Review of Related Literature

Cited: By in Scopus (3)Dickson, Derevensky, & Gupta, 2004). Like adult gambling, adolescent gambling has been linked with a number of negative outcomes including criminal behavior, poor academic achievement, school truancy (Stitt, Giacopassi, & Vandiver, 2000), financial problems, depression, suicide, deterioration of social relationships (Messerlian, Derevensky, & Gupta, 2005), and substance abuse (Griffiths & Wood, 2000). The prevalence of problem gambling among adolescents has been shown to be 2–4 times that of adults. Recent Canadian studies conducted with large community samples have estimated that 4–8% of adolescents currently have a severe gambling problem (Dickson et al., 2004). In addition, 10–15% of adolescents gamble excessively, making them vulnerable to the development of a more serious gambling problem (Dickson et al., 2004). While some researchers have argued that these prevalence rates may be overestimated ([Derevensky et al., 2003] and [Ladouceur et al., 2005]), there is ample evidence that gambling among adolescents has increased over the past two decades ([Langhinrichsen-Rohling et al., 2004] and [Messerlian et al., 2005]). Contributing to the clinical picture in adolescence is a blurring of gambling-related behaviors and other recreational activities like internet use, computer games, and video gaming. For example, a group of adolescents play a new video game all day, with the loser buying the rest of the group pizza. Is this gambling or gaming behavior? There is empirical evidence that addiction-related problem behaviors including video/computer game and internet use are an increasing problem (Mitchell, Becker-Blease, & Finkelhor, 2005). Together with problem gambling, these types of dysfunctional preoccupations appear to be on the increase among adolescents ([Griffiths and Wood, 2000] and [Pratarelli et al., 1999]). In a study conducted by Mitchell et al. (2005), for example, 15% of individuals classified as having an internet addiction were involved with online gambling and game playing. There is a lack of a gender difference for internet use (IADQ). This finding contradicts the results of Ko, Yen, Chen, Chen, and Yen (2005), who found that males use the internet more often, and for longer periods of time than do females. It is possible that because the present study did not distinguish between different internet activities (e.g., chatting, gaming, shopping, viewing pornography, information seeking, etc.), gender differences for varying types of activities cancelled each other out. Yang (2001), for example, reports that adolescent males are more likely to use the internet to play games, while adolescent females are more likely to use the internet to chat with friends. The present study found empirical evidence that several different variables with strong “addiction” potential (i.e. video/computer game use, internet use, and gambling) can be accounted for by a single latent variable that we have labelled “dysfunctional preoccupation”. This latent variable emerged in both the younger and older adolescent samples, accounting for the greatest amount of variability in addiction-related behaviors in the older adolescent sample. The presence of a “dysfunctional preoccupation” dimension has important implications for intervention and prevention strategies directed at youth. Gambling problems, excessive internet use, and gaming addiction are typically treated as separate mental health issues, with unique etiologies. Intervention and prevention strategies for youth might be more effective if they simultaneously targeted a broad range of addiction-related behaviors. Technologies are the fastest growing thing in the world. As the generation passes by it is also competing to other needs of people. One of this is the internet where you can search anything you want or need for quick source. People are also fun of games from the internet.