Examining Gambling and Substance Use: Applications of Advanced Latent Class Modeling Techniques for Cross-sectional and Longitudinal Data
Open Access
- Author:
- Bray, Bethany Cara
- Graduate Program:
- Human Development and Family Studies
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- June 29, 2007
- Committee Members:
- Linda Marie Collins, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Edward A Smith, Committee Member
Jennifer Lianne Maggs, Committee Member
Joseph Francis Schafer, Committee Member
Stephanie Trea Lanza, Committee Member
Helene R White, Committee Member - Keywords:
- gambling
substance use
latent class models
longitudinal - Abstract:
- The purpose of the current project is to present three empirical studies that illustrate the application of advanced latent class modeling techniques to research questions about gambling and substance use. The first empirical study used latent class analysis (LCA) and LCA with covariates to identify and predict types of college-student gamblers using data from a large northeastern university. Four types of gamblers were identified: non-gamblers, cards and lotto players, cards and games of skill players, and multi-game players. Significant predictors of gambling latent class membership included: gender, school year, living in off-campus housing, Greek membership, and past-year alcohol use. There were substantial gender differences in the probabilities of latent class membership and in the predictive effects of the covariates. The second empirical study used LCA to identify types of adolescent and young adult gamblers and used LCA for repeated measures to identify types of drinking trajectories using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Multivariable LCA was used to examine the relation between gambling and drinking by linking specific types of gambling to specific types of drinking trajectories. Gambling and drinking were shown to be highly related in general, and drinking frequency appeared to be more predictive of gambling than was drinking quantity. The third empirical study used latent transition analysis to identify types of adolescent smokers and types of drinkers, and to describe smoking and drinking development over time using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997. Multiprocess modeling was used to examine the relation between smoking and drinking by modeling the development of the two processes simultaneously. Three types of smokers and three types of drinkers were identified: non-smokers, light smokers, heavy smokers, non-drinkers, light drinkers, and heavy drinkers. The behavior of non-smokers, non-drinkers, heavy smokers, and heavy drinkers was relatively stable across time whereas the behavior of light smokers and light drinkers was variable. Multiprocesss modeling allowed the examination of the ways in which developmental transitions in drinking varied by smoking behavior.