Summary

This study is a component of the Pacific Islands Families Study, which is a longitudinal cohort study of a birth cohort of 1,398 Pacific infants who were recruited into the study from a South Auckland hospital in 2000. In 2017, the cohort children were 17 years old and an extensive set of gambling-related questions was included in their survey. Six hundred and thirty-two youth were surveyed.

Research has shown that Pacific adults are less likely to participate in gambling activities than European adults but that those who do gamble have a higher risk of developing levels of harmful gambling. The reasons for the increased risk are not well understood and the gambling behaviours of Pacific youth, which could lead to adult gambling behaviours, are even less researched. This research report begins to address this gap in knowledge.