Sensation Seeking and Alcohol Use - Statistics Project Example

SENSATION SEEKING AND ALCOHOL USE JUNE, 2010 Introduction Sensation-seeking has been defined as being a personality trait that is characterized by the seeking of varied, novel, complex, and intense sensations and experiences and the willingness to take physical, social, legal, and financial risks for the sake of such experiences(Zuckerman & Kuhlman, 2000). It follows therefore people who are high on sensation-seeking are likely to engage in high risk activities such as drug taking, extreme sports, and risky sexual behavior. Studies have shown that males tend to score higher than females on self-report questionnaires of sensation-seeking and that when one get older sensation-seeking tendencies reduce (Donohew RL., et al, 2004). This personality trait is of considerable interest to researchers in the drug and alcohol field as it has been shown that substances users are characterized by high levels of sensation-seeking. That is, regular users of alcohol and other drugs tend to score higher on measures of sensation-seeking compared to lighter users. There is a lot of literature that has been written on the association of consumption of alcohol and injuries that are accidental as well as the consumption of alcohol and sensation seeking behaviors (Zuckerman, M. & Kuhlman, M. D., 2000). The sensation seeking measures have been found to be high for heavy drinkers, alcoholics and problem drinkers. It has also been found that sensation behaviors is prevalent in those people who like participating in activities that can be considered to be high risk such as parachuting, mountaineering and deep sea diving (Zuckerman M, et al, 1964) . In one of the studies which were done it was established that problem drinking and sensation seeking preceded accident involvement up to three years. In another study about alcohol there was investigation on sensation seeking and injury. The study was carried out in a general national population sample. In the study a positive correlation was found to exist between sensation seeking and alcohol consumption. On entering both variables into a logistic regression together with demographic characteristics in an attempt to predict injury it was only alcohol that was found to be significant (Cheryl, 1998). Although a lot of research has been done in the area of sensation seeking and alcohol consumption there are gaps that need to be filled by more research work. The participants for this study comprised University students and members of the general community. The majority of the students participated as part of their studies in Psychology (course credit). The aim of this study was furthering of study on relationship between sensation seeking and alcohol consumption using different statistics tools and establish how the two variables relate to age and gender. The hypothesis of the study were that there is a negative correlation between sensation seeking and age, sensation seeking is high in men than in women, and that there is a positive correlation between sensation seeking and alcohol use. Method The participants for this study were University students, majority of whom participated as part of their studies in Psychology (course credit).The research participants were requested to complete the sensation seeking scale and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). These measures provide single continuous scores on sensation-seeking (possible range 0-40), and alcohol use (range 0-40). Both questionnaires are established and widely used in this field of study. The mean age of the participants was fount to be 26.5 years with a standard deviation of 8.2. The participants gave their demographic details in the questionnaire including their age and sex. Out of the 100 students who participated in this research 50 were male while 50 were female. Before participating in the filling of the questionnaires the research participants were assured that the information given was to be treated with confidence. Relationship between sensation-seeking and age From the descriptive statistics table it can be seen that mean of the sensation-seeking score is 31.78 while the mean age of the 100 research participants was 26.5 years. In table 2 there is a revelation of the existence of a correlation between the sensation seeking score and age. The value of the correlation is -2.16 at 0.031 level of significance. This indicates that sensation seeking tends go down with the increase of age. This is in agreement of the hypothesis that there is a negative correlation between sensation seeking and age. TABLE 1 Descriptive Statistics Mean Std. Deviation N Sensation-Seeking Score 31.7800 6.21269 100 Age 26.500 8.2026 100 Comparison of sensation seeking scores between male and female The t-test was used to compare the sensation seeking scores between males and female and the results were as in table. The independent variable in this analysis was sex while dependant variable was sensational seeking scores. Out of the 100 participants 50 were male while 50 were female. The mean value for sensation seeking score was 34.2 for male while for the female it was 29.36. The t value was 4.212 at 0.000 level of significance. There is a high level of significance which is an indication that the difference in sensation between male and female is real and not as a result of randomness in data. For the Levene’s test for homogeneity of variance the F value is 5.589 at .020 level of significance. Since the level of significance of the F value is less than .05, it is an indication that there is an actual difference in the variance of sensation seeking score between male and female. Table 3 Group Statistics Sex N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean Sensation-Seeking Score male 50 34.2000 4.84452 .68512 female 50 29.3600 6.52393 .92262 Table 4 Independent Samples Test Levene's Test for Equality of Variances t-test for Equality of Means F Sig. t df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Difference Std. Error Difference 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference Lower Upper Sensation-Seeking Score Equal variances assumed 5.589 .020 4.212 98 .000 4.84000 1.14918 2.55948 7.12052 Equal variances not assumed 4.212 