Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 1, 2025

Integrating Computerized Linguistic and Social Network Analyses to Capture Addiction Recovery Capital in an Online Community
Published on: May 31, 2019
Spread of gambling abstinence through peers and comments in online self-help chat forums to quit gambling
1Graduate School of Sciences and Technology for Innovation, Tokushima University, 1-1, Minamijosanjimacho, Tokushima-shi, Tokushima, 770-0814, Japan. yokotanikenji@tokushima-u.ac.jp.
Abstract:
Habit formation occurs in relation to peer habits and comments. This general principle was applied to gambling abstinence in the context of online self-help forums to quit gambling. Participants in this study, conducted between September 2008 and March 2020, were 161 abstinent and 928 non-abstinent gamblers who participated in online self-help chat forums to quit gambling. They received 269,317 comments during their first 3 years of forum participation. Gamblers had an increased likelihood of 3-year continuous gambling abstinence if they had many peers in the forums. However, they had a decreased likelihood of gambling abstinence if they received rejective comments from the forums. Based on these results, online social network-based interventions may be a new treatment option for gamblers.
Related Concept Videos
Self-Help Support Groups
Accessibility and Cost-Effectiveness
One of the primary strengths of self-help...
Self-Presentation: Self-Monitoring and Self-Handicapping
Drug Dependence
Binge Eating Disorders
Drug Abuse and Addiction: Pharmacological Phenomena
Social Foundations of Self II: The Generalized Other

