Are the Risk Factors of Smoking and Drinking Gender Dependent - Research Paper Example

Running Head: Smoking, Drinking and Gender Are the Risk Factors of Smoking and Drinking Gender Dependent? [NAME] [AFFILIATION] Introduction Various researches established the negative effects of alcohol and nicotine on the human body (Parnell, SE, West, JR and Chen, 2006; Yavuz Cakir et al., 2007). Sharma (2007) noted that a great number of patients having COPD have smoked for at least 20 years and are on their fifties when the first symptoms of CODP appeared (Sharma, 2007, Sec 3). The biggest contributor for chronic bronchitis is smoking (Brandt & Finn, 2005), it being responsible for about 80% of the cases of chronic bronchitis (Chidekel, 2004). The result of the research study performed by Wagena and company (2005) suggests that smoking is directly linked with chronic bronchitis. Aside from the substantial contribution of smoking in chronic bronchitis, it is also responsible for many of the lung discomforts and illnesses such as tuberculosis, lung cancer, and emphysema. In the same manner, excessive use of alcohol can result in mental blackout and memory lapses as well as serious diseases such as Wernicke’s encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s syndrome (Urell, 2007). While the facts that alcohol intake and smoking have long been established, there are not much data for gender-based risk factors associated with both activities. According to Rebecca Cadwell, the director of the UNCW’s research program named CROSSROADS, “men and women have different drinking [and smoking] cultures” (2005). The research study aimed to prove or disprove the claims that men drink to feel more macho and women do to feel more equal to men. According to Brunner, “smokers had a much higher death rate than never-smokers from both genders and in every social class” and “Non-smokers, regardless of their social classes had a greater survival rate than smokers, for both genders, while non-smoking women in the lower social classes had the lowest risk of premature death” and “women who smoke lost the natural survival advantage they have over men” (2009). A wealth of research questions can be gained from this information alone. Do men and women experience different risks from smoking and drinking? In what manner do they have similar risks? Are the risk factors associated with drinking and smoking gender-dependent? How does the general society perceive the effect of risks factors in smoking and drinking vis-à-vis gender? Aim and Objective A study in Japan suggests that parents perceive that their daughters are in greater risks if they drink and their sons if they smoke (Ando, Asakura, et.al., 2007). This paper aims to establish a small-scale cross-sectional analysis of the gender-based perception of the risk factors of smoking and drinking based on the perception of the people involved. In order to produce this analysis, the papers will: Perform measures of central tendency of the data gathered from respondents Present questionnaires that would generate the data for analysis Present the results of data analysis along with the secondary research results of the previous analysis done by different authors and peer-reviewed researches in order to establish a strong case of the subject. Hypothesis In order to answer the questions presented, it is necessary to formulate the null and alternative hypotheses. HO: Gender has nothing to do with the perception of risks associated with smoking and drinking. HA: The perception of risks associated with smoking and drinking is associated with gender. Methodology Design This research uses cross-sectional analysis to determine the case. That means to say that the paper only takes into account the results gathered at one point in time and does not consider possible trends that may affect the validity of the data gathered. This is chosen because of the practicality of its approach since longitudinal analysis often requires analysis of large amount of data over long periods of time, making it imperfect for a university-level research. The independent variables for this study are the gender of the respondents and the effects of smoking and drinking to the smokers, alcoholic drinkers, smokers and alcoholic drinkers, or neither smoker nor alcoholic drinkers. Information about whether the respondents smoke or drinks are eliminated from the research design in order to simplify the analysis. Because of the number of respondents involved in this paper, the level of significance that will be used is =.05. The conceptual paradigm of the study appears below. Participants The scope of the study is confined on 100 men and women randomly chosen from ages 18 and above. They are classified into four major categories which are smokers, alcoholic drinkers, smokers and alcoholic drinkers, or neither smoker nor alcoholic drinker. 32% of the male respondents who smoke at the same time consume alcoholic beverages are from ages 18-35 while only 14.4% of the smokers/drinkers are from age 35 and above. 24.2% of the female respondents who smoke at the same time consume alcoholic beverages compared to 29% of the female respondent who smoke at the same time consume alcoholic beverages ages 35 and beyond. Materials The materials used for this research are computers, computer printers, photocopying machines, bond papers, and flash drives. Other tools used to make the research possible were calculators, statistical textbooks, and books on research design and development. Procedures The questionnaires were printed and distributed in public places to gather the random samples that will respond to the questions. Questionnaires composed of 11 questions were handed out to the respondents for them to fill out completely. The researcher let the respondents sign a waiver stating that all information contained in their responses will be kept private and the researcher oriented them orally about the purpose of the research. The gender of the respondents was chosen evenly to yield gender-unbiased results. The filled out questionnaires were then gathered and scores were taken. The data gathered from the questionnaire were subjected to statistical measures of central tendency and was subjected to descriptive comparison of the secondary research data gathered. Ethics There are only two ethical considerations in this research which are the privacy of the data and the integrity of the data and data analysis. Majority of the respondents for this research prefers to keep their identities withhold from publication. The waiver has provided a part where the researcher has sworn to withhold any information about the respondents that they do not want to be published by the researcher. The other ethical consideration for this research is the integrity of the data results and analysis. This means that whatever the data results are, the researcher should, in no way, intervene or interfere with the data in order to show his or her preferences of the results of the research. The integrity of the data is kept and upheld by using scientific methods in the data analysis. Results All of the questionnaires were answered completely and thoroughly by the respondents and information about age and classifications were returned as well. The results of the descriptive statistics were detailed below. Sample Population Males 57 Females 57 Of the 57 respondents, 9 of them smoke alone, 29 of them drink alone, 68 smoke and drink, and only 7 neither smoke nor drink. 