Study title

YouGamble 2018: US Data

Dataset ID Number

FSD3591

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3591

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Oksanen, Atte (Tampere University. Faculty of Social Sciences)
• Kaakinen, Markus (Tampere University. Faculty of Social Sciences)
• Sirola, Anu (Tampere University. Faculty of Social Sciences)
• Savolainen, Iina (Tampere University. Faculty of Social Sciences)

Abstract

This survey charted the gambling, social media usage and subjective well-being of young people aged 15-25 years in the United States. The study was conducted as part of the "Problem Gambling and Social Media: Social Psychological Study on Youth Behaviour in Online Gaming Communities" research project. The aim of the project was to analyse how young social media users evaluate, adopt and share gambling-related online content and how online group processes affect their gambling and gambling-related attitudes. FSD's holdings also include two other datasets that were collected using a nearly identical questionnaire (FSD3399 and FSD3400). Data for the research project have been collected in Finland, the United States, Spain, and South Korea.

First, the respondents were asked which social media services they used (e.g. Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, discussion forums, online casinos) and how often. Topics that the respondents discussed on gambling-related social media were charted more closely, and they were asked, for example, whether the discussion usually related to instructions or tips on gambling or to problem gambling and recovering from problem gambling. Some questions on the respondents' social media activity were also presented, for instance, how often they saw gambling-related advertising online, how often they changed their most important social media passwords, and how often they uploaded pictures of themselves on social media. The respondents were asked whether they had ever been harassed online or had been the victim of a crime on the Internet in the past three years (e.g. defamation, identity theft, fraud, sexual harassment).

The respondents' identity bubbles on social media were surveyed by using the IBR scale (Identity Bubble Reinforcement Scale). The respondents were asked, for instance, whether they thought they could be themselves on social media and whether they only interacted with people similar to them on social media. Additionally, the CIUS scale (Compulsive Internet Use) was used to examine problems related to Internet use. Questions focused on, for example, whether the respondents found it difficult to stop using the Internet when they were online, whether people close to them said they should use the Internet less, and whether they felt restless, frustrated or irritated when they couldn't use the Internet.

In the next section of the questionnaire, the respondents were randomly assigned to two groups for a vignette experiment. Respondents in the test group were told they belong to Group C because they had answered the earlier questions in a similar manner to others in the group. Those in the control group were given no information on the group. The respondents were presented with different gambling-related social media scenarios, and they were asked to evaluate the contents of the gambling-related messages by "liking" or "disliking" the message or by not reacting to it at all. Each respondent was shown four different gambling messages with different contents. Three factors were manipulated in the scenarios (2x2x2 design): expressed stance of the message on gambling (positive or negative), narrative perspective of the message (experience-driven first-person narration or fact-driven third-person narration) and majority opinion of other respondents on the message (positively or negatively biased distribution of likes or dislikes). For Group C, the majority opinion was seemingly provided by other Group C members, whereas for the control group the majority opinion was seemingly provided by other respondents. Additionally, the respondents' attitudes towards the message were surveyed with statements regarding, for instance, how likely they would find the message interesting or share it on social media.

Next, the respondents' attitudes towards gambling were charted by using the ATGS scale (Attitudes Towards Gambling Scale). They were asked, for example, whether people should have the right to gamble whenever they want, whether most people who gamble do so sensibly and whether it would be better if gambling was banned altogether. The respondents' gambling habits were examined by using the SOGS scale (South Oaks Gambling Screen), and they were asked, for instance, which types of gambling they had done in the past 12 months (played slot machines, visited an online casino, bet on lotteries etc.), whether the people close to them had gambling problems, and whether they had borrowed money to gamble or to pay gambling debts. In addition, the respondents' alcohol consumption was surveyed with a few questions from the AUDITC scale (The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test), and they were asked whether they had used various drugs for recreational purposes (e.g. cannabis, LSD, amphetamine, opioids) and which online resources they had used to purchases these drugs (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, Craigslist).

The respondents' subjective well-being and social relationships were examined next. The respondents were asked how happy they were in general and how satisfied they were with their economic situation and life in general. They were also asked how well the single statement "I have high self-esteem" from the SISE scale (Single-item Self-esteem Scale) described them. The three statements on lacking companionship, feeling left out and feeling isolated from the LONE scale (Three-item Loneliness Scale) were also included in the survey. Feelings of belonging to different groups or communities (e.g. family, friends, neighbourhood, parish/religious community) were charted, and the 12-item GHQ scale (General Health Questionnaire) was used to survey the respondents' recent mental health. Questions included, for example, whether the respondents had been able to concentrate on what they were doing, had felt they couldn't overcome their difficulties, and had been losing confidence in themselves.

