ArticleJournal of behavioral addictions2020
The prevention paradox applies to some but not all gambling harms: Results from a Finnish population-representative survey.
Article in Journal of behavioral addictions, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 43 citations in OpenAlex.
- Is there a health inequality in gambling related harms? A systematic review.BMC public health · 2021Pooled it
- Validation of the Gambling Problem Recognition Scale.Journal of gambling studies · 2026Article
- Early program participation and treatment retention in outpatients with gambling disorder: a real-world retrospective study in Japan.Addiction science & clinical practice · 2026Article
- Deriving lower-risk gambling limits from data collected in four cross-sectional Finnish surveys.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2026Article
- Exploring the impact on emotional wellbeing of having a spouse or cohabiting partner with elevated Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) scores: Secondary analysis of cross-sectional health survey data.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2025Observational
- Trends in Lower-Risk Gambling by Age and Net Income among Finnish Men and Women in 2011, 2015, and 2019.Journal of gambling studies · 2025Article
- Testing the acceptability and feasibility of the lower-risk gambling guidelines in Finland.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2024Article
- National burden of gambling in Japan: an estimation from an online-based cross-sectional investigation and national epidemiological survey.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Are There Riskier Types of Gambling?Journal of gambling studies · 2024Article
- Separating Behaviours and Adverse Consequences in the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI): A Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Rasch Analysis.Journal of gambling studies · 2023Article
- Benchmarking gambling screens to health-state utility: the PGSI and the SGHS estimate similar levels of population gambling-harm.BMC public health · 2022Article
- Social disadvantage and gambling severity: a population-based study with register-linkage.European journal of public health · 2021Article
- 18-Item Version of the Short Gambling Harm Screen (SGHS-18): Validation of Screen for Assessing Gambling-Related Harm among Finnish Population.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- The Evolution of Gambling-Related Harm Measurement: Lessons from the Last Decade.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Review
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsThe Prevention Paradox (PP) suggests that a large proportion of aggregate harm from gambling occurs to people who do not have a gambling disorder. However, it has not yet been tested using a population-representative sample. We aimed to test whether the PP applies to gambling in Finland. The prevalence rates of diverse harmful consequences from gambling were surveyed amongst a population-representative sample of past-year gamblers.
methodsThe study used first wave data (N = 7,186) of Finnish Gambling Harms survey, collected via online and postal surveys in 2017. A subset of 3,795 adults (≥18 years), who had gambled at least monthly in 2016, were selected for analysis. MEASUREMENTS: Gambling-related harms were evaluated with the 72-item Harms Checklist. Problem and Pathological Gambling Measure (PPGM) measured respondents' probable disordered gambling from the subset of items for impaired control (4 questions) and other issues (3 questions).
findingsConsistent with previous findings, the majority of harms were reported by those in the less severe PPGM categories (i.e. scoring <5). However, considering each domain separately, this was true only for financial, emotional/psychological, and work/study harms. The PP was not supported for health, relationship, or social deviance harms.
conclusionsThe population prevalence of the most serious harms (e.g. unsafe living conditions) is concentrated among those with severe impaired control issues. However, even excluding the ∼15% of harms occurring to occasional gamblers, most financial, emotional and work/study impacts occur to those with lower levels of control issues. Efforts at harm reduction should focus on the entire spectrum of issues that people experience from their gambling.
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