UF Researchers Say Speeding Associated With Gambling, Drug Use In Teens

November 10, 2003

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Teenagers who break the speed limit are more likely than nonspeeding teens to gamble, use drugs or drink alcohol, University of Florida scientists reported today at the Society for Neuroscience’s 33rd annual meeting in New Orleans.

Research suggests parents should be on the alert for gambling or drug use if they find their children drive faster than the speed limit, say psychiatrists at UF’s Evelyn F. and William L. McKnight Brain Institute. Likewise, teens who bet on sports or who scratch off lottery tickets are far more likely to risk their lives by driving above the speed limit than adolescents who do not gamble, they say.

“The implications for parents are huge,” said Dr. Mark Gold, a distinguished professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at UF’s College of Medicine. “Parents tend to view speeding as an island, rather than to say that it is a clue to other behaviors that could help them save their child’s life.”

For the study, funded by the nonprofit Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling, UF researchers conducted telephone interviews with more than 1,000 Florida teens 13 to 17 about gambling activities, alcohol and drug use, mental health and speeding. Of that group, UF researchers focused on 15- to 17-years-olds who said they were drivers. Researchers said they believe it is the first survey to indicate a correlation between speeding and gambling, although scientists previously suspected the behaviors are related. In the survey, high-risk speeding was defined as 10 mph or more above the posted speed limit.

“When gamblers talk about driving, they speak in terms of passing other cars, beating the clock or beating a ticket. Driving embodies a sense of winning,” said Dr. Nathan Shapira, an assistant professor of psychiatry who led the study. “They don’t think about accidents, injuries and death because they are in the moment. In the same way, pathological gamblers aren’t thinking about how they’re going to pay the bills if they lose. They’re thinking about how they’re going to win.”

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for 15- to 20-year-olds, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and speeding is a major contributor. In 2001, 36 percent of male drivers 15 to 20 who were involved in fatal crashes were speeding. The same year, the estimated economic cost of police-reported crashes involving drivers between 15 and 20 was $42.3 billion.

Looking at the self-reported driving behavior of 562 adolescents, UF scientists found that speeding and gambling were closely associated. Researchers found no differences between boys and girls in terms of speeding, Shapira said.

In all, 328 teenagers surveyed – 58 percent – said they gambled. Even those who gambled infrequently were more likely to speed than their nongambling peers. Speeding increased on average by 1.7 mph with each step up the gambling ladder, starting with nongamblers at the bottom and progressing through low, at-risk and pathological levels. Overall, 27 teens were classified at the pathological gambling level, and 19 of them – 70 percent – reported high-risk speeding, compared with 14 percent of nongamblers.

The findings were among those chosen for public presentation today at the annual meeting of the 34,000-member Society for Neuroscience, described as the largest organization of scientists and physicians devoted to the study of the brain.

What’s more, survey results showed the higher the speeding or gambling levels, the more likely the teens were using drugs such as alcohol, tranquilizers, marijuana, cocaine and amphetamines. Random interviews with teens were conducted with parental consent and took place from October through December of 2001.

“We found a constellation of illegal behaviors,” Shapira said. “The problem from a public health standpoint is an adolescent can appear in court for speeding, but no one asks about gambling, or drugs and alcohol. Meanwhile, you might talk about drug and alcohol abuse or gambling in a physician’s office, but speeding is left out. All of these behaviors need to be assessed to get a better picture of this individual for intervention’s sake.”

The association among speeding, gambling and other illegal activities is not readily apparent in law-enforcement or health systems, but awareness of it could provide insight into treatment.

“I haven’t seen a correlation among those behaviors, and I handle juvenile and adult cases,” said Hershel Mullins, a magistrate in Monongalia County, W.Va. “If there is a correlation, in some instances knowing that would be helpful.”

Researchers say the next step is to examine high-risk behavior among adolescents in detail.

“It would be interesting to conduct a prospective study of risk behaviors to see if there are certain behaviors that lead to others or if they develop together,” said Kimberly Frost-Pineda, a UF addiction medicine researcher who was involved in the study. “In the meantime, if parents find their kids are getting speeding tickets, they should ask them about drugs and alcohol or gambling because we found these activities are highly associated.”