90.439 .000 4.84000 1.14918 2.55710 7.12290 Chi square test of alcohol dependence on sensation seeking scores From Table 5 it can be seen that the expected value of those research participant who had a low sensation seeking and fell under the category of light drinker was 17.4 but the actual count was 25. For the low sensation seeking with heavy drinking habit the actual count was 11 with the expected value being 18.5. For the high sensation seeking the expected count for the light drinker was 13.6 against the actual count value of 6, while for high sensation seeking with heavy drinking habit the actual count was 22 as compared to the expected value of 14.4. The other findings of expected count and the actual count for the two sensation seeking group at different categories of drinking are as shown in the table. The chi square value for the test was found to be 14.525 at 0.001 level of significance. The level of significance has a small value which is an indication that there is actually a dependence of classification as a light, moderate or heavy drinker on sensation seeking group of either high or low. Table 5 Sensation-seeking group verses Drinker Category Cross-tabulation Drinker Category Total Light drinker Moderate drinker Heavy drinker Sensation-seeking group Low sensation-seeking Count 25 20 11 56 Expected Count 17.4 20.2 18.5 56.0 High sensation-seeking Count 6 16 22 44 Expected Count 13.6 15.8 14.5 44.0 Total Count 31 36 33 100 Expected Count 31.0 36.0 33.0 100.0 Table 6 Chi-Square Tests Value df Asymp. Sig. (2-sided) Pearson Chi-Square 14.525a 2 .001 Likelihood Ratio 15.252 2 .000 Linear-by-Linear Association 14.361 1 .000 N of Valid Cases 100 Relationship between sensation seeking scores and alcohol use From table there is a positive correlation between the sensation seeking score and use of alcohol. The value of the correlation is .359 at significance level of 0.000. This indicates the research participants who had high sensation seeking scores also had high score for alcohol use. This is in agreement of the hypothesis that there is a positive correlation between sensation seeking and alcohol use. Table 7 Descriptive Statistics Mean Std. Deviation N Sensation-Seeking Score 31.7800 6.21269 100 Alcohol Use Score 6.7200 4.43148 100 Table 8 Correlations Sensation-Seeking Score Alcohol Use Score Sensation-Seeking Score Pearson Correlation 1 .359** Sig. (2-tailed) .000 N 100 100 Alcohol Use Score Pearson Correlation .359** 1 Sig. (2-tailed) .000 N 100 100 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). Discussions From the study it was show that sensation seeking and taking of alcohol was higher in male than female. This was in agreement with the previous studies done on this subject. The study has also shown that there is a negative correlation between sensation seeking and age while the correlation between sensation seeking and alcohol use score was positive. It came out from the study that the alcohol use score was quite low as compared to sensation seeking score. This could be as a result of the students’ inability to sustain alcohol consumption due to their low economic status. Another reason could be that alcohol consumption is taken as a vise in and therefore most of the respondent could have chosen not to tell the truth about their drinking habit. The findings of this research are of benefit as it can contribute to the knowledge about alcohilism and sensation seeking and the force behind them. It can help in understanding and accommodating different individuals who have different attitudes towards different activities and lifestyles. The understanding that there are people who are naturally predisposed to indulge in risky behavior can help in looking for means of helpin the individuals out of self injuries. To illustrate this fact let use skiing which has become a very popular sport and there has been an estimation of injuries in this game of five in 1000 skier days.it has been however been noted that the rate of injuries has been showing a decline partly due to putting into use a safer skiing equipment (Donohew RL., et al, 2004) . Another way of controlling injuries could be through providing training to ensure that whenever one is involved in the risky activities there is little chance of injuries due to the training they have been given. Children should be examined at an early stage to establish whether they have sensation seeking trait so that appropriate measures can be taken. There are some shortcomings in the research that can be addressed in any future research in this area. The research did not put into consideration the race of the participants. It therefore follows that the present findings may not be applicable for any graduate students of any ethnicity. This therefore calls for more research in this area that will put into consideration the race of the participants. Due to the fact that this research was done via self assessed instrument and not through an actual behavior it could also be a limitation of study due to the fact that the participants may give answers that they think are socially appealing. It will be advisable therefore in future research a consideration should be given to using behavioral measures of statistics anxiety and attitude. References Baer J. S. (2002). Student factors: Understanding individual variation in college drinking. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 14, 40-53. Ball, I. L., Farnhill, D., & Wangeman, J. F. (1984). Sex and age differences in sensation-seeking: Some national comparisons. British Journal of Psychology, 75, 257-265. Cheryl J., 1998 Alcohol Consumption, Sensation Seeking and Ski Injury: A Case-Control StudyJournal article Journal of Studies on Alcohol, Vol. 59, Donohew RL., et al (2004). Personality and risky behavior: communication and prevention. In: Stelmack RM Ed, On the psychobiology of personality: essays in honor of Marvin Zuckerman.New York, Elsevier; 223-45. Zuckerman, M. & Kuhlman, M. D. (2000). Personality and risk-taking: Common biosocial factors. Journal of Personality, 68, 999–1029. Zuckerman M, et al (1964) Development of a sensation seeking scale. J Consult Psychol; 28: 477-82. Zuckerman M. (1979) Sensation seeking: beyond the optimal level of arousal. Erlbaum, Hillsdale CA. Read More

