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Consistency of Adolescents’ Self-Report of Gambling Age of Onset: A Longitudinal Study

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Abstract

Studies suggest that youth who are exposed to their first gambling experience at an earlier age are at increased risk of developing problems. However, studies reporting age of onset of gambling exposure as a risk factor for gambling problems are cross-sectional by design and the relationship between both variables are sometimes inferred over extending periods of time. Methodologically speaking, it could induce a recall bias, a fact already documented in numerous areas of research related to high-risk conducts in adolescence. Thus, the goal of this study was twofold: to longitudinally describe, among adolescents, the level of discrepancy between reports of age of initiation to gambling activities, and to assess if the discrepancies could be associated with a certain number of known predictors of gambling participation. Additionally, recall period effect (e.g. time passed between answering the same question) was also assessed. Data were collected from a large longitudinal study on gambling among youth and four measurement times at 1-year interval were used, with only young people who have been introduced to gambling retained in the analyses (n =297; 63.3% boys; mean age = 15.25 years). Results revealed significant inconsistencies about age of initiation to gambling activity between measurement times. Moreover, results also revealed that age (e.g. being older) and time passed are significantly associated to the level of inconsistencies of self-reported age of initiation of gambling activity. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

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Funding

This research was funded by the Fonds de Recherche du Québec – FRQ-SC under grant awarded to Dr. Natacha Brunelle (Concerted Actions Program; Grant 2015-JU-179939). Dr. Frédéric Dussault was supported through a postdoctoral fellowship from the Fonds de Recherche du Québec – FRQ-SC (Concerted Actions Program for Responsible Gambling).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Université de Sherbrooke, Campus de Longueuil, 150 Place Charles-Le Moyne, Room 200, Longueuil, QC, J4K 0A8, Canada

    Frédéric Dussault, Magali Dufour & Djamal Berbiche

  2. Department of Psychoeducation, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Local 1064c pavillon Michel-Sarrazin, 3351 boul. des Forges, C. P. 500, Trois-Rivières, QC, G9A 5H7, Canada

    Natacha Brunelle, Joël Tremblay, Michel Rousseau & Danielle Leclerc

  3. School of Criminology, Université de Montréal, C. P. 6128, succursale Centre-ville, Montréal, QC, H3c 3J7, Canada

    Marie-Marthe Cousineau

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  1. Frédéric Dussault
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  2. Magali Dufour
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  3. Natacha Brunelle
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  4. Joël Tremblay
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  5. Michel Rousseau
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  6. Danielle Leclerc
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  7. Marie-Marthe Cousineau
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  8. Djamal Berbiche
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Correspondence to Frédéric Dussault.

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Dussault, F., Dufour, M., Brunelle, N. et al. Consistency of Adolescents’ Self-Report of Gambling Age of Onset: A Longitudinal Study. J Gambl Stud 35, 533–544 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-019-09834-3

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