The Passions of Andrew jackson by Andrew Burstin - Essay Example

There are two popular models that are used to describe early childhood behavior. They are “nature,” which assumes a genetic predisposition to a behavior, and “nurture,” which predicts that the child’s environment predominantly dictates behavior. The authors of this study take both factors into account by creating three study groups. These groups consisted of a control group, where paternal alcohol abuse was non-existent; a recovered group, where paternal alcohol abuse was in remission; and the target group in which the father abused or was dependent upon alcohol consumption.

In an attempt to account for environmental factors, the authors located a family for the target group, and then found demographically similar families that fit the criteria for the control and the recovered groups. This ensured that all of the participants were comparable in ethnicity, neighborhood, income, etc. In all, their samples amounted to a total of 267 families. Each of the three groups was similar in sample size and composition. Using computer-based interviews, the authors interviewed each family once a year for three years.

Both parents and children were asked to answer several questions relating to alcohol use and specific behaviors that were of importance to the development of the hypothesis. For example, the fathers were asked questions relevant to their level of alcohol dependence during the prior three months. They were questioned on their awareness of their children’s activities. The adolescents were asked to self-report criteria based upon a combination of items from the Child Behavior Checklist and the Youth Self Report.

The results of this study did not support the hypothesis that fluctuations in paternal alcohol use correlates with a higher incidence of adolescent behavior problems. The authors list several reasons to explain the outcome of this study. One of the most obvious is the frequency of the