Finally, the respondents' sense of control over the events in their lives was examined with the MASTERY scale (Sense of Mastery Scale), with questions focusing on, for instance, whether they thought they had little control over the things that happen to them and whether they often felt helpless in dealing with the problems of life. The respondents' impulsivity was surveyed by using the EIS scale (Eysenck Impulsivity Scale) and their willingness to delay gratification was surveyed with the GRATIF scale (Delay of Gratification).

Background variables included the respondent's gender, age, country of birth (own and parents') level of education, type of municipality of residence, household composition, disposable income, possible financial problems, and economic activity and occupational status.

Keywords

addiction; gambling; internet; internet use; online communities; social behaviour; social media; substance use; well-being (health); youth

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Youth (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Drug abuse, alcohol and smoking (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Social behaviour and attitudes (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Information society (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• General health and well-being (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

YouGamble

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Data Collector

• Oksanen, Atte (Tampere University. Faculty of Social Sciences)
• Sirola, Anu (Tampere University. Faculty of Social Sciences)
• Kaakinen, Markus (Tampere University. Faculty of Social Sciences)
• Savolainen, Iina (Tampere University. Faculty of Social Sciences)

Funders

• Finnish Foundation for Alcohol Studies

Time Period Covered

2018

Collection Dates

2018-01-15 – 2018-01-24

Nation

United States

Geographical Coverage

United States

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

United States Internet users aged 15-25

Time Method

Cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Non-probability: Quota

The respondents were recruited via email by Survey Sampling International, based on a geographically comprehensive panel of people who had registered as willing to respond to surveys. Quotas on age groups, gender and area of residence were set before conducting the survey so that the respondents were representative of the United States population aged 15-25 years in 2016. The population information was based on Census Bureau data from 2016.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)

Field/Intervention experiment

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: English.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Number of Cases and Variables

286 variables and 1212 cases.

Data Version

1.0

Related Datasets

FSD3399 YouGamble 2017: Finnish Data

FSD3400 YouGamble 2017: Additional Finnish Data

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

To prevent identification of respondents, the variables denoting age and area of residence (bv16_1 and bv16_2) and the variable denoting race (bv20) were recategorized at FSD. Additionally, the variable denoting the respondent's year of birth (bv2), the variable denoting the respondent's country of birth if other than the US (bv3b), and variables containing open-ended responses to the response option 'Other, please specify” were removed from the data.

Weighting

There are no weight variables in the data.

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

Oksanen, Atte (Tampere University) & Kaakinen, Markus (Tampere University) & Sirola, Anu (Tampere University) & Savolainen, Iina (Tampere University): YouGamble 2018: US Data [dataset]. Version 1.0 (2022-09-20). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3591

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Publications

Oksanen, A., Savolainen, I., Sirola, A., & Kaakinen, M. (2018) Problem gambling and Psychological Distress: a cross-national perspective on the mediating effect of consumer debt and debt problems among emerging adults. Harm Reduction Journal, 15(45). DOI: 10.1186/s12954-018-0251-9.

Savolainen, I., Oksanen, A., Kaakinen, M., Sirola, A., Paek, H. J. (2020) The role of perceived loneliness in youth addictive behaviors: cross-national survey study. Journal of Medical Internet Research Mental Health, 7(1): e14035. DOI:10.2196/14035.

Savolainen, I., Oksanen, A., Kaakinen, M., Sirola, A., Miller, B. L., Zych, I., & Paek, H. J. (2020). The association between social media use and hazardous alcohol consumption among youths: A four-country study. Alcohol & Alcoholism, DOI: 10.1093/alcalc/agz088.

Sirola, A., Kaakinen, M., Savolainen, I., & Oksanen, A. (2019). Loneliness and online gambling-community participation of young social media users. Computers in Human Behavior, 95(June), 136-145. DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2019.01.023. Journal IF 2018 [JCR]: 4.306.

