Online Media Use Behaviors towards Online Gambling of Adolescents in Phranakhon Si Ayutthaya Province

Abstract

The objectives of this article were: 1) to study the adolescents’ online media use behaviors and 2) to study adolescents’ online gambling behaviors. This research was conducted under a quantitative approach. Out of the 35,506 adolescent population in Phranakhon Si Ayutthaya Province, the sample, selected by purposive sampling via Taro Yamane’s sample size table with 5% uncertainty, comprised 400 students from 2 higher education institutions, 3 vocational colleges, and 3 secondary schools.

The results indicated that 1) most adolescents spent up to 6–10 hours a day on online media. When categorized according to the purpose of use, it was found that adolescents used Facebook the most to receive information (49.30%); they used emails (58.20%) and LINE (57.50%) the most for communication; they used game applications (74.60%), Twitter (74.60%), watched movies and listened to music (70.60%), and Instagram (63.40%) respectively in their free time.

2) In regard to adolescents’ online gambling behaviors, the results revealed that they played bingo the most (34.80%), caused by the need for excitement and enjoyment (54.80%). Most of them started gambling themselves (70.30%). The frequency of gambling was found infrequent (59.80%). They preferred gambling with friends and acquaintances (49.00%), and spent 50 to 500 baht a month on gambling (64.30%). They searched for gambling information from personal media first (74.30%), and mainly got into online gambling through fraudulent Facebook advertisements (33.00%). Moreover, they used direct gambling websites such as football, lottery, horoscope, online games, and online casinos for gambling analysis (6.80%), and used other applications such as Sbobet, Online FIFA, and w88 for gambling (3.80%).