Life course analysis of gambling trajectories: an Indigenous Australian study

Abstract

Traditional card gambling is a culturally acceptable recreational activity for generations of Indigenous Australians. Commercial gambling activities are popular as well. This study drew on a life course approach and a sample of 57 Indigenous Australian people to examine their gambling trajectories over time that resulted in recreational gambling or in disordered gambling. To gain in-depth insight into various gambling trajectories, this study used an interpretative phenomenological methodology. At early childhood, teenage, young adult and mature adult stages, major gambling influences appeared as dependence, independence, timing of major shifts and transitions, and rationalization, respectively. The study showed that being a recreational or disordered gambler was a shifting or fluctuating position, subject to transitions and events in people's lives rather than a one-way path in either direction. Within a complex cultural environment, the dynamic interplay between social density, context and individual choice appears to influence gambling trajectories for these Indigenous Australians.

Keywords:

• gambling
• Indigenous
• Australia
• social behaviour
• qualitative

Funding

This study was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Project [DP1096595]

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Helen Breen

Dr Helen Breen, PhD, is an Adjunct Senior Lecturer at Southern Cross University. Her research interests include gambling by Indigenous peoples, senior citizens, women and staff working in gaming venues; hospitality and club management; the operations, economic and social impacts of gambling; responsible gambling evaluation; and adult tertiary education.

Nerilee Hing

Professor Nerilee Hing, PhD, is Founding Director of the Centre for Gambling Education and Research. Her research has included evaluations of responsible gambling codes, self-exclusion programmes, gambling advertising, industry responsiveness to patrons with gambling problems, and industry harm minimization measures. She has researched gambling and problem gambling behaviour, both in the general population and amongst specific populations groups including Indigenous Australians, gaming venue staff and women. She has also conducted research into Internet gambling, help-seeking for gambling problems and the impacts of problem gambling on significant others.