Study: Gambling and Porn Are Making Young Men Feel Like Failures

Online sports betting may be a source of mental health issues and distress comparable to pornography for young men, a new survey articulates.

The Institute for Family Studies, a think tank focused on family formation, marriage, parenting, child well-being, and the role of technology in family life, has conducted comprehensive research into how behaviors seen as negative actually impact marital dynamics, personal mental health, and children.

IFS Adds to Body of Research Suggesting Sports Betting Is Harming Young Men

In the latest such research, the IFS has specifically sought to move past anecdotal evidence and provide a clear-cut framework that can be used to help offset the negative impacts experienced by young college-age males emanating from sports gambling. 

According to the IFS, 1 in 10 young men express concerns that their gambling-related issues and life problems are severe or extreme, with 29% classifying them as moderate. 

The IFS has found that young men in the age group 18-29 specifically, who are suffering mentally because of sports betting, may also find themselves indulging in harmful behavior, such as drug use, video games, and marijuana. This group may also lack friendships and romantic partnerships. The IFS specifically noted:

“Frequent recourse to some of the online activities, including gambling and porn viewing, is associated with greater loneliness, depression, and feelings of failure, suggesting both an enervating effect of these activities and that young men are turning to them as a means of coping with the stress of their predicament.” 

IFS Notes That Young Men Who Engage with Harmful Activities Experience Mental Health Issues

The IFS probed into feedback even further, noting that around 2 in 3 regular online gamblers have admitted that the activity causes them some sort of distress overall.

Out of the people who watched pornography multiple times a day, 43% said that they felt lonely, and another 36% – depressed, with 29% reporting a general feeling of anxiousness. 

Even more shockingly, 66% of daily gamblers and 63% of daily pornography watchers said that they felt like failures, compared to 42% of men overall. 

The IFS’s research adds to a growing body of work that seeks to highlight the risks that young men bear by joining activities that may be doing them more harm than good.