Tudies of older subjects that measure impulsivity in relation to gambling behavior (Nower et al. 2004) but few studies measure impulsivity in relation to gambling at ages as young as 10?2 years old. Vitaro et al. examined a large low SES community sample of male adolescents across ages 12?5 using teacher and self-report ratings of impulsivity (Vitaro et al. 1998). They found that adolescents with the highest levels of impulsivity at earlier ages were more likely to have comorbid gambling and druguse problems at age 17. Generalizability of these findings is limited to low SES males, and because early gambling behavior was not assessed, it is unclear how early gambling influenced emergence of later problem gambling. While gambling behaviors exhibited by the young adolescents in our study cannot be characterized as pathological, the early relations between gambling behaviors and impulsivity are similar to those found in older adolescents. Similar to others (Hardoon et al. 2004; Vitaro et al. 1998), Early Gamblers in our young cohort were more likely to exhibit higher levels of internalizing and externalizing behaviors, placing the youth at increased risk for other problems. As noted above, Vitaro et al. found that the most impulsive adolescents were those reporting comorbid problems of gambling and drug use (Vitaro et al. 1998). Further analysis is needed to confirm this in our cohort, as we did not compare rates of drug use and other risk behaviors in our Early Gamblers and Late Gamblers groups. In addition, while our evaluation of gambling behaviors included frequency and GGTI298MedChemExpress GGTI298 diversity of gambling, we were not able to determine the level of pathology because we did not assess consequences of gambling. Despite this limitation, our findings support others showing increased levels of impulsivity and higher rates of other problem behaviors in youth who gamble.NIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptJ Gambl Stud. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2013 June 01.Betancourt et al.PageA finding that we consider noteworthy is the interaction among gambling trajectory group membership, coping behaviors, and peer influences. In bivariate analyses, we found that Early Gamblers were more likely than Late Gamblers to have higher levels of peer influences and lower active coping strategies. These findings are consistent with the research suggesting that youth problem gamblers use gambling as a means of coping with stress, avoiding problems, and alleviating boredom (Gupta and Derevensky 2000; Nower et al. 2004). A review by Gupta and Derevensky states that 44 of adolescents participated in gambling activities because their friends were in engaged in similar practices. These findings suggest that a strong social learning and peer-modeling component is involved in the acquisition of gambling behaviors where quality friendships are often lost and replaced by newly acquired friends or gambling associates (Derevensky and Gupta 2000; Romer 2003). Our multivariate analysis revealed an interaction among these three variables, but the effect of active coping was statistically unstable, thus no strong conclusions can be drawn. Our findings suggest the need for careful examination of the possible DS5565 supplier interactions that exist between gambling and these two important variables that have been found by others to be closely related to adolescent gambling behaviors. Our study examined executive cognitive function in youth at an age when gamblin.Tudies of older subjects that measure impulsivity in relation to gambling behavior (Nower et al. 2004) but few studies measure impulsivity in relation to gambling at ages as young as 10?2 years old. Vitaro et al. examined a large low SES community sample of male adolescents across ages 12?5 using teacher and self-report ratings of impulsivity (Vitaro et al. 1998). They found that adolescents with the highest levels of impulsivity at earlier ages were more likely to have comorbid gambling and druguse problems at age 17. Generalizability of these findings is limited to low SES males, and because early gambling behavior was not assessed, it is unclear how early gambling influenced emergence of later problem gambling. While gambling behaviors exhibited by the young adolescents in our study cannot be characterized as pathological, the early relations between gambling behaviors and impulsivity are similar to those found in older adolescents. Similar to others (Hardoon et al. 2004; Vitaro et al. 1998), Early Gamblers in our young cohort were more likely to exhibit higher levels of internalizing and externalizing behaviors, placing the youth at increased risk for other problems. As noted above, Vitaro et al. found that the most impulsive adolescents were those reporting comorbid problems of gambling and drug use (Vitaro et al. 1998). Further analysis is needed to confirm this in our cohort, as we did not compare rates of drug use and other risk behaviors in our Early Gamblers and Late Gamblers groups. In addition, while our evaluation of gambling behaviors included frequency and diversity of gambling, we were not able to determine the level of pathology because we did not assess consequences of gambling. Despite this limitation, our findings support others showing increased levels of impulsivity and higher rates of other problem behaviors in youth who gamble.NIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptJ Gambl Stud. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2013 June 01.Betancourt et al.PageA finding that we consider noteworthy is the interaction among gambling trajectory group membership, coping behaviors, and peer influences. In bivariate analyses, we found that Early Gamblers were more likely than Late Gamblers to have higher levels of peer influences and lower active coping strategies. These findings are consistent with the research suggesting that youth problem gamblers use gambling as a means of coping with stress, avoiding problems, and alleviating boredom (Gupta and Derevensky 2000; Nower et al. 2004). A review by Gupta and Derevensky states that 44 of adolescents participated in gambling activities because their friends were in engaged in similar practices. These findings suggest that a strong social learning and peer-modeling component is involved in the acquisition of gambling behaviors where quality friendships are often lost and replaced by newly acquired friends or gambling associates (Derevensky and Gupta 2000; Romer 2003). Our multivariate analysis revealed an interaction among these three variables, but the effect of active coping was statistically unstable, thus no strong conclusions can be drawn. Our findings suggest the need for careful examination of the possible interactions that exist between gambling and these two important variables that have been found by others to be closely related to adolescent gambling behaviors. Our study examined executive cognitive function in youth at an age when gamblin.
