Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze the network of gambling types, gambling problems, and natural recovery behavior through network analysis to examine the different connection characteristics of male and female adolescents. To this end, after selecting the subjects who reported certain levels of gambling problems from the adolescents’ longitudinal data collected four times for six months, the network of male and female adolescents was analyzed to derive common and consistent characteristics at various points. As a result, first, male adolescents showed higher levels than female adolescents in all measurements. Second, both male and female teenagers showed a connection in illegal gambling games, among which male teenagers were characterized by online types centered on gambling games such as ladders, snails, graphs, and lohai, and female teenagers were characterized by the use of Sports Toto. Third, both male and female teenagers had a common connection between social and economic harm, and male teenagers were more connected in all items. Fourth, in voluntary recovery behavior, male adolescents were characterized by cutting off and blocking gambling types from themselves to reduce availability, and female adolescents were characterized by lowering accessibility through relationship-oriented coping. Fifth, as a result of comparing the network structure and connection strength, male adolescents had structural differences in the entire network, and the connection strength of the gambling problem was stronger. Finally, the significance and implications of this study and suggestions for future research were discussed.