Abstract
The quality of the neighborhood in which one lives has been linked to disordered gambling (DG), but whether this reflects a causal relation has not yet been empirically examined. Participants were 3,450 Australian twins who completed assessments of past-year DG and personality and for whom census-derived indicators of disadvantage were used to characterize their neighborhood. Multilevel models were employed to estimate within-twin-pair and between-twin-pair effects of neighborhood disadvantage on DG, with the within-twin-pair effect representing a potentially causal association and the between-twin-pair effect representing a noncausal association. There was robust evidence for a potentially causal (as well as a noncausal) effect of neighborhood disadvantage on DG; in contrast, parallel analyses of past-year alcohol-use disorder (AUD) failed to find evidence of a potentially causal effect. These results support efforts focused on identifying the active ingredients contributing to the effect of neighborhood disadvantage on DG and developing interventions to limit their impact.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 582-596 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | Clinical Psychological Science |
Volume | 7 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 1 2019 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- discordant twins
- gambling disorder
- neighborhood disadvantage
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Clinical Psychology