1 Effects of Outcome Expectancies on Chinese Adolescents’ Gambling Intention Wong Sau Kuen Stella, PhD Department of Applied Social Sciences The Hong Kong Polytechnic University The Second Asia Pacific Conference on Gambling & Commercial Gaming Research (APCG 2013)

2 Background of this study Adolescent gambling in Hong Kong Prevalence rate of past year gambling  53.8% in 2001 (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 2001)  32.3% in 2005 (The University of Hong Kong, 2005)  47.0% in 2010 (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 2010) Number of adolescents with problem /pathological gambling  4.5% and 2.6% in 2001 (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 2001)  1.3 and 1.3% in 2005 (The University of Hong Kong, 2005)  2.5% and 3.2% in 2010 (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 2010) Adolescents are vulnerable to the negative consequences of gambling Little is known about Chinese adolescent gambling

3 Background of this study Cognitive correlates promoting gambling Little attention has been paid to the role of perceived consequences i.e. outcome expectancy. Expectancies are beliefs about the occurrence of certain outcomes as a result of a particular behavior. Chinese Adolescent Gambling Expectancy Scale (CAGES) was recently developed. (Wong & Tsang, 2012b) -Relational Cost (RC); Social Benefit (SB); Material Gain (MG); Out of Control (OC) and Money Loss (ML)

Theoretical framework Expectancy-value theory (Fishbern & Ajzen,1975) Tolman (1932) emphasized the cognitive nature of many motives and the importance of the goals toward which the behavior was directed Expectancies are established in the process of learning that particular behaviors lead to particular goals (Tolman, 1932) Fishbern & Ajzen (1975) assumed that individuals expect a certain outcome/goal to occur as a result of a particular behavior in a given situation. 4

5 Research questions  What is the effect of gambling outcome expectancy on Chinese adolescents’ intention to gamble?  To what extent do gambling outcome expectancy predict intention to gamble among Chinese adolescents?

6 Methodology Method and participants  Stratified cluster sampling on 1218 Chinese adolescents (M=14.82 yrs, SD=1.31 yrs)  684 male (56.2%) and 534 female (43.8%) Measures  Demographic data  Prevalence of gambling - South Oaks Gambling Screen-Revised Adolescent Scale (SOGS-RA, Winters et al., 1993)  Intention to gamble - Gambling Intention Sc ale (GIS, Section I of SOGS-RA, Winters et al., 1993) (α =.92)  Gambling expectancy - Chinese Adolescent Gambling Expectancy Scale (CAGES, Wong & Tsang, 2012b) (α s = ) The psychometric properties of all measures were satisfactory in this study.

Results : General findings (I) 7 Rate of past year gambling (43.10%) was slightly lower than reported in previous prevalence studies conducted in 2010 (47.0%) but higher than the rate of 2005 (32.3%).

Results : General findings (II) 8 Males had a significantly higher gambling intention compared to female counterparts Below average group scored significantly higher on gambling intention than the above average group.

Results : General findings (III) 9 Gambling intention was significantly and positively correlated with SB, MG and OC factors of gambling expectancy; Gambling intention was significantly and negatively correlated with RC and ML factors of gambling expectancy.

Results : Predicting gambling intention 10 The five factors of gambling expectancy in a group were significant predictors of gambling intention SB and OC as the significant, positive predictors RC and ML as the significant, negative predictors SB displayed the highest beta weight

11 Results : Key findings 1.Majority of adolescents participated in gambling activities well before they were legally permitted to gamble. 2.The five -factor model of gambling expectancy had incremental validity for predicting gambling intention among Chinese adolescents when the effects of age and gender were controlled for. 3.Expectancy depicting positive and negative gambling consequences simultaneously exerted a significant effect on intention to gamble. 4.Higher level of perceived benefit in social relationship and out of control, and lower level of perceived risk in relationship damage and money loss would promote gambling intention. 5.Chinese adolescents place heavy emphasis on the perceived benefit of social relationship when considering their intention to gamble.

12 Implications Confirm the effect of outcome expectancy on gambling intention Prevent early on-set of adolescent engagement in gambling behavior by including both the negative and positive expected outcomes of gambling. The role of “relationship” as the risk and protective factor is of great importance Provide alternative means for achieving positive gambling outcome (e.g. social benefit) and challenge positive expected outcome of gambling.

13 Limitations Causal-effect could not be obtained Self-report measures Generalizing the findings to other populations

14 Thank you!