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Gambling research a sure bet 

Sylvia Kairouz to present at international symposium

By Russ Cooper

You’ll never catch her at closing time clutching a scotch and she may not have much of a poker face, but Sociology and Anthropology Professor Sylvia Kairouz knows all about vices.

Kairouz will be the lone Concordia professor presenting at the first Gambling and Addictions Symposium, held at Delta Centre Ville, Sept. 3 and 4.

“Whether it’s alcohol, drugs, gambling or anything, addictions are significant factors that contribute to the burden of disease and premature death; be it through direct effects such as health, or indirect such as suicide or road fatalities,” she says. “It’s always been an important issue for public health, but it’s becoming more and more important in recent years.”

The conference aims to examine the state of gambling research today, which interventions are the most effective and which ones show the most promise. Some of the foremost researchers and experts on the subject from Quebec universities and around the world have been.

Kairouz’ most recent research revolves around the study of people’s lifestyle in relation to potentially addictive behaviours. In the research she’ll present at the symposium on Sept. 4, Kairouz will be illustrating the parallels between gambling, alcohol consumption and drug use tendencies of full-time undergrad Quebec university students aged 18 to 26. Often these behaviors are examined individually, and Kairouz is attempting to find overlap between different dependencies to aid in better understanding addictions as a whole.

As well, Kairouz has found external, social-environmental factors (such as proximity to parents, beliefs and habits present among other students, and perceptions towards these behaviours) play as big a role in determining conduct of students as internal, personality traits such as origin or family history.

“[Social-environmental factors] have largely been ignored in addiction studies until now,” she says.

Much of the information she’ll present has been gleaned from her work at the Lifestyle and Addiction Research Lab. Since 2007, she’s been part of an investigation entitled the ENHJEU Survey. A collaborative effort with other Montreal universities and government institutes, the study is attempting to disentangle the effects of social, physical and symbolic aspects of gambling habits and problems. The on-going survey will be conducted until 2011 and aims to collect data from 11 500 participants.

During the symposium Kairouz will also be launching a book she’s co-edited. A collaboration with numerous universities, Tabac, alcool, drogues et jeux de hasard et d’argent. À l’heure de l’intégration des pratiques, Presses de l’Université Laval, is the final product of the Journée Annuelle de Santé Publique, the one-day symposium held in November 2007 in Quebec City. The book attempts to integrate research, policies, public health management, funding, prevention, intervention and treatment to find comprehensive perspectives.

“Someone might have both gambling and alcohol addictions, and seek treatment for one. But what we’ve found is that when one addiction is addressed, the other may be ignored and may trigger a relapse in the one being treated,” she says. “We want to harmonize strategies across fields so we can have a more complete view of how people experience addiction.”

Kairouz, who’s been at Concordia since 2006, expresses delight at representing our institution and contributing her findings to potential solutions. “It’s great to be a part of this important think tank initiative to plan the future action for gambling and dependency problems in Quebec. I’m honoured to have been invited to be part of this symposium.”

www.jeux-gambling2009.org