Factors associated with gambling behavior among 12-14 years old students in Italy: the role of parental gambling, norms and monitoring.

Introduction: Gambling among adolescents is becoming a serious public health problem. The first involvement in gambling appears to occur in early adolescence, between 11 and 12 years of age. A better understanding of factors related to the phenomenon is important to correctly address the problem. Parents act as role models and influence the development of their children’s habits and behaviors during adolescence. This study aims to elucidate the role of parental factors on adolescent’s gambling in a sample of Italian 12-14 years old students. Material and Methods: During 2022/2023 school year we conducted an experimental controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of the Unplugged program (plus a new gambling unit) in preventing the behavior among 12-14 years old adolescents. For the present analyses, the baseline survey of the study was used. The survey involved 1874 secondary school students of Piedmont and Lazio between November 2022 and January 2023. Participants filled a self-completed anonymous questionnaire including questions on sociodemographic characteristics, gambling and other risk behaviors, risk perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, normative perceptions, family and parental factors, and psychosocial characteristics. Multilevel logistic regression models will be used to estimate the association of parental factors with adolescent’s gambling in the last 12 months. Results: The analytical sample included 1848 students. Mean age was 13.1 years. Overall, 55.7% of students (54% of females and 56% of males) reported gambling in the last 12 months. In preliminary bivariate analysis, parental gambling, gambling with parents and other family members, parental permissiveness to drink, smoke and gamble, low parental monitoring, low parental support and receiving money from parents were significantly associated with the probability of adolescents’ gambling in the last 12 months. Multivariate regression analyses are ongoing. Conclusions: Parental factors, particularly permissive norms, appear to be important correlates of gambling behavior among adolescents. These results highlight the importance of the ecological context as determinant of gambling behavior and the need to address parental and family factors in health promotion programs. Family-centered interventions should promote health behaviors in parents and support them in conveying messages of disapproval of gambling behavior toward their children