KC-MO-GAM Household Study of Missouri Youth

Principal Investigator: Renee C. Williams, Ph.D.
Funder: Greater Kansas City Community Foundation
Timeframe: 01/06-08/07
Affiliation: Center for Mental Health Services Research (CMHSR)
 

Participating Organizations: University of Missouri-Columbia Department of Health Management and
Informatics’ Health and Behavioral Risk Research Center (HBRRC)

Project Contact: Renee C. Williams, Ph.D.
williamsr@wustl.edu


Project Update as of 12/16/07:
Stage: Completed.

Description:

This project responds directly to the Port Authority of Kansas City’s goal of crafting an effective and comprehensive problem gambling program for underage and college age Missouri youth. We will be able to learn not only when and why youth first began gambling, but, in terms of problem gambling and pathological gambling disorder, which game served as the “gateway game” that led to gambling problems, thus allowing for a game-specific diagnosis and prevention focus. We will also be able to assess help-seeking among these youth and barriers they face in their efforts to seek help, thus ensuring that interventions developed for them are acceptable and appropriately targeted.
 
To inform prevention and intervention efforts targeting Missouri youth, this project has the following five aims: 1) to estimate the prevalence of gambling, problem gambling, and pathological gambling disorder among Missouri youth (ages 14-25), summarizing Kansas City-specific data; 2) to identify ages of onset for initiation into gambling, problem gambling, and pathological gambling disorder; 3) to explore varying risk profiles and vulnerabilities for gambling problems and disorder, including youth-defined gambling, gambling type, frequency, duration, severity, and socioeconomic indicators; 4) to translate the findings into clear messages for use in developing appropriately targeted programs; and 5) to provide a foundation for a later NIH-funded study of these Missouri youths to identify new cases of disorder; map gambling trajectories from no gambling to disorder; and explore treatment, natural recovery, and other improvements in gambling treatment.

All of these data will ultimately increase our understanding of the context of underage and problem gambling and its impact on the social and interpersonal functioning for Kansas City youth and other youth across the State of Missouri.