Research Talk: It’s part of the sport: Exploring how social identification with sports groups predicts gambling behaviour

Dr Christopher Wilson will be delivering a talk on 26th November 2025 at 2:00 PM in CL1.06. The talk will outline the programme of research currently being conducted the The MIND Lab on the clinical, cognitive, neurological and social aspects of gambling behaviour and gambling harms. It will also focus on a new project exploring how social identification with sports groups predicts gambling behaviour.

This talk is part of the psychology and social work research seminar series at Teesside University and is open to all students and staff interested in the psychological and social aspects of gambling behaviour.

Abstract

Previous research has indicated that social relationships are a strong factor in the maintenance of gambling harms. There are certain sports (e.g., football), wherein gambling has become a normalised part of socialising within these groups. However, while some research has found sports participation is a predictor of gambling behaviour, there is a lack of work exploring how social identification with sports groups might predict gambling and which aspects of gambling it might be linked to (e.g., frequency of gambling, amount gambled, attitudes to gambling). Furthermore, while we know little about how socialisation can lead to gambling in families, we know little about how people experience the normalisation of gambling within wider social groups.

This current project, funded by the AFSG aims to explore how social identification with sports groups is linked to gambling behaviour; to explore which aspects of gambling behaviour are predicted by social identification with sports groups and to explore how people experience the normalisation of gambling within sports social groups.