Teenage Alcoholism
Article 1: Strandberg, A. K. & Bodin, M. C. (2011). “Alcohol-Specific Parenting within a Cluster Randomized Effectiveness Trial of a Swedish Primary Prevention Program.” Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 111 (2), 92-102.
With regards to the problems that affect people later in life as a result of alcoholism, underage drinking is a matter that should be addressed perspicaciously. As Strandberg & Bodin report in their article, research has shown that parents can influence the time when their children start drinking, which justifies the need for an alcohol-specific mode of parenting. As used in the article, alcohol specific parenting is a style of parenting in which the parents are singularly determined to extend the age at which their children start taking alcohol thereby curtailing underage (or teenage) drinking. Having this in mind, the author set on a mission to institute the attitude of parents towards teenage alcoholism based on the effectiveness of an ongoing parent-based underage drinking prevention program developed by researchers at Örebro University. According the authors, the Örebro Prevention Program (ÖPP), as it is called, does not require much time and resources- an attitude that has catapulted the program into being one of the most widely used programs in Sweden. Specifically, the cost of administering this program is far much less compared to the Swedish adaptation of the Strengthening Families Program.
Method
The researchers analyzed the cross-sectional data gathered at a 12-month follow-up in a cluster-randomized trial (CRT) for ÖPP before obtaining the baseline data with regards to parents’ attitude towards youth drinking, both at home and out of home. The CRT according the researchers was administered to 40 willing municipal schools in 13 counties of Sweden. With the parents already notified prior to the baseline measurement, the researchers arranged the sample in two groups depending on the cluster size and the proportion of students who graduated in the previous year. The two groups obtained were further divided in to three groups using the twenty fifth and seventy fifth percentiles. A randomization process that made use of coin tossing in order to pick the ÖPP schools and controls then followed. The researchers used classroom questionnaires collect data from students while parents received their questionnaires though post.
1396 and 1,752 questionnaires were sent to parents and youths respectively in the first round of data collections. After 12 months, the researchers sent 1,239 questionnaires to parents with another similar number of questionnaires administer on the youth.
Validity and reliability of any given research are the most fundamental facets. Reliability is an indicant of the consistency, stability, accuracy, generalizability, and predictability of the scores while validity serves to give insight to the extent to which a given research design or test measures what it was intended to measure. Waltz, Strickland, & Lenz (2010), in asserting the reliability of scores aptly state that a high reliability coefficient indicates that the findings are manifestly reasonable while a low reliability coefficient signifies less plausible findings. Similarly, a poor validity bespeaks that the test did not reasonably measure what it was supposed to measure. It is commendable that the researchers strived to determine the reliability of their findings by having another data collection after 12 months through Test-Retest. However, the researchers do not make any exertion to prove that the research satisfied other classes of reliability such as inter-rater reliability and internal consistency reliability. It is further applaudable that the researchers included a reliability coefficient of their research. However, it is notable that no attempt is made to explain why the samples in this research had different reliability coefficient (Cronbach’s alpha) from the one asserted by the proponents of the items they used.
Findings
As the researchers found out, over 80% (89.2 in ÖPP schools and 81.7 in control schools p>0.005) of the respondent parents maintain a stern attitude towards teenage alcoholism. A magnificent number (over 90%) of the parents interviewed admitted to having strict rules to regulate their children access to alcohol. One item on the questionnaires asked to parents whether they communicate the view regarding alcohol to their children; 95.4% of the parents stated that they talk with their children regarding underage drinking. The authors also note that the follow up did not substantially differ from the original research.
As noted above, validity of any test or research is an all-important facet. The researchers giving p-values for almost all of their research findings is a clear indicant of trying to showcase the validity of their findings. In most cases, p-values of less than 0.005 signify good level of validity. However, notably some of their p-values were way above 0.5, which shows that some of their findings were not worth being used in drawing up a conclusion.
Discussion
The article is indispensably an important addition to that available literature on teenage alcoholism especially in light of the fact that its basis was a program that can potentially be used to prevent or delay teenage alcoholism. The article also finds its strength in the fact that it used a simple language that can be understood by virtually everybody interested in reading the article. Most importantly, by using a randomization process to equalize the groups in both measured and unmeasured variables, the authors further fortified their findings. I find this article particularly more important to my topic of study. It will help me in building me in building my literature review as well as propose some ways of curbing teenage alcoholism.
