Gambling addictions run in families, perhaps for genetic reasons, according to a new study from the University of Missouri.
- Dr. Wendy Slutske and her colleagues studied 4700 twins from the Australian Twin Registry . In terms of gambling addictions. Men were almost three times more likely to be addicted to gambling
- One percent of women and 3 percent of men had the problem.
- Dr. Slutske found that if one identical twin had a gambling addiction, the other twin was more likely to have one too. This was not as true for fraternal twins, and implies a genetic component to gambling addictions.
"Like alcoholism, problem gambling is a complex disorder," Dr. Slutske said. "The answer will be in a collection of genes, maybe 10 or 100, we don't know how many, but each gene will increase the risk slightly for developing those problems."
The study appears in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
Posted By: Jane St. Clair