Assessing HBCU College Students’ Attitudes Towards Sports Betting Pre- and Post- Intervention

This session aims to foster a critical conversation on how Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCU) students differ from non-HBCU students with respect to attitudes and intentions toward sports betting and gambling. For instance, there is a complex interplay of psychological, financial, and developmental components associated with explaining the gambling and betting behavior of college students. These components include: (1) sensation-seeking and problematic financial behaviours (i.e.: maxing out credit cards, overdrawing accounts, and potential gambling); (2) developmental status and financial behaviours (i.e.: managing expenses for housing, cars, medical bills and investments); (3) diversity in developmental status (i.e. transition from adolescence to adulthood, increasing cost of college education, societal pressure for parental financial support, and need for financial independence); and (4) time perspective (i.e. the positive or negative attitude an individual has towards the past, present and future as a personality trait, which can influence present-day behavioral decisions). Understanding this intricate interplay is crucial for addressing problem gambling among college students. Furthermore, in unique environments like HBCUs, cultural and societal factors might further influence these behaviors. As such, the theory of planned behavior (TBP) framework provides a robust model for understanding college students’ gambling and betting behaviors. Positive attitudes towards betting, influenced by subjective norms and perceived control, drive the intention to engage in such behaviors. This perspective can be useful for developing targeted interventions to mitigate students’ problem gambling and betting behaviors. Thus, through this session attendees would collectively discuss how Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCU) students differ from non-HBCU students with respect to attitudes and intentions toward sports betting. Moreover, through this session, attendees could also contribute to the development of targeted interventions aimed at mitigating problem gambling and betting among college students. Overall, this critical conversation aims to influence how future students are educated and counseled with respect to sports betting and gambling.