Research Report: Study Shows Colleges Can Do More to Educate Students About Gambling
Colleges may be missing a valuable opportunity to inform their students about the negative consequences of excessive gambling, according to a new study conducted by researchers at Harvard Medical School's Division on Addictions.
The study, "The epidemiology of college alcohol and gambling policies," (Shaffer, H., Donato, A., LaBrie, R., Kidman, R., & LaPlante, D.), was published in the February issue of Harm Reduction Journal and is the first national assessment of patterns in college and university policies addressing drinking and gambling. Researchers collected the policy information from 119 schools across the country included in the fourth (2001) Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study.
Student handbooks, college Web sites and other collateral materials served as the primary sources for the information evaluated. School policies were assessed with a 40-item "coding instrument" to determine the presence of specific policy items as well as identify whether policies were punitive or rehabilitative.
Despite the relative popularity of gambling on college campuses, researchers discovered a widespread absence of gambling-related policies in the sample, with only 26 schools (22 percent) having a specific gambling policy. Every school studied had some kind of student alcohol-use policy, although only 30 percent were recovery-oriented.
By failing to include gambling-related policies within broader school policy, researchers noted that administrators lose the opportunity to address serious issues such as prevention of disordered gambling and treatment opportunities for students in recovery. Additionally, they noted the overall lack of recovery-oriented programs for both alcohol and gambling indicate colleges may be overlooking the value of rehabilitation methods in reducing addictive behaviors among students.
Researchers found both alcohol and gambling policies to be inconsistent and widely varied across the sample. They attributed this dispersion to the limited number of federal requirements for the creation of school substance abuse and gambling policies, and the lack of guidelines or "best practices" on substance abuse and gambling policies for schools to reference when drafting their own rules.
The small number of available gambling policies prevented researchers from drawing concrete conclusions about any effects existing rules may have on student behavior. However, the researchers said the study's findings could prove to be an important resource for guiding the development of national standards that will serve as a foundation for future alcohol and gambling-related school policies.
For future study, the paper recommends a deeper examination of specific alcohol and gambling-related college policies. In particular, more research is necessary to determine if comprehensive policies focused on a balance between punishment and treatment can affect positive change, lessening the prevalence of substance misuse and the potential for gambling disorders to develop.
