Background: The rapid rise in sports betting, especially among young adults (age 18-29), necessitates identifying health correlates of this addictive behavior. The present study examined associations between problem sports betting symptoms and mental health and well-being, which represents a timely literature gap.
Method: The sample was 221 young adult sport bettors from 36 different states (Mage = 24.4, 77.7% male). Regression models estimated associations between problem sports betting severity (PGSI-SB) and symptoms of depression, anxiety, psychological distress, loneliness, and stress, as well as indices of well-being, including satisfaction with life, optimism, connectedness, and social functioning.
Results: Young adults with greater problem sports betting severity had significantly higher scores on each index of mental health symptomology and had poorer indices of well-being. The strongest relative effect size was the association between problem sports betting severity and stress (a 1SD increase in PGSI-SB score corresponded to 48% of a standard deviation increase in stress).
Conclusions: This study provides novel and timely evidence for associations between problem sports betting and various indices of mental health and well-being; thus, highlighting the need for rapid development of holistic prevention/intervention strategies aimed at the intersection of problem sports betting and mental health.
Keywords: Anxiety; Depression; Gambling; Loneliness; Social functioning; Stress; Wagering.
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