How To Prevent Gambling In Minors
In recent years, the number of children and adolescents engaging in problem gambling behaviors has increased. Advertising and the emergence of online gambling have only added to the problem. It is necessary that parents, teachers and institutions take measures to prevent gambling in minors.
Gambling is an addictive disorder that reflects persistent and maladaptive gambling behavior. For the person who suffers from it, gambling becomes an absolute priority in their life. You start to put aside the rest of your goals and needs. He fails in his attempts to stop playing and is restless and irritable when he has to.
Why are games addictive?
- Visual and auditory strategies. Many of the games with addictive potential are full of flashy lights and sounds that are used as a lure.
- Intermittent reinforcement. In some games, the reward is not obtained safely whenever a behavior is performed. Rather, it appears randomly and intermittently. This type of reinforcement is the most effective to maintain a behavior and the ones that make it more difficult to eliminate it.
- Escape from reality. There is another important component in gambling addiction and that is the ability it provides to flee from reality. Many people can use the game to alleviate their emotional distress, instead of using other more appropriate strategies.
Chance: a key component to prevent gambling in minors
Gambling and gambling are the most addicting because obtaining the reward is unpredictable. Every day, this type of game is more available and accessible to children and adolescents, despite being prohibited until the age of majority.
But, in addition, a new type of video game has emerged that incorporates components related to chance. Many of them offer purchase options that allow you to obtain additional content for the game. And, many times, the reward to be obtained is random. Therefore, it is increasingly difficult to distinguish between video games and games of chance.
This reality has a negative impact on minors who, in an unclear way, begin to be immersed in this type of addictive dynamics. Starting gambling at an early age has been shown to significantly increase the risk of developing an addiction.
How to prevent gambling in minors
Game normalization
Advertising broadcast on public television during protected hours for minors is incessant. Gambling has been granted the status of an acceptable and socially desired pastime. We have completely normalized the existence of these advertisements, on television and on the internet, as well as the proliferation of bookmakers in our neighborhoods.
We must protect our minors from exposure to these messages that extol pathological gambling as valid entertainment. However, it is very difficult to prevent some of this advertising from reaching them.
Therefore, the family is the key. Family attitudes towards gambling have an impact on the child’s beliefs. We must try to convey the danger and seriousness of these behaviors, both with our words and with our actions. In addition to leading by example, it is very important that we sit down and talk with our young people.
Informing them about the risks and mechanisms of gambling addiction will have a preventive effect. It is important that when we deny them access or financial outlay in some games we offer them the arguments for which we do not agree.
Leisure alternatives
The game has positioned itself as one of the leisure activities preferred by young people. To prevent them from developing inappropriate or abusive gambling behaviors, it is important to offer them alternatives.
We must promote other types of entertainment, such as playing sports, spending time outdoors or going out to socialize with friends. Including our minors in groups where they can do their hobbies is a good option to use their free time.
Availability
The advent of the internet and smartphones has made children have thousands of game options available. Let us try to adapt the use of these devices to the age of the minor. Let’s monitor the time they spend online and, especially, the content they access.
