In order to map out the effects of simulated gambling on monetary gambling, a survey is conducted amongst Flemish teenagers. Several variables are assessed in this survey: sociodemographic variables (age, sex, education level,...), gaming behavior (favorite gamegenres, game addiction, motivation for gaming,...), simulated gambling behavior (purchasing lootboxes, playing social casino games, peers’ simulated gambling behavior,...) and monetary gambling behavior (attitude, intention to gamble,...). On top of that, and in order to limit the completion time of the survey, three different versions of the survey are distributed. One version will focus on persuasive techniques (videogamestreaming and gambling advertising), a second version will dive deeper into gaming behavior itself, and a third version will focus on personality traits (sensation seeking, depression,...).
Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash
Thirteen Flemish high schools are participating in the project. These schools are evenly distributed over the different provinces. All of the different education levels are represented in the sample. All schools, except one, are distributing the survey digitally: either in class or via Smartschool (the online learning platform in Flanders). The last school opted for the paper version of the survey, because they didn’t have access to enough computers.
With permission of the ethical committee, an opt-out procedure was used. Parents were informed by mail about the study, and had the option to opt-out their child. In the same mail, parents were asked to fill out a survey themselves. This survey resembled the survey for teenagers, albeit in a shorter form. This way, we will be able to compare the different parent-child dyads. More than 700 parents filled out the survey (either partially, or completely), and around twenty teenagers were opted out of the survey by one of their parents. Thanks to the opt-out procedure and the possibility to conduct the survey during class hours, over 1000 teenagers already filled out the survey. Data collection will start again after the Christmas break, and will run until the end of January.
Eva Grosemans & Lowie Bradt
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