Article 2: Cismaru, M., Lavack, A. M. & Markewich, E. (2008). “Alcohol Consumption among Young Consumers: A Review and Recommendations.” Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 9(4), 282-296. doi: 10.1108/17473610810920498
Several health-related models exist to help people change their behavior. The protection motivation model, a model that is principally built on the stipulates of the protection motivation theory, presents one such proven model. With the World Health Organization reporting the existence of a worldwide pattern in teenage drinking, a plethora of amelioratory social marketing campaigns have since been devised to help in bettering this situation. These campaigns make use of diverse communication and program materials that either do or do not cohere with the dictates of the protection motivation model. Notably, such campaigns have gained prominence in light of the fact that umpteen government organizations prefer social marketing as the tool for curbing underage alcohol consumption. To institute the adherence of some of these programs, specifically programs in five English-speaking countries (Canada, USA, New Zealand, the UK, and Australia), Magdalena Cismaru, Anne Lavack and Evan Markewich, a carry out a research whose results they present in an article they title “Alcohol Consumption among Young Consumers: A Review and Recommendations.” By reviewing existing literature on teenage drinking, the researchers managed to fish out the definition of underage drinking, factors influencing underage drinking, negative health, and social effects accruing from underage drinking and general policy recommendations in play to help moderate underage drinking. Above all, the researcher examined available literature to find out existing social programs established in the past in the five English-speaking countries selected for the research before examining the protection motivation theory.
Method
The researchers qualitatively analyzed the communication materials used in social campaigns. A major percentage of the content materials analyzed were obtained from the internet. The researchers searched the internet using key words like “underage drinking”, “alcohol moderation”, and “prevention program”, among others, coupled with other campaign-related terms like campaign and program in order to get the names of existing campaigns purposed to meliorate underage drinking. Other campaign names were obtained by perusing through several health-related government non-government websites. The campaigns obtained were then probed to institute their conformity with the protection motivation model.
At the beginning of the article, the authors with distinct mental discernment state that the research purported to show how the protection motivation theory is a viable theoretical framework for use in creating effective communication purposeful for reducing teenage alcoholism. The authors also wrote that the paper was aimed at explaining social marketing programs that serve to prevent or moderate teenage alcoholism. However, the research design picked for the research was by all means not able to help the researchers show how protection motivation theory is utile creating effective communication to discourage teenagers from teenage alcoholism. What the research basically did was to enable the researcher institute the number of social marketing programs that adhere to the protection motivation theory.
Findings
Through the search, the researchers identified 35 (18, 4, 5, 3 and 5 in USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK respectively) campaigns relevant to their research. The largest campaign spanning across most of the English-speaking nations was identified as the Students Against Drinking and Driving (SADD). The search also revealed that governmental and non-governmental organizations have set up almost the same number of campaigns with most campaigns carrying an awareness message to the youths. According to the researchers, most of the campaign to employing various components, like posters, t-shirts, and radio to reach the target group, are alcohol-consequence oriented- a considerable number of the campaigns preached the threats of underage drinking. Some campaigns warned the youths against being influenced into drinking by the people around them while others carried messages directly relating to the protection motivation variables. As the researchers noticed, some campaigns, mainly community-based programs, did not adhere to the protection motivation theory directly.
Because of the inappropriate research design picked by the researchers, it is only logical that the research findings are veritably wrong. The findings are right in light of the wrong research design used but wrong in light of the aim of the research.
Discussion
In light of my topic of study, the purpose of this research is extendedly relevant. This is because the article presents a list of programs that are utilitarian in preventing teenage alcoholism hence will be useful for topic especially while giving recommendations. Moreover, the article gives insight on how to create teenage alcoholism prevention programs that adhere to the protection motivation theory. However, the article has an atrocious limitation, as it did not seek to fulfill one of its objectives as earlier mentioned. Therefore, any future research with such an aim should employ a more relevant research design that makes the objective of how protection motivation theory is usable on preventing teenage alcoholism. This is attainable if the researchers investigate the effect of any given communication strategy in moderating teenage alcoholism.
Article 3: Cintina, I. (2011). The Effect of Minimum Legal Drinking Age Restrictions on Teenage Fertility. University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization (Working Paper No. 2011-6). Retrieved from www.uhero.hawaii.edu/assets/WP_2011-6.pdf
According to Cintina (2011), formulation of public policies should put into consideration teen childbearing. Because of the principal influence that alcohol has on teen pregnancy, it becomes increasingly critical to investigate the effect of minimum drinking age restriction on teenage fertility. According to the author, teenage drinking is to blame for a great number of motor accidents, incidences of sexually transmitted diseases in a large of fraction of the infected youth population as well as other long-term effects. Because of the impaired judgment induced by alcohol, youth have a high propensity to engage in high risk activities like date rape and unsafe sex, which translate into increased number of abortions, rather than live births since most of the pregnancies are unattended. Multitudes of nations recognize the negative effects of teenage alcoholism and have, in response, formulated several policies to moderate the minimum alcohol drinking age. Illustriously, the policy makers of various nations constantly amend the policies governing the minimum drinking for various reasons.