Kaakinen, M., Koivula, A., Savolainen, I., Sirola, A., Mikkola, M., Zych, I., Paek, H.-J., & Oksanen, A. (2021). Online dating applications and risk of youth victimization: A lifestyle exposure perspective. Aggressive Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.21968

Koivula, A., Oksanen, A., Kaakinen, M., Sirola, A., Savolainen, I., Paek, H.-J., & Zych, I. (2021). Life Satisfaction and Online-Gambling Communities: A Cross-National Study of Gambling Activities Among Young Finnish, American, South Korean and Spanish People. Journal of Gambling Studies. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-021-10081-8

Mikkola, M., Oksanen, A., Kaakinen, M., Miller, B. L., Savolainen, I., Sirola, A., Zych, I., & Paek, H.-J. (2020). Situational and individual risk factors for cybercrime victimization in a cross-national context. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X20981041

Miller, B. L., Lowe, C. C., Kaakinen, M., Savolainen, I., Sirola, A., Stogner, J., Ellonen, N., & Oksanen, A. (2021). Online Peers and Offline Highs: An Examination of Online Peer Groups, Social Media Homophily, and Substance Use. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, https://doi.org/10.1080/02791072.2020.1871125

Oksanen, A., Miller, B.L., Savolainen, I., Sirola, A., Demant, J., Kaakinen, M. & Zych, I. (2020). Illicit Drug Purchases via Social Media Among American Young People. In G. Meiselwitz (Ed.), Social Computing and Social Media: Design, Ethics, User Behavior, and Social Network Analysis. HCII 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 12194, pp. 278-288. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49570-1_19

Oksanen, A., Miller, B. L., Savolainen, I., Sirola, A., Demant, J., & Kaakinen, M., Zych, I. (2021). Social Media and Access to Drugs Online: A Nationwide Study in the United States and Spain among Adolescents and Young Adults. European Journal of Psychology Applied to Legal Context, 13(1), 29-36. https://doi.org/10.5093/ejpalc2021a5.

Oksanen, A., Sirola, A., Savolainen, I., Koivula, A., Kaakinen, M., Vuorinen, I., Zych, I., Paek, H-J. (2021). Social Ecological Model of Problem Gambling: A Cross-National Survey Study of Young People in the United States, South Korea, Spain, and Finland. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 8(6), 3220. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18063220.

Savolainen, I. (2020). Addiction by identification: A social psychological perspective on youth addictive behaviors. Academic dissertation in social psychology. Tampere University. http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-03-1718-8

Savolainen, I., Kaakinen, M., Sirola, A., Koivula, A., Hagfors, H., Zych, I., Paek, H.-J., Oksanen, A. (2020). Online Relationships and Social Media Interaction in Youth Problem Gambling: A Four-Country Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(21)8133. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17218133.

Savolainen, I., Kaakinen, M., Sirola, A., & Oksanen, A. (2019). Peer Group Identification as Determinant of Youth Behavior and the Role of Perceived Social Support in Problem Gambling. J Gambl Stud 35, 15-30. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-018-9813-8

Savolainen, I., Oksanen, A., Kaakinen, M., Sirola, A., Zych, I., & Paek, H.-J. (2021). The role of online group norms and social identity in youth problem gambling. Computers in Human Behavior, 122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.106828

Sirola, Anu (2021). Web of gamble: A social psychological perspective on youth gambling and virtual communities. Academic dissertation in social psychology. Tampere University. http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-03-1812-3

Sirola, A. Kaakinen, M., Savolainen, I., Paek, H.-J., Zych, I., Oksanen, A. (2021). Online identities and social influence in social media gambling exposure: A four-country study on young people. Telematics & Informatics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2021.101582

Vuorinen, I. (2020). Nuorten ja nuorten aikuisten psykososiaalinen hyvinvointi ja rahapeliongelmat Yhdysvalloissa. Sosiaalipsykologian Pro-gradu tutkielma. Tampereen yliopisto. http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202003242859

Vuorinen, I., Oksanen, A., Savolainen, I., Sirola, A., Kaakinen, M., Paek, H.-J., & Zych, I. (2021).The Mediating Role of Psychological Distress in Excessive Gambling among Young People: A Four-Country Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(13), 6973. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18136973.

Zych, I., Kaakinen, M., Savolainen, I., Sirola, A., Paek, H.-J., & Oksanen, A. (2021). The role of impulsivity, social relations online and offline, and compulsive Internet use in cyberaggression: A four-country study. New Media & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448211009459