The Association Between Problem Gambling and Major Depression

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Live Poster Session: Zoom Link

Catherine Gallagher

Catherine Gallagher is a sophomore from Reading, Massachusetts majoring in Government and Psychology and minoring in Education Studies. Outside of academics, she is a player on the Wesleyan Women’s Soccer team, where she serves as a DEI representative and a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).  

Abstract: In a digital age, gambling has become more accessible than ever before due to the ability for problem gamblers to access traditional gambling games online. Online gambling presents a new risk as problem gamblers can experience 24-hour access to gambling activities (Allami et al., 2023). Across various psychological research, certain findings suggest gambling to be a public health crisis as gamblers experience additional mental and substance abuse disorders more frequently than non-gamblers. For instance, problem gamblers experience higher rates of low mood and depressive thoughts, suggesting that they are an at-risk population for developing major depression (Afifi et al.,2016). Assessing the comorbidity of gambling tendencies with major depression is essential as problem gambling may continue to grow more severe due to increased accessibility to online gambling platforms. The objectives of this current analysis include initiating an association between problem gambling and major depression while factoring in gender to further understand whether the association varies between males and females. The results obtained from this study reveal that while there is a strong, positive association between problem gambling and major depression, this association does not vary based on gender.

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