"Sense for Gambling" Among Jewish Ultra-Orthodox Men With Gambling Disorder.

Making sense of the social world is an intricate process heavily influenced by cultural elements. Gambling is a prevalent leisure-time activity characterized by risk-taking conduct. While some individuals who engage in it do so without experiencing any harm, others will develop gambling problems. Judaism tends to perceive gambling negatively since it contradicts fundamental Jewish principles. The current study focuses on the Jewish Ultra-Orthodox community in Israel which is characterized as a cultural enclave with minimal interaction with the secular world. Hence, it provides a unique and novel socio-cultural context to inquire how individuals with gambling disorder (GD) from this community make sense of gambling. Following constructivist grounded theory guidelines, 22 Ultra-Orthodox men with GD were interviewed using a purposeful sampling design. Sixteen Rabbis were also interviewed, illuminating the socio-cultural context of Halachic regulations and norms regarding gambling in this community. An abductive analysis of the data, interwoven with Bourdieu's concept of habitus, yielded an overarching theme that we dub as "sense for gambling," encompassing matrices of Ultra-Orthodox external (e.g., a conservative cultural structure with numerous prohibitions and life marked by poverty) and internal (e.g., feelings of loneliness, dissatisfaction, and deviance) dispositions imprinted onto the body, creating diverse embodied reactions (emotional and sensory) to gambling, and leading to developing GD. We recommend placing the body, as the locus of internalized dispositions, at the core of examination when researching pathways to GD. We propose that this intricate interplay between external and internal dispositions shapes the decision-making regarding gambling, thus mitigating individual responsibility for GD.

Differences in gambling disorder recovery capital toolkits in mothers versus childless women.

This study focused on mothers and childless women in recovery from a gambling disorder (GD) in the context of risk society. Mothers with GD suffer from dual social stigma as gamblers and as women who put their children at risk. Mothers in "risk society" tend to recognize that their choices can affect their children's future. The recovery capital (RC) toolkit comprises internal and external resources and barriers enacted in recovery. This longitudinal study: (a) compared the RC toolkits of mothers versus childless women and their effects on these women's dropout and relapse rates; (b) explored the resources and barriers that predict dropout and relapse in each group. Analysis of the clinical data of 211 women with GD (N = 146 mothers) who received cognitive behavioral therapy for 16 weeks in Spain indicated that mothers reported lower levels of education and were from more disadvantaged socioeconomic groups, were older, and developed gambling-related problems in older age. Mothers had significantly lower relapse rates but not lower dropout rates. There were more personal predictors of dropout among childless women, whereas low levels of family support and the absence of gambling debts predicted dropout in the mothers' group. These findings were interpreted by combining the concepts of risk society and recovery capital in action, highlight the differences between resources and barriers in the RC toolkits used by mothers versus childless women and their interplay with the sociocultural contexts of risk society and childfree lifestyles. Therapists and policymakers should consider these differences during recovery. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Problem gambling severity in a nationally representative sample of the Israeli population: the moderating role of ethnonational affiliation.

Introduction: Gambling is a public health concern. Problem gambling is related to a range of psycho-social risk factors including ethnonational affiliation. Israel is an insightful case to probe problem gambling, given the socio-economic marginalization of Israeli Arabs, the continued exposure of Israelis to stress and the conservative Israeli gambling market. This study aimed to estimate problem gambling severity in Israeli society, characterize the sociodemographic, environmental, mental health, and gambling-related risk factors associated with problem gambling severity, and examine the role of ethnonational affiliation (Israeli Jewish/Arab) as a moderating factor in the associations between these risk factors and problem gambling severity. Methods: A cross-sectional study based on a representative sample of 3,244 Israelis was conducted in 2022, of whom 1,626 had gambled in the previous year. Measurements included Problem Gambling Severity Index, Gambling Behaviors, Perceived Neighborhood Cohesion, Stress, the Patient Health Questionnaire-4, and sociodemographic variables. Results: Low-risk, moderate-risk and problem gambling were reported by 16.7% of the total sample. The main risk factors for problem gambling were being an Israeli Arab, traditional, residing in a low socio-economic cluster, reporting anxiety symptoms, and higher gambling behaviors, specifically in legal/illegal online gambling. Ethnonational affiliation (Israeli Jewish/Arab) moderated the associations between gambling, illegal online gambling, and problem gambling severity. Higher neighborhood cohesion emerged as a risk factor for problem gambling solely for Israeli Arabs. Discussion: As an excluded minority, Israeli Arabs may turn to gambling as a method to access the core republican community, thus, exposing themselves to a higher risk of developing problem gambling.

Recovery capital in action: How is gender understood and employed by men and women recovering from gambling disorder?

Gender is a multidimensional construct that differentiates males and females according to its meanings in different socio-cultural contexts. Recovery capital (RC) describes the internal and external resources individuals employ and/or have access to when overcoming addictions. Negative RC refers to elements that hinder recovery. The literature on gender and RC is baffling since unlike quantitative studies that have found no differences between men and women in the levels of RC, qualitative comparisons indeed underscore differences. This study employed qualitative and quantitative research methods to explore how men and women with gambling disorder (GD) understand and employ gender as a factor in their recovery. Participants with GD (N = 133, 39 women) answered an open-ended question on gender as a component in their recovery. Content analysis revealed that 41.35% of the interviewees did not consider gender as a significant factor in recovery. By contrast, 58.65% viewed gender as important to recovery, indicating four gender-related elements that either enhance and/or hinder recovery: gender stereotypes, gender roles, mixed-gender therapeutic space, and sex in exchange for money for gambling. Chi-square analyses showed no differences between men and women in the distribution of the relevance of gender to recovery. Both groups reported similar perceptions of gender in relation to recovery, and identified similar gender-related specific elements that enhanced or hindered recovery from GD except for exchanging sex for money for gambling. These findings are explained by a combination of macro and micro-level theories that result in a new conceptualization of RC. We coined the term "Recovery Capital in Action" to show how the "RC toolkit" that individuals employ can hinder or enhance their recovery depending on cultural context, and that gender can be both a negative and a positive RC. Mental health professionals should consider the interplay between gender and the socio-cultural contexts during recovery.