Mathematics
Regina M. Benjamin, M.D., M.B.A. Surgeon General
Authors: Regina M. Benjamin, M.D., M.B.A. Surgeon General
Research Questions:
I will ask the following questions during my research
1. What significance do the media and public advertising of tobacco have on youth?
2. What is the percentage of cancer cases attributed to the use of tobacco in young people?
3. What is the life expectancy of tobacco smokers?
4. What countermeasures can be taken to reduce the use of tobacco among the youth?
Research (Experimental) Design: The independent variable in this research is youth tobacco use. The dependent variables are adolescent tobacco-use-behaviors, exposure to tobacco advertising, media exposure to tobacco use, age tobacco use began, reason for starting tobacco use, how much media influences decision to smoke, how much advertising influences the decision to smoke, the influence of marketing such as free cigarette give-a-ways, influence of knowing health risks, and motivations to stop smoking. The control variables are the amount of risk for poor health in youth due to tobacco exposure, death due to tobacco induced cancer in youth, data on youth tobacco use behaviors from the Centers for Disease Control, data from the Surgeon General, and data from the years 1997-2003 on decline in tobacco use in youth.
Procedures
Procedure1: A self-reporting questionnaire will be distributed to in order to determine the perspective of young people on several topics including smoking, the age they started smoking if the smoke, why did they start to smoke (influence of friends, family, movies, music videos and/or advertising), exposure to advertising and media about smoking, do they know the health risks of smoking, can they identify the health risks of smoking from a list of diseases, what would motivate them to stop smoking, and from where do they purchase cigarettes. A preliminary screening questionnaire will be distributed in the school district to ninth and tenth graders. Categories of smokers will be identified such as never smoked, tried smoking but never started, smoke regularly, and smoke infrequently plus a control group will be determined. From the screening information potential participants can be identified and a packet of information will be sent to the potential participant and their parents in order to gain written parental consent student agreement to taking the survey. This procedure is based on the procedure used by Metzger, Dawes, Mermelstein and Wakschlag which was published in 2-011.
Procedure 2: Peer reviewed journals and conference proceedings will be reviewed in order to determine how youth react to intervention programs, which ones have worked the best, and what role media and advertising has played in the interventions. The results that are gathered from the current literature (from the years 2005 to the present) will be qualitatively evaluated in order to discern any patterns or trends that point to changes in tobacco use in youths, amount of exposure to media and/or advertising, and the information which constitutes the media/advertising messages. A contradiction has been identified that must be discussed and that is the fact that often the same source for encouraging smoking is the source for warnings. For example cigarette packages with warning labels describing the risks of smoking or with images showing the risks of smoking tobacco. This contradiction is difficult to quantify so a qualitative scientific method will be used to discern valuable information pertaining to this research. The purpose of procedure 2 is to determine the degree of success or failure previous countermeasures have been taken to reduce the use of tobacco among the youth
Procedure 3: s are available from the CDC so it will be possible to gather information which will aid the researcher in meeting the goals of the research. The CDC datasets will be used to evaluate the relationships between age and tobacco use; gender and tobacco use; percentage of cancer cases attributed to tobacco use by youth. Graphs will be made to evaluate the relationship between gender and age; tobacco use and cancer; age and cancer from tobacco use, gender and cancer cases. The purpose is to determine the impact of tobacco use causing cancer by age and gender in youth.
Procedure 4. Both quantitative and qualitative data will be assessed in this research project. Therefore the assumptions used for comparing the two types of data will be discussed. For example it may be possible that there is a correlation between the time a certain countermeasure for tobacco use was successful resulting in a trend of decreasing cancer cases caused by tobacco use. The first variable – successful countermeasure may only be expressed in the qualitative data where as the number of cancer cases are reported as quantitative data. The assumptions made and the arguments for using qualitative data in a correlation with quantitative will be clearly explained.
Data (Statistical Analysis): ANOVA statistical techniques will be used in order to evaluate the reliability of the survey results. The five groups designated will therefore be tested for covariance using ANCOVA because ANCOVA controls for a covariate between the groups. It is necessary to evaluate whether or not there are any significant differences between the control and the groups of interest concerning tobacco use behaviors. SPSS statistical techniques will be used to compare the influence of media and tobacco use behaviors of youth, impact of advertising on tobacco use, impact of counter measures on tobacco use (if quantitative data is available) and the percentage of cancer cases attributed to the use of tobacco in young people analyzed by age and gender. The statistical analysis tool SPSS will aid in the quantitative evaluations of the impacts on youth and their use of tobacco.
References:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs – 2007a and b. Office on Smoking and Health Atlanta (GA). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.
Lightwood, J. M., Dinno, A., & Glantz, S. A. (2008). Effect of the California Tobacco control program on personal health care expenditures. PLoS Medicine, 5(8), e178.
Metzger, A., Dawes, N., Mermelstein R., & Wakschlag, L. (2011). Longitudinal modeling of adolescents’ activity involvement, problem peer associations, and youth smoking. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 32(1), 1-9.
Pierce, J.P., White M.M., & Gilpin, E.A. (2005). Adolescent smoking decline during California’s tobacco control program. Tobacco Control, 14(3), 207-212.
“Preventing tobacco use among youth and young adults: A report of the Surgeon General.” (2012). Office of the Surgeon General, Public Health Service, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/reports/preventing-youth-tobacco-use/
Schar, E., Gutierrez, K., Murphy-Hoefer, R., & Nelson, D.E. (2006). Tobacco use prevention media campaigns: lessons learned from youth in nine countries. Atlanta (GA): U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, national Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health.
Schooler, C., Feighery, E., & Flora, J.A.(1996). Seventh graders’ self-reported exposure to cigarette marketing and its relationship to their smoking behavior. American Journal of Public Health, 86(9), 1216-1221.
“Smoking & Tobacco Use; Data and Statistics” (8 March 2012). Office on Smoking and Health,National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/
