The role of immigrant status in problem-gambling severity: Findings from an adolescent sample

Literature suggests that gambling is particularly frequent among ethnical minorities. However, the studies with adolescents are still few, especially in Italy, in which, in the last 20 years, there has been a significant increase in the number of youths with immigrant parents. The aim of this study was twofold: To analyze gambling behaviour and gambling problem severity in adolescents belonging to ethnical minorities in Italy, by comparing immigrant and non-immigrant adolescents, controlling for socio-demographic characteristics. The second aim was to investigate the association of immigrant status with gambling problem severity and its possible interactive effect with gender and sensation seeking. Participants were 52 immigrant adolescents (65% males, mean age = 16.88, SD = 1.70) and 52 Italian adolescents (65% males, mean age = 16.75, SD = 1.63) matched for gender, age, school class, and type of school. Results showed that immigrant adolescents had higher levels of gambling problem severity with respect to non-immigrant adolescents. Moreover, immigrant status interacted with gender and sensation seeking in affecting pathological gambling symptoms.