How gambling harms the wellbeing of family and others: a review

ABSTRACT

Problem gambling can have negative impacts on both harmed gamblers, and those people close to them (concerned significant others; CSOs). Experiencing these gambling-related harms can have a significant impact on a person’s wellbeing and quality of life. Recently, the focus of research on people with gambling problems has expanded from exploring gambling-related harms and specific psychological outcomes, to include global evaluations of health and wellbeing. However, it is also important to understand the degree to which these impacts extend to CSOs. This narrative literature review presents what is known about the impact of gambling-related harms on CSOs’ wellbeing and identifies areas of future enquiry. The review identified both knowledge and methodological gaps, including that relatively little is known about impacts to CSOs’ subjective wellbeing. What is known, is confounded by different methods of identifying CSOs across studies, and the use of predominantly small, non-representative, and treatment-related samples. Addressing these gaps will lead to a greater understanding of the impact of problem gambling on the community.

KEYWORDS:

• Problem gambling
• gambling harms
• concerned significant others
• wellbeing
• subjective wellbeing
• quality of life

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Funding sources

Catherine Tulloch is the recipient of a CQUniversity Research Stipend Scholarship and a New South Wales Office of Responsible Gambling part-PHD scholarship.

Constraints on publishing

No constraints on publishing were declared by the authors in relation to this manuscript.

Competing interests

No competing interests were declared by the authors in relation to this manuscript.

Preregistration statement

No preregistration was declared by the authors in relation to this manuscript.

Data availability statement

No data set was declared by the authors in relation to this manuscript.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Catherine Tulloch

Catherine Tulloch is a PhD candidate and research assistant at Central Queensland University, Sydney. Her research focus is on understanding the impact of gambling-related harm on health and wellbeing.

Matthew Browne

Matthew Browne completed a PhD in psychophysiology methodology in 2002, publishing several novel methods for the analysis of EEG recordings. He has held continuing posts in major international research organizations including CSIRO. His main interests lie in the application of statistical and machine learnings methodologies across several disciplines.

Nerilee Hing

Nerilee Hing, PhD, is a Research Professor in the Experimental Gambling Research Laboratory, School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciencesß at Central Queensland University Australia. Her research focuses on gambling behaviour, problems and harm, impacts of gambling on vulnerable groups, and harm minimization and consumer protection in gambling.

Matthew Rockloff

Matthew Rockloff received a PhD (Psychology) from Florida Atlantic University in 1999. He was honored as a Jack Walker Scholar and an Aurel B. Newell Fellow (twice). He was named in the Top 15 Unijobs Lecturer of the Year Awards thrice (2011-2013) and received the 2017 Ig Nobel award (Economics).

Margo Hilbrecht

Margo Hilbrecht received a PhD in leisure studies in 2009 from the University of Waterloo and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Centre for Families, Work, and Well-Being, University of Guelph. She is the Interim Program Director at the Vanier Institute of the Family and holds an adjunct appointment at the University of Waterloo, Canada.