Research Chair on Gambling
The Research Chair on Gambling was created at Concordia University in April 2012 (FRQ-SC 2012-2017), its first in Quebec. The Chair provides the research infrastructure on social inequities and lifestyles related to gambling, gaming, and internet use through research, training, and knowledge transfer to partners and collaborators. The main objectives of the Research Chair are to: a) generate a multi-dimensional and multi-level framework for research on gambling, gaming, and internet use as well as associated problems; integrating individual (lifestyles), as well as contextual and socio-cultural (social determinants and inequities) components; b) generate knowledge that will support prevention efforts of at-risk behaviours in most vulnerable populations and actions sustaining health; c) share knowledge with partners, stakeholders, collaborators and the general public on these issues through innovative dissemination and knowledge transfer activities; d) increase the decision-making capacity around these emerging issues and support the training of the next generation of researchers.
Research within the Research Chair revolves around four main projects:
1) ENHJEU: The University Student Gambling Habit Survey/Enquête sur les Habitudes de Jeu des Étudiants Universitaires 2008 (ENHJEU) providing data from a representative sample of undergraduate students in universities in Montreal, Quebec. Young adults are considered vulnerable with respect to risk behaviors and this project aims to achieve a better understanding of their gambling habits and the associated problems with a particular focus on the social, physical, and symbolic dimensions of gambling contexts;
2) ENHJEU-Quebec: The ENHJEU-Quebec Survey-Portrait of gambling in Quebec: Prevalence, incidence, and trajectories over four years investigates the gambling habits and gambling-related problems of adult Quebecers. Two population surveys were completed in 2009, and 2012 gathering information on almost 12,000 respondents. In addition, some participants were followed-up over a period of three years to better assess various gambling trajectories (2009, 2010, 2012). The results of this study will support the Ministry of Health and Social Services and the regional health agencies in planning prevention programs and ensuring services in all regions of Quebec.
3) HERMES: Habitudes de vie Et Recherches MultidisciplinairES (Lifestyle and Multidisciplinary Research, FRQ-SC, 2013-2015). HERMES constitutes a newly developed research steam aiming at exploring and contrasting gaming and online gambling, comparing online with land-based games (i.e. offline gambling/gaming), and exploring individual and relational dimensions of online/offline behaviours.
4) France-Quebec Project: This comparative project was carried out between the Lifestyle and Addiction Research Laboratory at Concordia University and the French Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT). It aims at presenting a comparative picture of gambling practices of serious gamblers, that is, players who show a strong involvement in the game either by the frequency of participation or by their spending on the game.
