Abstract

This study attempted to verify the moderating effect of gender in the relationship between exposure to a gambling risk environment and gambling problem in adolescents. To this end, data were collected from Internet panels of youth aged 13-19, and surveys were conducted twice at intervals of one year to determine the causal relationship between the variables. The study subjects were adolescents who responded, "I participated in legal gambling or illegal online gambling and gambling in online poker/Hwa-Too games that only allowed adults in the past six months." A total of 551 subjects participated in both the first and second surveys. The study participants were 50.6% males and 49.4% females. To verify the research hypothesis, Hayes' PROCESS macro 3.5 was used. The results of the study showed that exposure to the gambling risk environment measured at the first time point and gambling problems measured at the second time point were significantly positively correlated, indicating that exposure to a gambling risk environment had an effect on the development of gambling problems. In addition, it was found that the moderating effect of gender was significant, and the degree to which exposure to a gambling risk environment predicted a gambling problem was higher in female adolescents than male adolescents. The results of this study suggest that female adolescents have a higher risk of developing gambling problems than male adolescents when they are equally exposed to gambling risk environments. Finally, we discussed how the results of this study can be used in gambling addiction prevention and intervention.