1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«[T]he goal of the study was to investigate the association between problem gambling in study participants (i.e., the parents) at age 30 and their children’s IH/I [impulsivity-hyperactivity/inattention] behaviors, while taking into account family and personal risk factors and comorbidities common to the two dimensions […].» (p. 1204)

Questions/Hypothèses :
«We hypothesized significant associations across generations between problem gambling and IH/I behaviors (i.e., between grandparents and parents, and between parents and children).» (p. 1204)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
«Participants were part of the Québec Longitudinal Study of Kindergarten Children […], a population cohort (N = 3017; 52.0% males) representative of children attending kindergarten in public schools of the province of Quebec, Canada, in 1986–1987. […] Measures used in the present study were collected when the cohort’s target participants (i.e., the parents in the present study) were 6 (T1) and 15 (T2) years old. At age 30 (T3), 1358 (45.0%) were successfully reassessed, and their children were assessed for the first time. […] Finally, among age-30 participants, 575 (42.3%) were parents. To obtain valid assessments of IH/I behaviors, their children were included in the present study if they were at least one year old (N = 468; Mean age = 4.65 years, SD = 2.70, range: 1–14 years).» (p. 1205)

Instruments :
Questionnaires

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

«First, our preliminary analyses showed a series of significant bivariate associations among problem gambling and IH/I behaviors across generations. Second, our main hypothesis was supported: Parents’ problem gambling was a significant risk factor for children’s IH/I behaviors, above and beyond the effects of socioeconomic and family characteristics, parents’ alcohol or drug use/problems, depressive symptoms, gambling involvement, and parents’ childhood IH/I behaviors. Indeed, our findings suggest that the risk inherent to parents’ problem gambling is not due to a mediation of the effect of parents’ early IH/I behaviors or to risk factors and comorbidities frequently associated with both conditions […], including the transmission of a common genetic liability. Importantly, the presence in the final model of other dimensions associated with problem gambling (education, income, problems and risky behaviors related to alcohol use), which could also represent proxies of the effect of parents’ early IH/I on child outcomes, did not account for the lack of mediation by parents’ problem gambling. Indeed, mediation analysis without these covariates provided very similar, non-significant, results for the test of mediation. Instead, the significant effects of parents’ early IH/I and current gambling problems and their interaction suggest that other aspects of the two dimensions contribute to children’s risk of developing IH/I behaviors.» (p. 1208-1209)