On entering both variables into a logistic regression together with demographic characteristics in an attempt to predict injury it was only alcohol that was found to be significant (Cheryl, 1998). Although a lot of research has been done in the area of sensation seeking and alcohol consumption there are gaps that need to be filled by more research work. The participants for this study comprised University students and members of the general community. The majority of the students participated as part of their studies in Psychology (course credit).

The aim of this study was furthering of study on relationship between sensation seeking and alcohol consumption using different statistics tools and establish how the two variables relate to age and gender. The hypothesis of the study were that there is a negative correlation between sensation seeking and age, sensation seeking is high in men than in women, and that there is a positive correlation between sensation seeking and alcohol use. Method The participants for this study were University students, majority of whom participated as part of their studies in Psychology (course credit).

The research participants were requested to complete the sensation seeking scale and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). These measures provide single continuous scores on sensation-seeking (possible range 0-40), and alcohol use (range 0-40). Both questionnaires are established and widely used in this field of study. The mean age of the participants was fount to be 26.5 years with a standard deviation of 8.2. The participants gave their demographic details in the questionnaire including their age and sex.

Out of the 100 students who participated in this research 50 were male while 50 were female. Before participating in the filling of the questionnaires the research participants were assured that the information given was to be treated with confidence. Relationship between sensation-seeking and age From the descriptive statistics table it can be seen that mean of the sensation-seeking score is 31.78 while the mean age of the 100 research participants was 26.5 years. In table 2 there is a revelation of the existence of a correlation between the sensation seeking score and age.

The value of the correlation is -2.16 at 0.031 level of significance. This indicates that sensation seeking tends go down with the increase of age. This is in agreement of the hypothesis that there is a negative correlation between sensation seeking and age. TABLE 1 Descriptive Statistics Mean Std. Deviation N Sensation-Seeking Score 31.7800 6.21269 100 Age 26.500 8.2026 100 Comparison of sensation seeking scores between male and female The t-test was used to compare the sensation seeking scores between males and female and the results were as in table.

The independent variable in this analysis was sex while dependant variable was sensational seeking scores. Out of the 100 participants 50 were male while 50 were female. The mean value for sensation seeking score was 34.2 for male while for the female it was 29.36. The t value was 4.212 at 0.000 level of significance. There is a high level of significance which is an indication that the difference in sensation between male and female is real and not as a result of randomness in data. For the Levene’s test for homogeneity of variance the F value is 5.589 at .020 level of significance.

Since the level of significance of the F value is less than .05, it is an indication that there is an actual difference in the variance of sensation seeking score between male and female. Table 3 Group Statistics Sex N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean Sensation-Seeking Score male 50 34.2000 4.84452 .68512 female 50 29.3600 6.52393 .92262 Table 4 Independent Samples Test Levene's Test for Equality of Variances t-test for Equality of Means F Sig. t df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Difference Std.

Error Difference 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference Lower Upper Sensation-Seeking Score Equal variances assumed 5.589 .020 4.212 98 .000 4.84000 1.14918 2.55948 7.

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