Why People Gamble: A Qualitative Study of Four New Zealand Ethnic Groups

In multicultural countries such as New Zealand, it is particularly important that gambling research take into account possible cultural differences. Many New Zealanders come from cultures that do not have a history of gambling, including the Mäori (New Zealand indigenous people), Pacific Islanders, and recent migrants. Little research has examined the reasons why people start and continue to gamble, especially among different ethnic groups. This research project thus aimed to develop a framework to explain how environmental, cultural, and social factors interact with personal attributes to determine gambling behaviors. In a qualitative study, 131 people broadly representative of Mäori, Pacific, Asian, and Päkehä/New Zealand European groups residing in New Zealand were interviewed individually or in focus groups. They included social and problem gamblers, families of problem gamblers, and professionals. Different personal, socioeconomic, environmental, and cultural factors were identified, summarized in a developmental framework, and compared to factors found for ethnic groups in other countries. Public health policy issues were raised, including greater control of gambling promotion. © 2012 The Author(s).published_or_final_versionSpringer Open Choice, 28 May 201

Microbotanical residues for the study of early hominin tools

More than 2 million years ago in East Africa, the earliest hominin stone tools evolved amidst changes in resource base, with pounding technology playing a key role in this adaptive process. Olduvai Gorge (now Oldupai) is a famed locality that remains paramount for the study of human evolution, also yielding some of the oldest battering tools in the world. However, direct evidence of the resources processed with these technologies is lacking entirely. One way to obtain this evidence is through the analysis of surviving residues. Yet, linking residues with past processing activities is not simple. In the case of plant exploitation, this link can only be established by assessing site-based reference collections inclusive of both anthropogenic and natural residues as a necessary first step and comparative starting point. In this paper, we assess microbotanical remains from rock clasts sourced at the same quarry utilized by Oldowan hominins at Oldupai Gorge. We mapped this signal and analysed it quantitatively to classify its spatial distribution objectively, extracting proxies for taxonomic identification and further comparison with freestanding soils. In addition, we used blanks to manufacture pounding tools for blind, controlled replication of plant processing. We discovered that stone blanks are in fact environmental reservoirs in which plant remains are trapped by lithobionts, preserved as hardened accretions. Tool use, on the other hand, creates residue clusters; however, their spatial distribution can be discriminated from purely natural assemblages by the georeferencing of residues and statistical analysis of resulting patterns. To conclude, we provide a protocol for best practice and a workflow that has the advantage of overcoming environmental noise, reducing the risk of false positive, delivering a firm understanding of residues as polygenic mixtures, a reliable use of controls, and most importantly, a stronger link between microbotanical remains and stone tool use. © 2022. The Author(s).Materials and methods Results - Blanks as environmental reservoirs - Utilization creates residue clusters - Anthropogenic residue distribution - Of lichen habitability, proxy palimpsests, and hardened accretions - A protocol to study plant residue from Oldowan pounding tool

Measuring emotional and social wellbeing in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations: an analysis of a Negative Life Events Scale

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians experience widespread socioeconomic disadvantage and health inequality. In an attempt to make Indigenous health research more culturally-appropriate, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians have called for more attention to the concept of emotional and social wellbeing (ESWB). Although it has been widely recognised that ESWB is of crucial importance to the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, there is little consensus on how to measure in Indigenous populations, hampering efforts to better understand and improve the psychosocial determinants of health. This paper explores the policy and political context to this situation, and suggests ways to move forward. The second part of the paper explores how scales can be evaluated in a health research setting, including assessments of endorsement, discrimination, internal and external reliability

Gender, age, ethnic and occupational associations with pathological gambling in a New Zealand urban sample

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Religion, spirituality and associations with problem gambling

Little is known about the contribution of religion and spirituality to the development of problem gambling. This paper examines one of the reasons associated with religion and spirituality which was given by respondents in a larger study of why people gamble in New Zealand. A survey questionnaire of reasons was derived from focus groups and interviews with practitioners, problem gamblers and their families, and was completed by a convenience sample of 244 regular gamblers in the South Auckland population. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the 148 problem gamblers in the sample were more than three times as likely as non-problem gamblers to endorse the reason that gambling gives hope and an opportunity for a better life, after controlling for continuous gambling and demographic risk factors. This aspiration suggests that there might be other salient factors linking religion and spirituality to problem gambling, which need further investigation.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Key indicators of the transition from social to problem gambling

At the International Gambling Conference: Policy, Practice and Research in 2004 (Clarke, eCommunity-International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 3:29-40, 2005), a paper was presented which proposed key indicators of the transition from social to problem gambling and to recovery, based on a review of literature on factors leading to substance abuse. They included availability of gambling activities, lack of social and cultural empowerment, low socioeconomic status, and personal loss of control. Subsequently, a multidisciplinary team collected data on why people gamble. Four New Zealand ethnic groups (Päkehä/New Zealand European, Mäori, Pacific peoples and Asians) in South Auckland were targeted for both phases of the study. Phase 1 involved qualitative analysis of data from individual interviews and focus groups. Phase 2 surveyed 345 adults using a questionnaire developed from the first phase. From both phases, key indicators for problem gambling were similar to the indicators for substance abuse. Public health interventions such as reducing access to electronic gaming machines and empowerment of cultural groups, and a longitudinal study of the development of gambling in the community are suggested. © Springer Science + Business Media, Inc. 2006.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Gender, age, ethnic and occupational associations with pathological gambling in a New Zealand Urban sample

Demographic associations with pathological gambling are usually based on findings with population samples which include less serious problem gamblers. The present study examined the relative contribution of risk factors for pathological gambling in selected ethnic groups. A questionnaire which included the DSM-IV-TR symptoms of pathological gambling was completed by 345 South Auckland adults. Approximately 92% gambled and 38% of the gamblers met the criterion of at least five symptoms for current probable pathological gambling. Ethnicity and the interaction between gender and ethnicity were significant predictors of pathological gambling, after controlling for regular gambling, number of favourite continuous gambling activities, gender, age and occupation. Males and females were equivalently at high risk in New Zealand European and Maori groups, but not in the Pacific or Asian groups where males were at greater risk. The findings should be treated with caution owing to the non-representative nature of the sample. They suggest, however, that further research, including prospective investigation, is warranted to advance understanding of the development of problem gambling in different ethnic groups.link_to_subscribed_fulltex