Prevalence of Disordered Gambling in the US and Canada Shaffer, Hall & Vander Bilt (1999)Shaffer, Hall & Vander Bilt (1999) conducted a research synthesis of studies that had reported the prevalence of gambling in either the United States or Canada.gambling The synthesis included 94 studies that provided 106 prevalence estimates with 122’286 respondents. Contributor© POSbase 2005

Prevalence of Disordered Gambling in the US and Canada Prevalence estimates (lifetime and past-year) were compared over time, and between four population segments (adults, adolescent, college, and treatment/prison). © POSbase 2005

Prevalence of Disordered Gambling in the US and Canada © POSbase 2005 NumberLifetime Prevalence Estimates EstimatesParticipantsLevel 3* Pathological Level 2** Subclinical Adult %3.85% Adolescent %9.45% College %9.28% Treatment/Prison %15.01% *Level 3 included those gamblers who met the established diagnostic criteria for pathological gambling (i.e., DSM-IV criteria, SOGS criteria).DSM-IV criteriaSOGS criteria **Level 2 included those gamblers with subclinical levels of gambling problems.

Prevalence of Disordered Gambling in the US and Canada Pathological gambling estimates in adults were significantly lower than in the other three population segments. Subclinical estimates in adults were significantly lower than in adolescents and treatment/prison populations. © POSbase 2005

Prevalence of Disordered Gambling in the US and Canada The authors divided the studies into early studies (1977 – 1993) and late studies (1994 – 1997), and compared past-year pathological gambling rates for adults. They found that disordered gambling prevalence had significantly increased over time, from 0.84% to 1.29%. This increase might be associated with increases in the availability of gambling (see the model of Blaszczynski & Nower, 2002).Blaszczynski & Nower, 2002) © POSbase 2005