Question Answer: Teenage Smoking (Essay Sample)

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NAME _____________________________
Read the article "HYPERLINK "http://libproxy.noctrl.edu/login?url=http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/122325252/PDFSTART"
Does watching smoking in movies promote teenage smoking?" and answer the following questions.
What questions/hypotheses did the researchers want to answer?
The researchers wanted to answer the following questions:
Whether watching smoking in movies lead to increased prevalence of smoking in adolescents?
Whether moderation effects like low exposure to parental smoking predisposes an adolescent to smoking by watching movies?
Whether moderation factors like race, influence the predisposition of adolescent to smoking by watching movies?
What are the mediator variables that predispose adolescents to smoking by watching movies?
The answers framed by the authors were based on the null and alternate hypothesis. The null hypothesis will contend that prevalence of smoking in adolescents was not influenced by watching smoking in movies and neither did moderation factors or mediation factors predispose them to smoking. On the other hand, the alternate hypothesis will contend that prevalence of smoking in adolescents was significantly influenced by watching smoking in movies and moderation factors or mediation factors do predispose them to smoking.
Using CHAPTER 13 (pg.’s 416-450) of Steinberg, L. Adolescence. 10th edition. New York: McGraw Hill. ISBN: 9780073532110 what theory might they be using to make their argument?
The theory that the authors of this article used to make their argument was based on the “Problem Behavior Theory” or the “Social Control Theory” as stated by Steinberg. The theory postulates that there is a co-occurrence of externalizing problems (watching movies involving smoking or observing peers to smoke) and substance abuse (cigarette smoking) and this is potentiated due to lack of ties to social institutions. The net effect is that involvement in one problem behavior leads to involvement in another problem behavior. The Social Control Theory further elucidates that individuals who do not have strong attachment to societal institutions like the family, school or workplace may exhibit unconventional behavior. The theory postulates that such problem behavior does not stem up from within (for example, biological predisposition to risky behavior), but occurs due an underlying weakness in an individual’s attachment to society. Hence the social control theory could explain, why unconventional behaviors (for example, predisposition to smoking) appear more in children with low socio-economic background and lesser parental care.
Consider the research described in the section labeled "Exposure to Smoking in Movies" (p. 63-64). What kind of research was conducted: Descriptive, correlational, or experimental? Describe some of the main research findings in this section as they relate to the research hypothesis.
The research carried out was descriptive as the authors applied techniques from the marketing and advertising field and content analysis to come to conclusion regarding the prevalence of movie(where cigarette smoking is present) watching by children. The major research findings of this section were:
Around 70% of movies made in the US involve cigarette smoking.
The percentages of adults who smoke in movies are around 20-25%.
In the movies smoking is rarely associated with negative health outcomes that might motivate smoking in viewers.
Smokers in movies tend to be projected as more affluent than typical US smokers.
It was estimated that 500 movies delivered nearly 14 billion smoking impressions in U.S. children aged 10-14 years.
4. Consider the research described in the section labeled "Movie Viewing and Adolescent Smoking" (p. 64-65). What kind of research was conducted: Descriptive, correlational, or experimental? Describe some of the main research findings in this section as they relate to the research hypothesis.
The research that was conducted was an experimental study. The reason is, the authors after standardizing for race, peer influence and parental smoking habits could establish that watching movies definitely predispose U.S. children in the age group of 10-14 years to initiate smoking. The study was an experimental design because it had stringent inclusion and exclusion criteria for the subjects to be surveyed. The experimental design was so established to study the effect of one independent variable (watching movies involving smoking) on the dependant variable (incidence of smoking in an adolescent). Further the section indicated that the threshold for smoking was lowered by watching movies that involved cigarette smoking.
5. Review the section “Moderation Effects.” What are the 3 moderator variables that are identified in this section...