25.4% of the respondents who smoke and drink are male while 32.4% of the same category was females. Among the respondents, there are more females who smoke than males (43) while there are more males who drink alcoholic beverages compared to females (46). Test results yield higher overall average among male respondents’ answers of the questionnaires. Men scored high than women in all of the selected categories even on the category where male respondents are outnumbered by female respondents (i.e., smoke and drink category). The range of their test scores vary. The range of the test score for males is high in some aspects and is low on other aspects. The graph of these findings is shown below. The standard deviations of the age distributions of the male and female respondents are also analyzed. The graph shows that majority of the male respondents are within the 18-35 years old age bracket (32.3%) while most of the female respondents are on the age 35 and above age bracket (29%). The standard deviation for vulnerability and drunk - driving data showed high results with 48.9% of the male respondents are vulnerable to smoking and drinking (44.7% of the females do) and 51.1% of the male respondents admitted to have driven their cars under the influence of alcohol with only 34% of the female respondents said they do. The graph of the results appeared below. Vulnerability refers to the perception of the respondents to their vulnerability on the risks associated with smoking and drinking. Discussion  The results of the analysis can be divided into 2 segments – risks of smoking and risks associated with drinking. The result of the measured risks for women is fairly consistent with Brunner’s results – that women smoke more than men do. More men over 35 seem to give up smoking than younger men do. The reason for this could be related to Chidekel’s research on the effect of smoking to bronchitis and old age (2004). The results gathered on the gender-based risks associated with drinking is consistent with the following established facts: Fact 1: Almost half of all automobile crashes that involve teens - which is the leading cause of death among teens, is caused by underage drinking (Urell, 2007). Fact 2: Alcohol is also seen to play a large part in the second leading cause of death in teens which is youth suicide, homicide, and fatal injuries (Vingilis & De Genova, 1984). Fact 3: Two-thirds of all sexual assaults and date rapes in teens and college students are always linked to alcohol abuse (Caldwell, 2005). Fact 4: Alcohol is one among the major reasons for unprotected sex in youth increasing their probability to acquire HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (AMA, 2008).  However, the research has its limitations as well when it fails to take into account the factors that caused smoking and drinking in both genders. Also, the number of respondents and the statistical correlations performed in the research are simplistic which in itself is not very conclusive. It is highly recommended that these factors are to be investigated further for analysis. Conclusion The research expected to see more women to feel vulnerable than men but the statistical results showed that more men think that they are vulnerable to the health and psychosocial risks associated with smoking and drinking. The paper suggests that the existing policies and efforts of the government to regulate drunk driving over the years has not seen any fruits as the study showed 51.1% of the men still drove over the speed limit under the influence of alcohol.   References American Medical Association. (February 12, 2008). Reducing Underage Drinking through Coalitions. Accessed from http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/3557.html  Ando, M., Asakura, T., Ando, S. Simons-Morton, B. (July 2004). Psychosocial factors associated with smoking and drinking among Japanese early adolescent boys and girls: Cross-sectional study. Biopsyschosoc Med 2007. 1: 13. Accessed on March 27, 2009 from http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1934913 Caldwell, R. (2005). Changing a high-risk culture of drinking through the lens of gender. News Medical. Accessed on March 27, 2009 from http://www.news-medical.net/?id=11363 Chidekel, A. (Sep 2004). Bronchitis. Accessed on March 22, 2009 from http://www.kidshealth.org/teen/infections/common/bronchitis.html Dr. Brandt, C. & Dr. Finn Rasmussen. (2005.). Chronic Bronchitis, Emphysema and COPD. Rutherford, Dan. (ed). Accessed on March 22, 2009 fromhttp://www.netdoctor.co.uk/diseases/facts/smokerslung.htm   Hanson, D. (1996) Seven recommendations for a national alcohol policy. The Rally Journal 1(1): 10.  Heath, J. & Rupa Mongia. (15 May, 1998). Chronic Bronchitis: Primary Care Management. American Family Physician. Accessed on March 22, 2009 from http://www.aafp.org/afp/980515ap/heath.html   Parnell, SE, West, JR and Chen, W-JA (2006) “Nicotine decreases blood alcohol concentrations in adult rats: A phenomenon potentially related to gastric function”.Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research30:1408-1413 Sharma, S. (12 Feb, 2007). Chronic Bronchitis. Accessed on March 22, 2009 from http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic367.htm   Urell, Bill. (September 2007). Some Negative Effects of Alcohol and Brain Functioning. Accessed on March 23, 2009 from http://addictionrecoverybasics.com/2007/09/21/some-negative-effects-of-alcohol-on-brain-functioning/ Vingilis, E. and K. De Genova. (1984) Youth and forbidden fruit: experiences with changes in legal drinking in North America. Journal of Criminal Justice 12: 161-172.  Wagena, E., et.al. (2005). Chronic Bronchitis, Cigarette Smoking, and Subsequent Onset of Depression and Anxiety. American Psychosomatic Society. Accessed on March 22, 2009 from http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/cgi/content/full/67/4/656   Yavuz Cakir, Zhen Yang, Cynthia A. Knight, Melissa Pompilius, David Westbrook, Shannon M. Bailey, Kent E. Pinkerton and Scott W. Ballinger “Effect of alcohol and tobacco smoke on mtDNA damage and atherogenesis”Free Radical Biology and Medicine, Volume 43, Issue 9, 1 November 2007, Pages 1279-1288 Figure 1: error function at h = 0.05 Figure 2: error function at h = 0.025 Read More

