Family violence in gambling help-seeking populations

ABSTRACT

Elevated rates of family violence among treatment-seeking problem gamblers compared to general population estimates have been reported in Spain, Canada and Australia. This study examined the occurrence of family violence among 454 problem gambling help-seeking clients (370 gamblers, 84 affected others) recruited through 3 national gambling treatment services in New Zealand. Measures used were the Problem Gambling Severity Index, and a modified version of the HITS Scale which assessed physical, emotional, verbal and sexual abuse. Past-year family violence among gamblers in this sample was 46.8% for victimization, 41.2% for perpetration and 55.0% for any form of family violence. Among affected others the occurrence was 65.5% for victimization, 57.1% for perpetration and 71.4% for any form of violence. The most common type of violence was verbal intimate partner violence. Affected others and women gamblers reported higher rates of violence victimization and perpetration. These findings underscore the importance of screening gambling help-seeking clients for family violence, and the development of prevention and treatment programmes to address violence in this population, with particular attention to affected others and women gamblers. Future research should assess coercive control and the gendered nature of family violence among problem gambling help-seekers.

KEYWORDS:

• family violence
• problem gambling
• treatment seeking
• screening
• affected others

Conflicts of interestFunding sources

This work was funded in full by the New Zealand Ministry of Health under contact number 345500/00. The Ministry of Health approved the research questions, but had no involvement in the research design, methodology, conduct, analysis or write-up.

Competing interests

The authors declared no competing interests.

Constraints on publishing

There were no constraints on publishing.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of California San Francisco Center for AIDS Prevention Studies [R25HD045810]; and an UTHealth PARTNERS Research grant

Notes on contributors

Katie Palmer du Preez

Katie Palmer du Preez, PhD, is a research fellow with the Gambling and Addictions Research Centre at Auckland University of Technology.

Maria Bellringer

Maria Bellringer, PhD, is a senior research fellow and associate director of the Gambling and Addictions Research Centre at Auckland University of Technology.

Janet Pearson

Janet Pearson is a senior research officer with the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at Auckland University of Technology.

Nicki Dowling

Nicki Dowling, PhD, is associate professor of psychology, Faculty of Health, Deakin University.

Aino Suomi

Aino Suomi, PhD, is a project manager with the Institute of Child Protection Studies and the Australian Catholic University.

Jane Koziol-Mclain

Jane Koziol-McLain, PhD, is professor of nursing, and co-director of the Interdisciplinary Trauma Research Centre at Auckland University of Technology.

Denise Wilson

Denise Wilson, PhD, is professor of Māori health, co-director of the Taupua Waiora Centre for Māori Health Research, and associate dean Māori Advancement within the Faculty of Health & Environmental Sciences at Auckland University of Technology.

Alun Jackson

Alun Jackson, PhD, is the director of the Australian Centre for Heart Health, and honorary professor with the Office of the Executive Dean (Health) at Deakin University, honorary professorial fellow with the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne, and honorary professor, Centre on Behavioural Health with Hong Kong University.