The association between compulsory school achievement and problem gambling among Swedish young people
Open accessAbstract
PURPOSE: We aimed to examine the association between school grades at the age of 16 years and problem gambling at the age of 17-25 years among Swedish females and males. METHODS: In a cohort design, we followed the 16- to 24-year-old participants in the representative Swedish Longitudinal Gambling Study for 2 years, 2008/2009 and 2009/2010, generating 3,816 person-years of follow-up time. The outcome, incidence of mild and moderate/severe gambling problems, was measured by the Problem Gambling Severity Index in telephone interviews. The exposure was register-linked information about final grades in compulsory school. The association between school grades and problem gambling was estimated in multinomial logistic regressions. RESULTS: Low and average school grades were associated with increased incidence of mild and moderate/severe problem gambling compared to high grades, adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics, psychological distress, and alcohol use. Low grades, compared to high grades, were associated with a higher risk of mild gambling problems for adolescent males, whereas the incidence proportion of moderate/severe problem gambling was high for males aged 20-25 years with low grades, among whom unemployment was also very high. Furthermore, we found a strong and graded association between school grades and moderate/severe problem gambling for women in both age groups, despite a low prevalence of gambling participation among females compared to males. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings show that Swedish youth with low school achievement have an increased risk of gambling problems up to 8 years after school graduation, after control for confounding from sociodemographic characteristics, psychological distress, and alcohol use, and that this association is stronger for females than males.
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Non-contacted participants at follow-up evaluations are likely to display higher rates of problem gambling and other pathological outcomes relative to their successfully contacted counterparts.
“There is also some evidence that non-contacted participants at followup evaluations are likely to display higher rates of problem gambling and other pathological outcomes relative to their successfully contacted counterparts (Fröberg et al., 2015;Slutske et al., 2003).”
From Early risk and protective factors for problem gambling: a systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies (2017) · cites this paper as Fröberg et al., 2015
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- Authors
- Fröberg, F., Modin, B., Rosendahl, I. K., Tengström, A., & Hallqvist, J.
- Affiliations
- Karolinska Institutet (SE)
- Stockholm University (SE)
- Uppsala University (SE)
- Corresponding author
- Fröberg, Frida
- Venue
- Journal of Adolescent Health
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2015-04
- Volume
- 56
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 420-428
- ISSN
- 1054-139X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2096345999
- Cited by
- 21
- References
- 33
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2
- FWCI
- 2.48
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Adolescent Health (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- KTH Publication Database DiVA (KTH Royal Institute of Technology) (acceptedVersion, other-oa)
- KTH Publication Database DiVA (KTH Royal Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Public Health Agency
- Folkhälsomyndigheten
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Gambling Behavior and Treatments
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Keywords
- problem gambling, academic performance, student grades, young adults, sex differences, unemployment, psychological distress, alcohol consumption, Problem Gambling Severity Index
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Age Factors, Educational Status, Female, Gambling, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Risk Factors, Sex Factors, Sweden, Logistic Models, Young Adult
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