Teen Gamblers More Likely to Have Risky Sex Than Nongambling Adolescents

A recent study conducted by the Mailman School of Public Health with colleagues at Johns Hopkins University has found that teenage gamblers are more likely to have risky sex compared to those who do not gamble.

Researchers measured the degree to which two such behaviors, adolescent sexual behaviors and gambling, affected African American youth in nine primary schools in Baltimore, MD.

As part of the study, researchers assessed whether certain adolescent sexual behaviors linked with unintended consequences such as adolescent pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections [STI]) are associated with gambling behaviors.

The results:  Astonishing.

Of the 427 African-American youth studied almost half the sample – 49%—had gambled at least once before age 18, and more gamblers than non-gamblers had initiated sexual intercourse by age 18. Approximately one third (35%) had intercourse by age 13 and 89% had engaged in sexual intercourse by age 18.

46% of those who had gambled by the age of 16 do so often.  Among the sample group who had initiated sexual activity, more gamblers than non-gamblers exhibited high impulsivity at age 13

"Our findings are complementary to earlier studies that showed an association between gambling with an earlier age of onset of sexual activities, however, participants in these samples were predominantly white," said Silvia Martins, MD, PhD, Mailman School associate professor of Epidemiology, and first author. "Despite evidence that problem gambling is more prevalent among African-American adolescents and adults, few adolescent studies included a large subgroup of African Americans in their samples. This study also goes above and beyond prior research as it shows that gambling youth are not only at risk of gambling problems, which are associated with numerous adverse interpersonal, financial, criminal, and psychiatric consequences, but also at risk for sex-related behaviors such as adolescent pregnancy/impregnation."

- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com