Youth gambling addiction
In the digital age, everything seems to be more convenient and better than the past decade. The emerging trend of technology results in not only the massive benefits but also social problems. It cannot be denied that there are so many social problems in today’s world. Youth gambling addiction is one of the critical social problems since a plenty of teenagers are addicted to gambling. Gambling addiction in adolescents can result from biological and environmental factors.
First of all, biological factor plays a key role in the cause of gambling addiction in adolescents. Gambling behavior in teenagers is associated with genetic factors (Blaszczynski and Nower, 2002). Gambling may be common behavior for humans but gambling addiction is recognized as the type of impulse-control disorder (ibid.). Some research papers have revealed that obsessive-compulsive disorder is highly related to the cause of gambling addiction in teenagers. Like drug or alcohol addiction, gambling behavior can stimulate brain’s reward and alleviate stress and anxiety. Additionally, the relationship between problem gambling addiction and obsessive-compulsive behaviors appears to be similar genetics. The susceptibility genes for youth gambling addiction are blamed for youth gambling addiction.
The next one is environmental factor. Socio-cultural influences affect directly on the behavior of gambling addiction. The expansion of youth gambling addiction results from social acceptation rather than economic factor (Hardoon, Gupta and Derevensky, 2004). Gambling is widely accepted as a form of entertainment activities and social interaction. If their groups like to play gambling in the leisure time, teenagers have a tendency to be addicted to gambling behavior. A plenty of teens have to play gambling in order to maintain a sense of social acceptance. Furthermore, teenagers who have parents with gambling problem seem to be addicted to gambling (Dickson, Derevensky and Gupta, 2002). Adolescents of problem-gambling parents are at the high risk of addicted behavior of gambling.
Even if gambling addiction in the teenagers is the critical problem, there is an effective solution. The teenagers addicted to gambling should seek the medical consultation from psychologists. The outpatient treatment program can help teenagers to be better from this disorder while they are allowed to live normal life and attend daily activities (Lesieur, 1988). To overcome gambling addiction, the beloved parents and families should offer the moral support for young adults with compulsive gambling behavior.