Do Predictors of Risk for Problem Gambling Differ across Male and Female Adolescents? The 12th European congress of Psychology, Istanbul, 4-8 Luglio.

Purpose: To examine gender-specific factors related to adolescent risk of problem gambling using a set of predictors from cognitive, non cognitive and family domains. Method: The South Oaks Gambling Screen-Revised for Adolescents was administered to 981 Italian adolescents to measure risk of problem gambling. For each gender group, a logistic regression analysis was conducted to investigate the impact of probabilistic reasoning ability (cognitive domain), sensation seeking, superstitious thinking and attitude towards gambling (non cognitive domain) and parents’ gambling behavior (family domain) on risk for problem gambling. Results: Superstitious thinking and sensation seeking were found to be predictors of risk for problem gambling in both genders, whereas probabilistic reasoning was associated with risk only in males and parents’ gambling behavior has a predictive power just in females. Conclusion: Interventions aiming to prevent adolescent at risk gambling should be focused on non cognitive factors and attention should be paid to gender-specific differences.