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The profits obtained by the gambling industry in Spain represent almost one point of GDP and the proportion of minors who have gambled has reached a quarter. This situation occurs despite the law regulating gambling, which included among its objectives the prevention of addictive behaviors, as well as the protection of minors and other vulnerable groups. Recently, an additional regulation was approved to control gambling advertising. Bearing in mind the new regulatory context, we analyze the relationship between advertising and gambling in adolescents and young adults, studying especially young people who have already gambled and minors. We conducted an empirical investigation with a sample of 2,181 adolescents and young adults who filled out a questionnaire on gambling and advertising. We found that the variables associated with advertising are significantly related to gambling behavior and that, in addition, this correlation occurs with greater magnitude in men. We obtained higher scores in advertising influence among those subjects who have ever gambled compared to those who have not, highlighting the importance of discouraging the arrival of new gamblers. Regarding minors, we found significant differences in the different variables of advertising influence compared to young adults. These findings point to the need to evaluate this influence considering the new habits and interests of minors today.

Gambling disorder in youth is an emerging public health problem, with adolescents and young adults constituting a vulnerable age group for the development of gambling-related problems. Although research has been conducted on the risk factors for gambling disorder, very few rigorous studies can be found on the efficacy of preventive interventions in young people. The aim of this study was to provide best practice recommendations for the prevention of disordered gambling in adolescents and young adults. We reviewed and synthesized the results of existing RCTs and quasi-experimental studies covering nonpharmacological prevention programs for gambling disorder in young adults and adolescents. We applied the PRISMA 2020 statement and guidelines to identify 1483 studies, of which 32 were included in the systematic review. All studies targeted the educational setting, i.e., high school and university students. Most studies followed a universal prevention strategy, that particularly targeted adolescents, and an indicated prevention strategy for university students. The reviewed gambling prevention programs generally showed good results in terms of reducing the frequency and severity of gambling, and also regarding cognitive variables, such as misconceptions, fallacies, knowledge, and attitudes towards gambling. Finally, we highlight the need to develop more comprehensive prevention programs that incorporate rigorous methodological and assessment procedures before they are widely implemented and disseminated.

Gambling is an international phenomenon, posing a serious threat to adolescents who begin gambling at a young age. This study aims, to explore gambling behavior in adolescents and interpret its risk factors. We conducted a three-waves cohort longitudinal study assessing gambling and associated risk factors in south-eastern Spain. Data were analyzed using the Capabilities, Opportunities, Motivations, Behavior (COM-B) model and the partial least squares path modelling (PLS-PM) technique. Gambling was measured by frequency and money spent; associated factors were knowledge about gambling, parental attitude towards gambling, risk perception, normative perception, and intention to gamble. These items were assigned as indicators of each construct of the COM-B model-capability, opportunity, motivation, and behavior-using the theoretical domains framework. Once the behavior was performed, feedback on future capability, opportunity, and motivation was observed. Results show that capability, determined by past experience, and opportunity, determined by parental attitudes, motivates adolescents to seek gambling experiences in the future. Identifying such factors that affect gambling behavior in adolescents and establishing relationships between them through a robust theoretical model is essential for designing effective interventions., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2022 Botella-Guijarro et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Media pressure from gambling advertising has reached worrying levels. It constitutes a risk to the mental health of young people and adolescents by promoting a favourable attitude towards gambling, a higher frequency of gambling and a perception of greater accessibility. Currently, there is no instrument available to assess the impact of gambling advertising., Objective: The present study aims to adapt and validate the Impact of Gambling Advertising Scale (IGAS)., Design: The IGAS scale was translated from English ensuring its linguistic, conceptual and metric equivalence. The psychometric properties were then tested. SITE: Comunidad Valenciana (España)., Participants: 1724 adolescents with a mean age of 16.52 years (SD=.759)., Intervention: Self-administered, paper-based questionnaire in a single measure., Main Measurements: Advertising impact, and gambling intention, severity and availability., Results: Internal consistency and two-half reliability were good, Cronbach's α=.782 and α=.70, respectively. Confirmatory factor analysis concluded that the Spanish version replicates the original three-dimensional version. Convergent validity analyses showed direct and significant relationships with different aspects of gambling behaviour, and other predictors., Conclusion: The adapted version of the IGAS is a reliable and valid measure for the assessment of the impact of advertising on adolescents. The scale is a useful instrument for the diagnosis of risk level and the evaluation of preventive interventions., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)

Although gambling is forbidden for minors, the prevalence of gambling among adolescents is increasing. In order to improve preventive interventions, more evidence on predictors of gambling onset is needed. A longitudinal study was proposed to (1) establish the prevalence of gambling; (2) identify factors associated with gambling behavior the following year; and (3) adjust a model to predict gambling behavior. A cohort of 1074 students (13-18 years old) was followed for 12 months. The prevalence of gambling reached 42.0% in the second measure. Boys gambled 2.7 times more than girls, and the highest percentages of gambling onset showed up between 13 and 14 years old. Gambling onset and maintenance was associated with gender, age, sensation-seeking, risk perception, self-efficacy for not gambling, parents' attitude towards gambling, group pressure (friends), subjective norm, exposure to advertising, accessibility, normative perception, gambling in T 1 and parents gambling behavior. Gender, gambling in T 1 and risk perception were significant in all three logistic adjusted regression models, with the fourth variable being sensation seeking, peer pressure (friends) and accessibility, respectively. It is suggested that universal prevention should be aimed preferably at children under 15 years old and to alert regulators and public administrations to the directly proportional relationship between accessibility and gambling onset.

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