Max W. Abbott

My Career in Mental Health and Gambling Harm Research

My name is Max W. Abbott, and I am a New Zealand psychologist whose career has focused on mental health, public health, and the study of gambling-related harm. Over several decades, I have worked across academic research, institutional leadership, and policy-oriented analysis, with a consistent interest in how social systems, environments, and regulation shape behavioural risk.

Much of my work has been driven by a simple concern: harmful behaviour cannot be understood—or addressed—by focusing only on individuals. To reduce harm effectively, we must also examine availability, product design, social context, and policy decisions.

Early life and education

I was born in 1951 in Featherston, New Zealand, and completed my secondary education at Kuranui College in Greytown. My early academic interests led me toward psychology, particularly the relationship between cognition, behaviour, and health outcomes.

I later completed my doctoral studies at the University of Canterbury. My PhD research focused on cognitive processes and outcomes among people with chronic alcohol dependence. Although this work did not centre on gambling, it shaped how I came to think about addiction more broadly—especially the interaction between vulnerability, reinforcement, and social environment.

That early research laid the foundation for my later focus on behavioural harm from a public-health perspective rather than a purely clinical one.

Mental health leadership

Before spending most of my career in academia, I worked in leadership roles within the mental health sector. From 1981 to 1991, I served as Director of the New Zealand Mental Health Foundation. This period was formative for me. It reinforced the importance of advocacy, public education, and coordinated responses to mental health challenges.

From 1991 to 1993, I served as President of the World Federation for Mental Health. Working internationally exposed me to different approaches to prevention, stigma reduction, and mental health policy. It also highlighted how often similar problems emerge across countries, even when cultural and regulatory contexts differ.

Academic career and leadership at Auckland University of Technology

In 1991, I joined what was then the Auckland Institute of Technology, later renamed Auckland University of Technology (AUT). Over the next three decades, AUT became the primary institutional base for my academic work.

During my time there, I held roles including Professor of Psychology, Dean of the Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, and later Pro Vice-Chancellor. These roles allowed me to combine research with institutional leadership and to support the development of health-focused academic programmes.

In 2018, I was awarded the AUT University Medal, which recognised sustained contribution rather than a single project. I valued that acknowledgement because it reflected long-term engagement across research, leadership, and public service.

My academic and professional positions

My work in gambling research

My involvement in gambling research developed gradually from my broader interest in behavioural harm and public health. As gambling availability increased in New Zealand—particularly through electronic gaming machines—it became clear that reliable population-level data were essential.

I became involved in national gambling prevalence studies and long-term research examining how gambling participation and harm changed over time. Rather than focusing only on clinical populations, my work aimed to capture patterns across the general population and to inform regulatory and prevention strategies.

One of my most cited contributions examined gambling and gambling harm in New Zealand over a 28-year period, providing a rare longitudinal perspective on adaptation, risk concentration, and regulatory impact.

Key milestones in my career

Publications and academic output

Over the course of my career, I have authored and co-authored numerous peer-reviewed articles, research reports, and policy commentaries on gambling harm, mental health, and public health regulation. Much of this work has been cited in academic literature and policy discussions in New Zealand and internationally.

Selected publications

Reflections

Looking back, I see my work as part of a broader effort to reframe gambling harm as a public health issue—one that requires evidence, transparency, and honest discussion about structural drivers of risk. My hope has always been that research can contribute not only to academic understanding, but also to more effective regulation and prevention.

My Perspective on Gambling Harm, Policy, and Research Integrity

As my work in gambling research developed, I became increasingly concerned with how gambling harm was discussed in public and policy arenas. Too often, the conversation focused narrowly on individual responsibility, ignoring the broader systems that shape behaviour. From my perspective, this approach was not only incomplete, but also ineffective in preventing harm.

One of the central lessons from decades of research is that gambling-related harm is unevenly distributed. A relatively small proportion of gamblers account for a large share of total losses, and this pattern is strongly influenced by product design, accessibility, and intensity of play. These are not accidental features; they are structural characteristics that deserve close scrutiny.

My research has consistently argued for a public health approach to gambling. This means looking beyond individual pathology and examining population-level exposure, risk concentration, and long-term trends. It also means asking difficult questions about regulation, industry practices, and the role of the state in balancing revenue generation with harm prevention.

I have often emphasised that good gambling policy must be grounded in reliable data. National prevalence studies, longitudinal research, and transparent reporting are essential if governments and regulators are serious about reducing harm. Without credible evidence, policy risks becoming reactive, symbolic, or influenced by vested interests rather than public well-being.

Another issue I have returned to repeatedly is the language used in gambling debates. Terms like “responsible gambling” can be useful, but they can also obscure responsibility at the structural level. When responsibility is framed almost entirely as an individual matter, it becomes easier to overlook the influence of machine design, marketing strategies, and availability. My position has been that responsibility must be shared across individuals, operators, regulators, and policymakers.

Throughout my career, I have engaged with government agencies, regulators, and, at times, the gambling industry itself. While these interactions have not always been comfortable, I have believed that engagement is necessary if research is to have practical impact. Maintaining independence and research integrity in such contexts is challenging, but essential.

Ultimately, my aim has never been to eliminate gambling, but to reduce preventable harm. Gambling is a legal and socially embedded activity in many societies, including New Zealand. The critical question is not whether gambling exists, but under what conditions it operates and who bears the cost when harm occurs.

Looking back, I see my work as part of a broader effort to move gambling research and policy toward greater honesty, accountability, and evidence-based decision-making. Whether that goal has been fully achieved remains an open question—but it remains, in my view, a necessary one.