Do predictors of gambling involvement differ across male and female adolescents?

We examined gender-specific factors, which might be related to adolescent gambling behavior, using a comprehensive set of predictors from neighborhood, school, family, peer, and intrapersonal domains. Discriminate function analyses revealed a unique pattern of results for each gender. The noteworthy predictors for males were similar to what is found to be predictors of other risk behaviors, suggesting that there may be a similar etiology to gambling participation as found with other risk behaviors. Compared to males, the model for females suggests that parents and peers may have a greater influence on engagement in gambling behavior. Participation in unstructured activities, and risk attitudes/perceptions were the only consistent noteworthy predictors across both males and females. Implications are discussed.