Abstract
Problem gambling in Secondary school students. In this study we analized the problem gambling prevalence in a representative sample of 2,790 students of secondary education from Galicia (14-21 years).The SOGS-RA questionnaire (Winters et al., 1993) was used to assess problem and at risk gambling behavior. It was found that 86.1% were not gamblers, 8.2% at risk gamblers, and 5.6% problem gamblers. There were significant differences among problem gamblers group and the other two groups in the amount of money spent on gambling, perception of parental gambling, school drop-out, and the relation between young people and their parents. In the problem gamblers group, 10.4% were men and 1.6% were women. There was a decrease of gambling with age (6% for 14-17 years, and 4.6% for 1821 years). These data showed the high prevalence of the problem gambling and the need to introduce preventive programs for gambling in order to diminish the number of problem gamblers.