How does the general society perceive the effect of risks factors in smoking and drinking vis-à-vis gender? Aim and Objective A study in Japan suggests that parents perceive that their daughters are in greater risks if they drink and their sons if they smoke (Ando, Asakura, et.al., 2007). This paper aims to establish a small-scale cross-sectional analysis of the gender-based perception of the risk factors of smoking and drinking based on the perception of the people involved. In order to produce this analysis, the papers will: Perform measures of central tendency of the data gathered from respondents Present questionnaires that would generate the data for analysis Present the results of data analysis along with the secondary research results of the previous analysis done by different authors and peer-reviewed researches in order to establish a strong case of the subject.

Hypothesis In order to answer the questions presented, it is necessary to formulate the null and alternative hypotheses. HO: Gender has nothing to do with the perception of risks associated with smoking and drinking. HA: The perception of risks associated with smoking and drinking is associated with gender. Methodology Design This research uses cross-sectional analysis to determine the case. That means to say that the paper only takes into account the results gathered at one point in time and does not consider possible trends that may affect the validity of the data gathered.

This is chosen because of the practicality of its approach since longitudinal analysis often requires analysis of large amount of data over long periods of time, making it imperfect for a university-level research. The independent variables for this study are the gender of the respondents and the effects of smoking and drinking to the smokers, alcoholic drinkers, smokers and alcoholic drinkers, or neither smoker nor alcoholic drinkers. Information about whether the respondents smoke or drinks are eliminated from the research design in order to simplify the analysis.

Because of the number of respondents involved in this paper, the level of significance that will be used is =.05. The conceptual paradigm of the study appears below. Participants The scope of the study is confined on 100 men and women randomly chosen from ages 18 and above. They are classified into four major categories which are smokers, alcoholic drinkers, smokers and alcoholic drinkers, or neither smoker nor alcoholic drinker. 32% of the male respondents who smoke at the same time consume alcoholic beverages are from ages 18-35 while only 14.

4% of the smokers/drinkers are from age 35 and above. 24.2% of the female respondents who smoke at the same time consume alcoholic beverages compared to 29% of the female respondent who smoke at the same time consume alcoholic beverages ages 35 and beyond. Materials The materials used for this research are computers, computer printers, photocopying machines, bond papers, and flash drives. Other tools used to make the research possible were calculators, statistical textbooks, and books on research design and development.

Procedures The questionnaires were printed and distributed in public places to gather the random samples that will respond to the questions. Questionnaires composed of 11 questions were handed out to the respondents for them to fill out completely. The researcher let the respondents sign a waiver stating that all information contained in their responses will be kept private and the researcher oriented them orally about the purpose of the research. The gender of the respondents was chosen evenly to yield gender-unbiased results.

The filled out questionnaires were then gathered and scores were taken. The data gathered from the questionnaire were subjected to statistical measures of central tendency and was subjected to descriptive comparison of the secondary research data gathered. Ethics There are only two ethical considerations in this research which are the privacy of the data and the integrity of the data and data analysis.

Read More