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Later in Life Exposed to Gambling, the Greater Chance of Problems
NEW BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEY --
Opponents of gambling often use the excuse that gambling should be banned from the Internet because children may access online gaming sites, and children are far more susceptible to devoloping a compulsive gambling problem than those whose first exposure is later in life.
But a study published in the scientific journal Psychology and Aging has found evidence that the truth is exactly the reverse. That is, that those whose initial exposure to gambling comes later in life are three to four more times to become problem gamblers.
The director of the Center for Gambling Studies at Rutgers University, Lia Nower, compared age groups, from young to middle-aged to elderly, and found senior citizens to use the least strategy, increasing the risk of losing, and adults over sixty to be at most risk for compulsive gambling. There was no gender difference, except the women tended to start at a later age.
Nower said that, while most players under sixty saw gambling as a temporary and limited form of entertainment, many seniors used it as a method of socializing.
Suicide was also thought of by seniors almost four times as often as young people.
Once again, gambling may exacerbate a problem, but the underlying problem does not disappear if gambling were to be removed from the equation. If seniors are made to feel less disassociated from society, then gambling and suicidal thoughts decline.
As in many recent research efforts, problem gambling is to be seen as a symptom, not a cause, and treatment should center on removing the underlying root.
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