Data Sheet 2_Social communities in gacha gaming and adolescent problem gambling risk: a mixed methods study.pdf

These games have grown into a multi-billion-dollar global industry, yet their relationship with adolescent problem gambling remains largely unstudied.</p>Methods<p>This mixed methods study examined the extent to which gacha game spending predicts problem gambling severity among adolescents (RQ1) and how social gacha game communities influence spending behavior (RQ2).

A survey of 265 adolescent gacha players recruited from online gacha gaming communities on Reddit used the DSM-IV-Multiple Response-Juvenile (DSM-IV-MR-J) to measure problem gambling severity alongside gacha spending, traditional gambling participation, and demographic covariates. Thematic analysis was conducted on 77 open-ended survey responses and 20 follow-up interviews.</p>Results<p>Three quantitative analyses (Spearman's rank correlation, Mann–Whitney U test, and Firth's penalized logistic regression) found no significant relationship between gacha spending and problem gambling severity, contrasting with prior loot box research reporting significant associations.