WHO’S AT RISK
The Mayo Clinic identifies the following risk factors for developing a gambling problem.
- • Behavior or mood disorders
- • Age – the problem develops more frequently in young people
- • Family influence – whether parents and other close adults were gamblers
- • Personality characteristics such as high level of being competitive, or easily bored
Further, Problem Gambling Prevention identifies certain risk factors in teens, including:
- • Being male
- • Living in a single-parent household
- • Having a below-median household income
- • Early initiation – starting before 8th grade
- • Playing sports at school
- • Experiencing problems at home
- • Having low-self esteem