Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Oct 13:13:987379.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.987379. eCollection 2022.

An integrative review of research on gambling and domestic and family violence: Fresh perspectives to guide future research

Nerilee Hing  1 , Cathy O'Mullan  1 , Lydia Mainey  2 , Nancy Greer  1 , Helen Breen  3
Affiliations
Review

An integrative review of research on gambling and domestic and family violence: Fresh perspectives to guide future research

Nerilee Hing et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

This paper presents an integrative review of research on domestic and family violence (DFV), including intimate partner violence (IPV), experienced by victims and perpetrators with a gambling problem. It aims to review, critique, and synthesize research on this topic to generate fresh and alternative perspectives to guide future research. Based on a systematic search of the academic literature and a targeted search of gray literature, the paper summarizes findings from empirical studies pertaining to the prevalence of perpetration and victimization, characteristics of perpetrators and victims, and explanations for this violence. Based on this review, the paper suggests several potential improvements that can be considered in future studies. These include a shift from focusing on situational violence to also include coercive control; greater sensitivity in research design and interpretation to gender differences in experiences of violence; and the need to include economic abuse as a form of DFV/IPV. Adopting a public health lens is also recommended to broaden the research focus from victims and perpetrators to also consider contextual factors. In particular, gambling research should examine the contribution of gambling products, practices, environments, and marketing to DFV/IPV and how this might be ameliorated. While research to date has drawn much needed attention to the risks that gambling presents for DFV/IPV, this review provides some suggestions for future research so that it can provide more nuanced findings to inform policy and practice.

Keywords: domestic violence; gambling disorder; gambling harm; gender-based violence; intimate partner violence; problem gambling.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
PRISMA flow diagram for the systematic literature review. Excluded = did not explore the relationship between gambling and DFV; Included = meets the inclusion criteria; Related evidence = did not explore the relationship between gambiling and DFV but includes related material of potential use; Unsure = not enough information in the title and abstract; full text article was examined.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Current focus of gambling studies of DFV/IPV and gaps in areas of knowledge.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Adams A. E., Sullivan C. M., Bybee D., Greeson M. R. (2008). Development of the scale of economic abuse. Violence Against Women 14 563–588. 10.1177/1077801208315529 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Afifi T. O., Brownridge D. A., MacMillan H., Sareen J. (2010). The relationship of gambling to intimate partner violence and child maltreatment in a nationally representative sample. J. Psychiatric Res. 44 331–337. 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2009.07.010 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Andronicos M., Beauchamp G., DiMambro M., Robert M., Besson J., Séguin M. (2015). Do male and female gamblers have the same burden of adversity over their life course? Int. Gambl. Stud. 15 224–238. 10.1080/14459795.2015.1024706 - DOI
    1. Archer J. (2000). Sex differences in aggression between heterosexual partners: A meta-analytic review. Psychol. Bull. 126 651–680. 10.1037/0033-2909.126.5.651 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Australian Bureau of Statistics (2017). Personal safety, Australia, 2016. ABS cat. No. 4906.0. Canberra: ABS.

LinkOut - more resources