Financial Hardship and Problem Gambling Severity Among Young South Koreans: A Conditional Strain Model

Commercial gambling has become increasingly digitized and normalized, placing young adults in frequent contact with betting and other reward-oriented spending opportunities through mobile environments. Understanding gambling-related harm therefore requires attention to the economic and psychological conditions surrounding young adults. Guided by general strain theory, we examined whether financial hardship was associated with problem gambling severity through depressive symptoms and low self-control and whether these paths varied according to discretionary spending on games, betting, or gambling and gender. Data were obtained from a cross-sectional online and mobile survey of 1,929 adults aged 18-35 in the Daegu-Gyeongsangbuk-do region of South Korea. The proposed paths were estimated using partial least squares structural equation modelling, with a Negative Binomial Type 2 (NB2) model used to assess robustness. Financial hardship was positively associated with depressive symptoms and low self-control. Depressive symptoms showed a strong association with problem gambling severity that remained robust in the NB2 model. Across the two models, the association between depressive symptoms and problem gambling severity remained significant. These findings extend the application of general strain theory to gambling among young adults and indicate that financial hardship and depressive symptoms warrant joint consideration in gambling-harm screening.