Pacific youth underage gambling with family and friends a ‘social’ activity – study

Stuff co.nz 1 July 2019
Family First Comment: “A ‘significant minority’ of Pacific youth were experiencing harmful or risky gambling behaviour in their family.”
Doesn’t help when low income areas are targeted with pokie machine outlets!

Gambling is as common as tobacco use among some Pacific youth, research shows.

A report released on Monday by Auckland University of Technology (AUT) and the Ministry of Health looked at gambling behaviours and risk factors for Pacific youth.

The research was part of AUT’s Pacific Island Families study – a longitudinal study of Pacific children born at Middlemore Hospital in the year 2000, and their parents.

It found more than a third of Pacific youth surveyed gambled daily (37.8 per cent). Sixty-two per cent reported not usually spending any time gambling.

Past research has shown that Pacific adults are less likely to gamble than Pākehā, but those who do have a higher risk of developing levels of harmful gambling.

The reasons for the increased risk were “not well understood”, and the gambling behaviours of Pacific youth were “even less researched”, the report stated.
READ MORE: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/113897567/pacific-youth-underage-gambling-with-family-and-friends-a-social-activity–study