Examining the Relationship Between At-Risk Gambling and Suicidality in a National Representative Sample of Young Adults

Although many clinical studies document a relationship between gambling & suicidality, evidence of this association in general population surveys has been mixed. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health, the authors made same gender comparisons of depression & suicidality between 298 at-risk gamblers & 13,000 others. Although gamblers of both genders showed higher depression, only females reported significantly higher suicide thoughts & attempts. Males with gambling problems were no more likely than nongamblers to have suicide thoughts or to have made prior suicide attempts on 3 separate measurement occasions. (34 refs.)