ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Addictive Behaviors
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1613798
Stigmatisation of people experiencing gambling-related harms: a vignette study of the predictors of desire for social distance
Provisionally accepted
Joanne Lloyd1*
Katy L Penfold1
Darren David Chadwick2Laura Louise Nicklin1
Daniel P Hinton1Sokratis Dinos3- 1Faculty of Education, Health and Wellbeing, University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton, United Kingdom
- 2Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, North West England, United Kingdom
- 3NatCen Social Research, London, United Kingdom
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Introduction: Stigma is associated with psychological distress and can act as a barrier to help-seeking for people who experience gambling harms. While research into intersectional stigma within this population is scarce, this may be exacerbated for those from multiply-marginalised groups. Method:This study used an online survey with 'vignette' design to capture attitudes of 3,567 adults in Great Britain towards hypothetical individuals experiencing gambling harms alongside a variety of other potentially stigmatised characteristics (minority ethnicity, LGBTQ status; low-income status; chronic drug/alcohol use; and mental health difficulties). Questions about participants' own demographic characteristics, their contact with and experience of gambling/gambling harms, and their beliefs about the nature and origin of gambling harms were also administered. Results: Significantly greater desire for social distance from protagonists experiencing gambling harms than those described as gambling recreationally (p<.05) indicated the presence of public stigma, and this was further elevated (p<.05) when the protagonist was described as having difficulties with drug and alcohol use.The other potentially stigmatised characteristics were not associated with an additional increase in stigma, and potential reasons for this are discussed. Perceived disruptiveness and harmfulness of the protagonist, along with beliefs that gambling harms are due to bad character and difficult to recover from, were all significant predictors of desire for social distance -as were lower levels of prior contact with gambling harms (all p <.05). Discussion: These findings have utility for stigma reduction interventions, and can also inform those working with people experiencing gambling harms.
Keywords: Gambling, stigma, vignette, Addiction, Gambling harm
Received: 17 Apr 2025; Accepted: 28 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lloyd, Penfold, Chadwick, Nicklin, Hinton and Dinos. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Joanne Lloyd, Faculty of Education, Health and Wellbeing, University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton, WV1 1LY, United Kingdom
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.