Under the radar—A rapid review of recent literature about youth problem gambling

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Under the radar—A rapid review of recent literature about youth problem gambling ms word cover

This rapid review was commissioned to assist the New Zealand Drug Foundation (NZDF) to develop youth gambling resources and forms of support for Tūturu. The focus topic is “school-based approaches to youth gambling”. The review explores the following six questions: 

What is problem gambling, how does it develop over a lifespan, and what do we know about problem gambling and Aotearoa New Zealand youth? 

  • What can we learn from school-based approaches to addressing youth gambling?
  • What can we learn from curriculum approaches to youth gambling?
  • What can we learn from Māori, Pacific, and Asian perspectives on (youth) gambling?
  • How does problem gambling intersect with online gaming?
  • What can we learn from literature about youth gambling risk and protective factors?

We mainly relied on systematic reviews in sourcing international literature. For Aotearoa New Zealand literature we focused on findings from the Youth2000 Health and Wellbeing survey series and studies about Māori, Pacific, and Asian communities. 

Key themes:

  • Youth need skills to manage a world in which they are surrounded by gambling
  • Gambling is an early “risky” behaviour and develops over the lifespan
  • Youth gambling is an equity issue
  • Youth gambling is an “under the radar” concern
  • Youth gambling is an emerging research field; not much is known about protective factors
  • Innovative, multifaceted, and sustained approaches are needed in schools
  • Culturally responsive approaches are key
  • There are opportunities in the curriculum space to build SEL and critical thinking skills
  • The expertise of youth can be harnessed to design approaches
  • School approaches are only one part of a public health response