Grant: CIHR Fellowship

Problem gambling is linked to a range of serious personal and social problems such as depression, suicide, bankruptcy, and even homelessness. Within Canada problem gambling affects 2.5% of individuals over the course of their life and the devastating consequences extend to friends, family, coworkers and communities. Gambling participation and problems are not equally distributed. Society's most socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals consistently gamble a higher proportion of their income, and assume a disproportionate amount of the associated burden. Opportunities to gamble are also more prevalent and accessible in lower-income communities. Although many studies have demonstrated that the social environment and level of deprivation are known predictors of addictive behaviors, gambling research has continued to focus heavily on the individual. This research project aims to understand how social and environmental deprivation, from the individual to the neighborhoods where they reside, factors into gambling behavior and related harm. Specifically, this research will: (1) integrate public health perspectives and complexity theory to posit how individual and environmental levels of deprivation interact to influence gambling behavior, and (2) validate these theoretical concepts using unique provincial, national and international datasets and advanced statistical methods. My postdoctoral fellowship is oriented toward both knowledge creation and action. I plan to share my findings with as many researchers, students, practitioners and community members as possible. This work is important as it will raise awareness of the existence and extent of gambling related issues within Canadian society and their excessive concentration among vulnerable populations and places. It will provide practical advice and recommendations to be presented directly to key public policy makers to better inform and improve existing problem gambling prevention strategies.