Prevalence of rates

Question 1

Prevalence

Answer 1

What proportion of a certain population engages in a certain behavior.

Question 2

Little history breakdown of the prevalence of smoking

Answer 2

Intense marketing of smoking led to a surge in prevalence of smoking during the 1950s and 1960s however later research showed smoking to be heavily linked to lung cancer. After raising awareness about this (education) and introducing legislation like restriction in tobacco advertising, additional taxation and requiring proof of age during purchasing, the prevalence decreased dramatically.

Question 3

Park et al (2011)

Answer 3

Aim: Compare factors influencing the prevalence of smoking among Korean and Chinese middle school

Data was collected from schools across Korea and China, more specifically, questionnaires filled out by students. There were around 10,000 questionnaires completed.

Results:
Smoking prevalence was higher in Chinese students than in Korean students. There were a few risk factors that separated Chinese students from Korean students: father smoking, friends smoking and alcohol use. Also, Korean students felt that smoking was less culturally acceptable than Chinese students.

Question 4

Feigl et al (2015)

Answer 4

Aim: Determine whether a school smoking ban in Chile would have an effect on teenage smoking prevalence

The ban meant that schools became smoke-free zones and there was a cigarette sale ban in area of 300 meters around schools and came into effect in 2006. The researchers collected data longitudinally from 2001 to 2011 by carrying out countrywide surveys of high school students. There was also a control group that was surveyed, surveys from the general population of young people. Over 300,000 surveys were collected.

Results:
Smoking prevalence among Chilean teenagers were rising between 2001 and 2005 however, once the ban was in place, the prevalence of teenage smoking decreased significantly.

Question 5

2 pros, 2 cons of Feigl et al. 2015

Answer 5

• High ecological validity as it investigates a real-world policy in a naturalistic setting making results more relevant to aiding public health
• Control group helps isolate the effects of the school ban from broader population trends in smoking
• Effect not consistent across sub-groups. While the ban reduced smoking mainly in younger grades, it had negligible effect on older students or on the daily total number of cigarettes smoked.
• Self-reported data once again = Social desirability bias

Answer 6

• Large, cross-cultural sample helping to generalize findings beyond a single country
• Standardized procedure of completing questionnaires under supervision increased internal validity
• Self-reported data = risk of social desirability bias (particularly because students were reporting on sensitive behaviors like smoking and alcohol use
• Correlational between risk factors identified and smoking prevalence. Cannot establish causation.