Gambling Habits Among Aged African Americans

In a cross-sectional study we investigated the correlates of gambling habits among a sample of 80 independently living African-American elderly persons. The participants were selected from two Senior Citizen Centers that provide inexpensive or free pleasure trips from Los Angeles, California to gambling sites in Nevada. The data for this study were collected through face-to-face interviews conducted by three trained female middle-aged African-American interviewers in October and November 1998. Our data identified 64% of this sample as non- or occasional gamblers, 19% as light to moderate gamblers and 17% as heavy to pathological gamblers. Our data document a statistically significant relationship between gambling behaviors and psychological well-being, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, perceived health status, health locus of control, religiousness, and stressful life-events. Results of this study point to an urgent need for: (1) publicizing the potentially lethal physical and mental consequences of gambling among elderly persons; (2) developing educational programs and interventions to prevent gambling addiction from developing among the elderly; and (3) providing primary care practitioners with training to facilitate early detection and treatment of gambling problems among at-risk aged persons