We Now Have an 'Addiction Economy' Trapping a Generation of Young American Men, Family Researcher Warns

A prominent family sociologist says young American men are being pulled into what he calls an 'addiction economy', pointing to new survey data on daily porn, gambling and gaming habits.

Brad Wilcox, a University of Virginia professor and senior fellow at the Institute for Family Studies (IFS), wrote on X that 'we have a generation of young men trapped in the "addiction economy" and the numbers are staggering.'

His post included a breakdown showing that almost one in four young men gamble daily, more than one in four watch pornography daily, and roughly one in eight do all three, porn, gambling and gaming, every single day.

The Data on Daily Gambling and Porn Use

Wilcox's figures on daily gambling and pornography use are consistent with IFS's own published research. The institute's America's Demoralized Men report, based on a nationally representative YouGov survey of 2,000 men aged 18 to 29, found that 23 per cent of young men gamble daily, with a further 12 per cent doing so several times a week.

The same research found 27 per cent of young men watch pornography daily, with another 16 per cent doing so several times a week. The claim that one in eight young men engage in all three activities daily is not in the report's public text; it appears to be Wilcox's own cross-tabulation of the underlying data.

Why the IFS Says Young Men Are Self-Medicating

Wilcox and IFS colleague James Lynch expanded on the findings in an opinion piece for Compact magazine, arguing that 'young men have been hit hardest' by the spread of gambling apps, prediction markets and pornography. They wrote that the trend has coincided with rising loneliness and pessimism among young menabout their prospects.

Michael Toscano, co-author of the underlying IFS report and director of its Family First Technology Initiative, has described the pattern as a form of self-medication. He told Angelus News that 'if the world around you is increasingly closing off your opportunity to be a successful man, what you might do is look for it in a synthetic environment.'

The Institute for Family Studies, a conservative-leaning think tank, has published research on family structure and male wellbeing since 2014. Its work has frequently influenced conservative policy discussions on family, technology and social trends.

Mental Health Correlations

IFS researchers found that men who gamble or watch pornography daily are far more likely to describe themselves negatively. Sixty-six per cent of daily gamblers and 63 per cent of daily pornography users said they felt like failures, compared with 42 per cent of young men overall, according to the same IFS report.

The report also found that among men who watch pornography multiple times a day, 43 per cent reported feeling lonely, 36 per cent reported depression, and 29 per cent reported anxiety.

Researchers stressed the data shows correlation rather than proven cause and effect, and the findings arrive as US policymakers face growing pressure over the rapid expansion of online sports betting and prediction markets.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are now pushing to close what critics call a regulatory gap that has let prediction markets operate under looser federal rules than state-licensed sportsbooks.

If the IFS findings are accurate, the data could feed into wider debates over gambling regulation, age verification and platform accountability in both the US and UK, where similar concerns about app-based gambling among young men have already prompted regulatory reviews.