling
2013-03-14
(Press-News.org) To successfully treat pathological gambling, you need to intervene at an early stage, according to Susana Jiménez-Murcia from the University Hospital of Bellvitge in Spain and colleagues. Their study shows that a patient's age influences how severe the psychopathology and clinical aspects of pathological gambling are. Their work is published online in Springer's Journal of Gambling Studies.
These days, access to 24-hour, uncontrolled gambling is straightforward thanks largely to the internet. People can access both classic and modern games, from slot machines and lotteries to poker, roulette and video games. In addition, pathological gambling is very common among youth, more so than in adults. Unsurprisingly, youth gambling is linked to psychological issues, such as depression, substance abuse, poor school performance and delinquency.
The authors explored the effect of age on clinical outcomes among 2,309 Spanish patients seeking treatment for pathological gambling. The participants completed a series of questionnaires designed to diagnose pathological gambling and identify its symptoms. The researchers also assessed the patients' personality and measured clinical outcomes, such as presence of any current physical or psychiatric disorder; presence of suicidal thoughts and behaviors; and number of previous treatments.
As expected, the youngest patients had been gambling for shorter periods than both middle-aged and older adults. They also reported fewer gambling-related health problems and lower debt. In addition, the average age of onset of the gambling disorder was significantly lower among the youngest patients than among the middle-aged or older groups, suggesting that more young people are taking up gambling early on. Interestingly, women appeared to begin gambling at older ages than men.
The authors conclude: "Our findings indicate that there is a relationship between age and pathological gambling: the older the patient, the more gambling-related problems the patient has. Intervention during early manifestations of the complex problem that is pathological gambling is essential for successful treatment planning."
###
Reference
Granero R, Jiménez-Murcia S et al (2013). Is Pathological Gambling Moderated By Age? Journal of Gambling Studies; DOI 10.1007/s10899-013-9369-6
The full-text article is available to journalists on request. END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2013-03-14
URBANA – A mutual curiosity about patterns of growth and development in pig brains has brought two University of Illinois research groups together. Animal scientists Rod Johnson and Ryan Dilger have developed a model of the pig brain that they plan to use to answer important questions about human brain development.
"It is important to characterize the normal brain growth trajectory from the neonatal period to sexual maturity," said Johnson.
"Until we know how the brain grows, we don't know what is going to change," added Dilger.
In cooperation with the Beckman Institute, ...
2013-03-14
Sexting: Involves sending sexually explicit messages and/or photographs, primarily between mobile phones using the SMS system was first reported in 2005. It is an obvious portmanteau of "sex" and "texting"; the word was added to the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary in August 2012. 4% of mobile phone-owning teens claim to have sent sexually suggestive, nude or nearly nude images or videos of themselves to someone else via a mobile device while 15% claim to have received such material from someone they know.
With contract cell phones and cheaper multimedia messaging ...
2013-03-14
Work groups at Technische Universität München (TUM) under Prof. Peter Schieberle and at the University of Vienna under Prof. Veronika Somoza studied four different edible fats and oils: Lard, butterfat, rapeseed oil and olive oil. Over a period of three months, the study participants ate 500 grams of low-fat yoghurt enriched with one of the four fats or oils every day – as a supplement to their normal diet.
"Olive oil had the biggest satiety effect," reports Prof. Peter Schieberle, Head of the TUM Chair of Food Chemistry and Director of the German Research Center for ...
2013-03-14
Scientist from Dortmund, Helsinki, Potsdam, and the ESRF have revealed details of the microscopic atomic structure of water under extreme conditions. The results have now been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA.
Liquid water remains a mystery even after decades of dedicated scientific investigations and researchers still struggle to fully describe its unusual structure and dynamics. At high temperatures and high pressures, water is in the so called supercritical state and exhibits a number of peculiar characteristics that are ...
2013-03-14
CHICAGO --- A surprisingly high number of women have postpartum depressive symptoms, according to a new, large-scale study by a Northwestern Medicine® researcher.
This is the largest scale depression screening of postpartum women and the first time a full psychiatric assessment has been done in a study of postpartum women who screened positive for depression.
The study, which included a depression screening of 10,000 women who had recently delivered infants at single obstetrical hospital, revealed a large percentage of women who suffered recurrent episodes of major ...
2013-03-14
New Rochelle, NY, March 14, 2013—Severe chronic pain associated with conditions such as bladder pain syndrome/interstitial cystitis often require the use of opioid medication, with the risk of dependency and serious adverse reactions. An alternative treatment strategy increases the levels of a naturally occurring painkiller in and around the nerves that deliver pain signals to the bladder. This new therapeutic approach is described in an article in Human Gene Therapy, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Human ...
2013-03-14
MANHATTAN, KAN. -- Kansas State University civil engineers are developing the right mix to reduce concrete's carbon footprint and make it stronger. Their innovative ingredient: biofuel byproducts.
"The idea is to use bioethanol production byproducts to produce a material to use in concrete as a partial replacement of cement," said Feraidon Ataie, doctoral student in civil engineering, Kabul, Afghanistan. "By using these materials we can reduce the carbon footprint of concrete materials."
Concrete is made from three major components: portland cement, water and aggregate. ...
2013-03-14
Completion rates for the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine series across both genders continue to remain alarmingly low nearly seven years after its introduction, suggesting that better patient education and increased public vaccine financing programs are needed, according to new research from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB).
The researchers report "startling" trends in a series of three separate studies published in Cancer, Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics and Vaccine.
Using data from the 2010 National Health Interview Survey, an annual cross-sectional ...
2013-03-14
DURHAM, NC – A potentially lethal fungal infection appears to gain virulence by being able to anticipate and disarm a hostile immune attack in the lungs, according to findings by researchers at Duke Medicine.
Defense mechanisms used by the fungus Cryptococcus neoformans enable it to lead to fatal meningitis, which is one of the opportunistic infections often associated with death in HIV/AIDS patients, organ transplant recipients, diabetics and other immunosuppressed patients. In describing the complex process of how C. neoformans averts destruction in the lungs of mice, ...
2013-03-14
INDIANAPOLIS -- Innovative medical records software developed by geriatricians and informaticians from the Regenstrief Institute and the Indiana University Center for Aging Research will provide more personalized health care for older adult patients, a population at significant risk for mental health decline and disorders.
A new study published in eGEMs, a peer-reviewed online publication recently launched by the Electronic Data Methods Forum, unveils the enhanced Electronic Medical Record Aging Brain Care Software, an automated decision-support system that enables care ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Problems of pathological gambling differ for younger and older gamblers
Study says early intervention is key to successful treatment of gambling
