Who Answers?
Problematic and potentially addictive behaviors strike on multiple fronts, according to a recent report from the American Psychological Association (APA). Current studies from the APA, persons who bet on sports are twice as likely as non-gamblers to also engage in binge drinking.
The study also found that the risk of alcohol misuse and/or alcohol use disorder (AUD) correlates with gambling behaviors. The higher the frequency of sports betting, the greater the likelihood of excessive alcohol consumption, researchers found.
More specifically, the data indicate that men who engaged in sports betting once or twice in the previous calendar year were 2.4 times more likely than the general population to binge drink. The risk of binge drinking among women who bet on sports was 1.9 times higher than the general population.
However, when gambling frequency increases, so, too, does the risk of alcohol misuse, according to the APA study. The data indicate that men who wager on sports at least once weekly are more than 4.7 times more likely than non-gamblers to binge drink. For women, in the same cohort, the binge drinking risk is nearly 6 times that of the general population.
And for those who gamble daily, the numbers are even more eye-popping. Daily sports betting is associated with a nearly nine-fold risk of binge drinking for men. Likewise, women who gamble on sports on a daily basis are more than 14 times more likely to binge drink than the general population.
The study reveals a significant correlation between addictive behaviors across multiple categories, providing researchers and clinicians alike with important insight into the etiology of addiction. The data also suggest that amendments in current standards of practice for healthcare providers may be required to include screenings for co-occurring addictions in persons engaging in problematic gambling or excessive drinking behaviors.
