Gambling problems among United Kingdom armed forces veterans: Associations with gambling motivation and posttraumatic stress disorder

Research and Data
Author(s): Glen Dighton, Katie Wood, Cherie Armour, Matt Fossey, Lee Hogan, Neil Kitchiner, Justyn Larcombe, Robert D. Rogers, and Simon Dymond.
Year Published: 2023

Overview

The aim of this paper is to describe the findings of a survey designed to investigate sociodemographic, military service, mental health, gambling activities, and motivation variables as predictors of problem gambling among a large sample of UK veterans. In total, 5,147 responses were received to the online survey (2,535 veterans and 2,612 nonveterans).

 

Quantitative Data Highlights

  • 43.1% of veterans (and 6.5% of non-veterans) experienced problem gambling.
  • Veterans were over 10 times more likely to be distinguished by problem gambling than non-veterans.
  • Veterans were over 4 times more likely to have gambled in the past and did so on more activities than non-veterans.
  • Veterans who gambled were over 7 times more likely to be motivated to do so due to avoid or escape from distress.
PTSD Related Data
  • Notable that 8.6% veterans in the current study met criteria for likely PTSD, with 26.6% indicating probable C-PTSD
  • Veterans are almost 7 times more likely than non-veterans to C-PTSD, a diagnosis with more severe criteria than PTSD.

 

Risk Factors

  • Mild anxiety.
  • Being in receipt of benefits.
  • Being discharged 9–13 years ago.
  • Serving for between 0 and 4 years.
  • Living in supported accommodation.
  • Living in privately rented accommodation.
  • Alcohol dependence and higher risk drinking.

 

Protective Factors

  • Age.
  • White-British ethnicity.
  • Being medically discharged.
  • Living with non-family members.
  • Being discharged 25+ years ago.
  • Serving for between 10 and 19 years.
  • Being discharged at their own request.
  • Not being deployed during their career.
  • Discharge due to a reason listed as ‘other’.
  • Achieving a Doctorate as one’s highest qualification.

 

Qualitative Data Highlights

  • UK veterans were at increased risk of problem gambling.
  • Veterans gambled on more activities than their non-veterans, and their gambling was motivated by negative reinforcement (escape from or avoidance of distress).
    • This unique finding parallels the elevated levels of alcohol misuse that is considered a potential negative coping strategy in veterans.

 

Challenges

  • Collecting data online may have inadvertently excluded older veterans, those without access to the internet, and the homeless.

 

Conclusions

  • Findings indicate that longer service in the armed forces may be a protective factor.
  • Greater difficulties were most pronounced in early service leavers serving in the army as noncommissioned officers (NCOs)/ Other Ranks.
  • Problem gambling is significantly higher in UK veterans, is a likely coping mechanism for mental health conditions, and driven by a need to avoid or escape distress.
  • In veterans, problem gambling co-occurred with C-PTSD.

 

Recommendations

  • Determining both the antecedents and motivations (i.e. consequences) of gambling may aid in the development of individualized treatment plans and assist with cross-validation of self-report-based assessment interviews.
  • Screening for problem gambling should be undertaken to provide improved treatment and support.

Resource

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Citation

Glen Dighton, Katie Wood, Cherie Armour, Matt Fossey, Lee Hogan, Neil Kitchiner, Justyn Larcombe, Robert D.Rogers & Simon Dymond (2023) Gambling problems among United Kingdom armed forces veterans: Associations with gambling motivation and posttraumatic stress disorder, International Gambling Studies, 23:1, 35-56, DOI: 10.1080/14459795.2022.2063923 

Further Reading