Parents biggest influence on teen gambling risk, CQU study finds
Parents may unknowingly be increasing their children's risk of gambling harm through seemingly harmless behaviours at home, according to new research from CQUniversity's Appleton Institute and Experimental Gambling Research Laboratory.
Led by CQUniversity researcher Dr Cassy Dittman, the research examined how parents influence adolescent gambling and found that parental behaviours and attitudes play a powerful role in shaping whether young people gamble and whether they develop problem gambling behaviours.
The findings, published across two international journals, highlight the growing need to help parents understand how gambling is normalised within families and the long-term risks that can follow.
The study surveyed more than 1180 Australian parents of adolescents aged 12 to 17 and found that 27 per cent believed their teenager had participated in at least one form of gambling in the previous 12 months.
Over 30 per cent of adolescent boys were reported to have gambled, compared to 24 per cent of girls. The most common gambling activity was instant scratch tickets (10.2 per cent) and lottery tickets (10%), followed by sports betting (7.8 per cent), keno (7 per cent), bingo (6.9 per cent) and race betting (6.8 per cent).
The same study also found that around two-thirds of parents who gambled had done so with their adolescent present at least once in the previous year. Fathers were more likely to gamble alongside their children, with the highest levels of co-gambling reported between fathers and sons.
While scratch and lottery tickets were the most common adolescent gambling activities, skin betting, fantasy sports betting, keno and online betting were the most common co-gambling activities undertaken with parents and adolescents.
Dr Dittman said many parents still viewed gambling as less concerning than other issues facing young people.
"When we asked parents to rank concerns such as bullying, anxiety, depression, alcohol and drug use - gambling was near the bottom of the list," she said.
"That suggests many parents see gambling as relatively harmless. But what we know from the evidence is that early gambling participation can be a significant risk factor for gambling problems later in life."
While most parents did not approve of adolescent gambling, many reported behaviours that could unintentionally encourage it, and 36.4 per cent considered it acceptable for adolescents to be exposed to gambling on television or through simulated gambling activities.
Dr Dittman said one of the most important findings came from examining what researchers called "parental facilitation" of gambling.
"What really stood out was that parental facilitation of gambling was predicting adolescent gambling more strongly than many of the risk factors we've known about for years," she said.
"Even if a parent isn't experiencing gambling problems themselves, regularly communicating that gambling is fun, harmless and socially acceptable can influence whether a young person gambles."
Parental facilitation included behaviours such as talking positively about gambling wins, asking teenagers to choose lottery numbers, involving them in gambling-related decisions or placing bets on their behalf.
The researchers found parental facilitation was the strongest predictor of both adolescent gambling participation and gambling problems, outweighing many previously established risk factors.
“We found that when gambling is normalised within the home, young people are more likely to participate in gambling themselves and more likely to experience gambling-related problems," Dr Dittman said.
"Parents are one of the most important influences in a young person's life. The messages they send about gambling, whether intentionally or unintentionally, really matter."
The research also identified factors that may help protect young people from gambling harm.
Positive parent-adolescent relationships and effective parental supervision were associated with lower levels of gambling risk.
Dr Dittman said the findings pointed to an opportunity for greater public awareness and prevention efforts aimed at families.
"A lot of public messaging around gambling presents it as a fun and socially acceptable activity," she said.
"If we can help parents better understand the risks and recognise the influence they have, we can build protective behaviours at home and reduce the likelihood of gambling harm later in life."
The research was conducted by CQUniversity's Appleton Institute and Experimental Gambling Research Laboratory and was supported by the NSW Responsible Gambling Fund.
