A unique study by researchers at Buffalo State College's Center for Health and Social Research has found a strong association between pathological gambling and alcohol abuse and dependency. In fact, the researchers found that problem drinkers are an astounding 23 times as likely to also be problem gamblers than people without drinking problems.

The study, co-authored by researchers at the Research Institute on Addictions (RIA), surveyed more than 2,500 respondents throughout the United States about their drinking and gambling behaviors, and demographics such as race, gender, age, family income, occupation and years of education.

The survey, the first to use a measure of gambling pathology based on the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DSM-IV), also found that the overall prevalence of pathological (compulsive) gambling ? between 1 and 2 percent of the population ? was higher than previously reported, especially among minorities and those in lower socioeconomic strata. When the researchers looked at the co-occurrence of pathological gambling and alcohol dependence, however, they found that pathological gamblers in the higher socioeconomic strata were much more likely to be alcohol-dependent.

Only two national surveys of gambling had been conducted before this one.

William Wieczorek, Ph.D., director of Buffalo State's Center for Health and Social Research and study co-author said, "The especially strong association between alcohol dependence and pathological gambling highlights the fact that increased gambling opportunities, such as casinos in Buffalo, have real social, health and economic costs. It's reasonable to debate these issues, and at the least, plan to use monies generated by gambling to deal with the foreseeable problems."

The study, funded by a $1.2 million grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, was published last September in the Journal of Studies of Alcohol.

Although the researchers found that the amount of alcohol consumed had no effect on whether the subjects gambled, they did note it had an effect on whether the subjects were frequent or pathological gamblers, finding that the subjects who consumed more than four drinks per day were five times as likely as abstainers to be problem or pathological gamblers.

The survey also found that the rate of current gambling pathology among blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans was seven to 10 times the rate among whites.

Although this study found that alcohol dependence and abuse were higher for its male than female respondents ? a pattern consistent with other alcohol studies ? and that this pattern held true for its measures of gambling pathology, it reported a similar rate between men and women for current pathological gambling by one measure and only a slightly higher rate among males by another.

It also found the rate of current alcohol dependence and abuse was the same as the rate it found for pathological gambling ? 1 to 2 percent.

Younger respondents had higher rates for alcohol dependence and abuse than older respondents. Younger respondents also showed higher rates of pathological or problem gambling than older respondents.

The researchers expected they would find a positive correlation between problem drinking and problem gambling; indeed, problem drinking is associated with a host of problem behaviors. They theorize that the correlation arises from an underlying disposition that gives rise to both ? a propensity to ignore social conventions and consequences. They cite evidence that shows pathological gambling and alcohol dependence are strongly related to antisocial personality disorder, and postulate that both are secondary consequences of people with that disorder to act irresponsibly.

In addition to Wieczorek, John Welte, Ph.D., lead researcher and senior scientist at the RIAcine in the University at Buffalo (UB) School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Grace Barnes, Ph.D., senior scientist with RIA and adjunct associate professor of Sociology at UB and research associates Marie Tidwell, Ph.D., and John Parker, Ph.D., authored the study.