This survey is part of series of larger surveys that aim to provide information on the health and wellbeing of young people attending New Zealand secondary schools. The current survey was conducted in 2012 and involved questions about gambling along with for example, ethnicity and culture, physical health, food and activities, substance use, sexual health, injuries and violence, home and family health.
The questions about gambling seek to provide information on frequency and intensity of participation in gambling by youth, views and attitudes towards gambling, and impacts of gambling on self, peers, and family. Other aims include identifying which groups of students are at higher risk of harmful gambling behaviour/practices, protective factors, and changes over time in gambling behaviour by comparing youth 2007 and 2012 survey data.
Purpose
Despite evidence that youth are a high-risk group with regard to unhealthy gambling, there is a dearth of information on youth gambling in New Zealand. This study involved the analysis of data from Youth’12 a national survey of secondary school students. The overall aim of the project was to provide an accurate and detailed description of the gambling behaviour of secondary school students in New Zealand, including the impacts on young people of their own, peer and familial gambling. The study also aimed to describe risk and protective factors associated with unhealthy gambling behaviours and investigate changes over time for gambling behaviour.
Key Results
Gambling is a widely available activity in today’s society and for some, gambling causes significant harm. There is limited data and very little information about youth gambling in New Zealand. This report presents findings on youth gambling from Youth’12, the third national health and wellbeing survey of secondary school students in New Zealand. The information presented in this report was provided by 8,500 students (Years 9 to 13; 13 to 17 years of age) who took part in the survey. The report also includes findings from the 2007 national survey (the first national survey took place in 2001 but this did not include questions about gambling). For the purpose of this study, gambling was defined as having bet precious things for money on an activity.