Method
The research is based on micro-level data of age restriction and teenage pregnancies for the period between 1973 to 1988, for instance the 1979 cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), which sampled over 12,600 youths of ages between 14 and 22 (Carlson & England, 2011). For precision, the researcher converts the NLSY data set into a “person-month” format. The entry and exit age into and out of the researchers data is fixed at 15 and 21 years respectively. For the construction of a person-month profile, every woman from the time entry in to the data set provided the researcher with information relating to whether she got pregnant during the month, the prevailing legal drinking age where the woman was living as well as the living conditions of the woman as at the month of providing the information. However not every woman was eligible to enter the data set. Specifically, entry was prohibited for barren women, women serving in the military and women who conceived before the age of 15. The person-month profile was very instrumental in enabling the researcher institute the age at which a woman got pregnant. The probability of pregnancy occurring in each period with regards changes in drinking-age-restriction that occurred within the period is determined with the help of a discrete-time hazard model. The researcher identified the non-repeatable event (t) as the first time a woman in the data set gets pregnant. The researcher denoted the discrete random variable as T. Consequently, the time period t when the ith woman experiences her first pregnancy was denoted Ti. The researcher then carried calculations beyond the scope of this paper in light of the complexity of the research design picked for qualitative analysis (the discrete-hazard time model).
Basically, the research design for this research is composite. It is also worth noting that the researcher does not take any measures to assert the reliability of the findings through, for instance, repeating the research. However, the model is good as it expectedly leads to large data set (over 4000 in this case) which enhances the generalizability of the findings.
Findings
The analysis showed that the Hispanics and blacks have the highest probability of getting pregnant before attaining the minimum drinking age. The client noticed that if the minimum drinking age is reduced from 20 (or 21) years to 18 (or 19) the probability of white, Hispanic and black girls getting a first pregnancy between ages 15 and 17 years decreases by about 1.3, 2 and 3.7 percentage points respectively. However, the author notes that this decrement on the minimum age does not adversely affect girls in the 18-20 age group regardless of the race. Regarding unwanted pregnancies, a similar change in the minimum drinking age according to the researcher will result into a 2 percentage points decrease in the probability of 15-17 year-old whites having unwanted pregnancies. Black and Hispanic 15-17 year-olds will be adversely affected with such a change with a more unfathomed effect expected 18-20 year-old blacks. Concisely, the minimum drinking age directly affect teenage child bearing.
The author of the article, while presenting the research findings, admits using estimated coefficients to calculate the probabilities. However, no explanation is given to support such a decision. Further, the author does not explain the probable impact such a move could have to the results hence the generalizability and validity of the results.
Discussion
I personally find this article very interesting. The article presents one of the most hotly debated topics globally. The author’s findings justify that legislations have the potential of largely aiding in the fight against teenage alcoholism. It is only distressing that the model (discrete-time hazard model) used in this research is way beyond the understanding of several readers who might be in readership of this article. Any future research on the topic should strive to use an understandable approach or should simplify the model to the readers. However, the researcher must be commended for presenting the results in plain language that is understandable to many. With regards to my topic of study, the article will be very useful in helping me make proposals on some of the ways of ameliorating teenage alcoholism.
References
Carlson, M. J., & England, P. (2011). Social Class and Changing Families in an Unequal America. California, CA: Stanford University Press.
Cintina, I. (2011). The Effect of Minimum Legal Drinking Age Restrictions on Teenage Fertility. University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization (Working Paper No. 2011-6). Retrieved from www.uhero.hawaii.edu/assets/WP_2011-6.pdf
Cismaru, M., Lavack, A. M. & Markewich, E. (2008). “Alcohol Consumption among Young Consumers: A Review and Recommendations.” Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 9(4), 282-296. doi: 10.1108/17473610810920498
Strandberg, A. K. & Bodin, M. C. (2011). “Alcohol-Specific Parenting within a Cluster Randomized Effectiveness Trial of a Swedish Primary Prevention Program.” Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 111 (2), 92-102. Retrieved from http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1906917&show=pdf
Waltz, C. F., Strickland, O. & Lenz, E. R. (2010). Measurement in Nursing and Health Research. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company, LLC.
