Preventing gambling problems among youth
The research literature concerning gambling and pathological/problem gambling among youths clearly states that 80 % of youths have gambled at least once in their live. It is also well known that not all young gamblers will develop a gambling problem during their teens or their adulthood. Most of them will stay recreational gamblers and never suffer any negative consequences from their gambling participation. However, in order to ascertain that, it is important that youths receive information about the erroneous beliefs they could develop while gambling, the consequences of excessive gambling, what to do if they develop a gambling problem, what are the resources available to help them and so on. Like all those information and many more could be included in preventive intervention targeting youths, it is important to select the type of intervention that will better fit the population targeted. This paper presents three preventive approaches (universal, selective and indicated) and gives examples of efficient gambling preventive interventions used with youths. It also emphasizes the importance to evaluate the effectiveness of preventive interventions in order to make sure that they will have positive effects on youths’ gambling behaviors.