Problem gamblers face triple the suicide risk after a year – and quadruple the risk after four years – when compared to people who experience no gambling harms, according to a report by the University of Bristol.
The findings are based on analysis of data from the ongoing Children of the 90s study, which has been following the health and development of 14,000 pregnant women and their families for more than three decades. They show that problem gambling is ‘clearly linked to a marked and long-lasting increase in suicide attempts among young people in the UK’, says the university.
The future suicidality link was ‘most stark’ among 20-year-olds, where there was a 20 per cent increase in suicide attempts for every increment on the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), the questionnaire most commonly used to assess gambling harm. Those scoring eight or above on the index experienced quadruple the rate of suicide attempts after four years, the researchers state.
The fact that the project tracked people from birth meant that researchers could ‘look at the long-term impacts of problem gambling and could rule out alternative explanations that hinder previous studies, such as that people might be drawn to problem gambling as a way of escaping pre-existing suicidal feelings’, said lead author Olly Bastiani.
A study published at the start of this year reported that the families of people who’d taken their own lives as a result of gambling-related harm were ‘routinely denied’ inquests that properly considered the role of gambling in the deaths. Even when families went to ‘considerable lengths’ to submit detailed evidence of the gambling to the coroner this would often be accepted without comment or ignored altogether, the report stated, meaning that opportunities to prevent future deaths and inform debates about gambling harm were being missed. A PHE report from 2021 found that people with gambling problems were ‘at least’ twice as likely to die as a result of suicide than the general population, with other studies putting the risk far higher.
Earlier this month a report from GambleAware warned that young people were now being exposed to online gambling content at ‘unprecedented levels’, with almost 90 per cent of 13-17-year-olds surveyed reporting having seen it – often via celebrities or social media influencers. A Lancet Public Health report last year warned that the consequences of gambling’s shift to digitalisation had not been recognised by governments or regulators, adding that the harms to health and wellbeing from gambling were ‘more substantial than previously understood’. The long-delayed gambling white paper from 2023 was widely criticised for its perceived failure to tackle gambling marketing and advertising.
The people in the Children of the 90s study were ‘growing up at a time when gambling was less accessible and visible than it is today’, stated lecturer in psychology at the University of Bristol Dr Philip Newall. ‘This shows that much more needs to be done to prevent the next generation from experiencing these gambling harms.’
The relationship between Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) scores and suicidality: Results of a nine-year cohort study of young UK adults is published in the journal Addiction
Children of the 90s study available here