570 5pages

The article on “Drinking Patterns and Dating Violence among College Students” is well written with simple language without spelling and grammatical errors. Due to this, the paper is generally easy to read, understand, and comprehend. The authors did a great job in organizing the article such that presentation of an idea leads to another. However, the authors were not prudent in identifying the introduction and literature review chapters. For articles like this, which involve a systematic approach towards obtaining results, it is important to present the work in chapters like introduction, literature review, methodology, data collection and analysis, as well as conclusion and recommendations for future research. Although the article captures most of these topics, the authors could have specifically presented the topics to help readers identify what to expect in a particular topic. The introduction, background of research, and literature review chapters are not clearly identified, and this presents a challenge to the readers regarding the presentation of the paper leading to methodology section.

Title

The title of the article “Drinking Patterns and Dating Violence among College Students” is appropriate and consistent with what the research seeks to achieve. From the review of the article, it is evident that the authors seek to establish how the drinking patters influence aggressive behavior and dating violence among college students. Based on this, I think the objective of the authors is to establish whether there is a relationship that exists between drinking patterns and dating violence. For this reason, the topic would have been more accurate, clear, and succinct if it was changed to “The Relationship between Drinking Patterns and Dating Violence among College Students”. The topic would have also been appropriate if it were changed to “The Impact of Drinking Patterns on Dating Violence among College Students”. This is because the authors sought to identify how drinking patterns affected aggressive behavior and violence between partners in college.

Abstract

From the way the abstract is presented, readers are able to get an idea of what the research is all about, which is the objective of the abstract. It is written in a clear language and briefly discusses the objective of the study. The abstract points out that use of alcohol and dating violence as issues that are highly experienced among college students. From this statement, the readers expect to understand the state of affairs on the two variables based on existing research. This is clearly discussed and evident in the literature review of the paper. The abstract also states the study of objective, which involves the examination of the relationship between alcohol use and self-reported antecedents and consequences of alcohol use. In addition, the authors also state the research hypothesis in the abstract, which is absolutely appropriate. However, the abstract should have reported the summary of the research findings, which was not done. I think this is the major weakness of the abstract, and length cannot be an issue as long as it captures all the critical points presented in the paper.

Introduction/ Background/ Literature Review

In this section, which is composed of introduction, background, and literature review, the goals of the study were not clearly states. I would say that research objective was pointed out in the abstract section. However, the authors did a great job is reviewing the existing research on how drinking patters relate with dating violence. For this reason, the research manifests theoretical and practical relevance regarding how use of drugs have been found to perpetrate occurrences of dating violence.

Based on the review of the existing research, there authors were able to identify various findings of what actually perpetrates dating violence and aggressive behavior. For instance, one research identified that violence was not actually caused by alcohol consumption, but rather lack of attention and jealousy in a relationship. The authors also clearly states rationales for research. This can be witnessed through the research statement that alcohol can be utilized as a determining factor on whether its use increases dating violence for an individual, particularly based on the amount consumed. Based on this proposition, the authors undertook review of existing literature, whereby much of the research asserted that low levels of consumption of alcohol are associated with high aggressive behavior, while high levels of alcohol consumption decrease chances of aggression. The implication is that the individuals who drink moderately are highly likely to portray more aggression compared to the heavy drinkers.

I think that to some extent, the research problem has been addressed in the research. This is because the research has been able to identify what exactly perpetrates violent behavior particularly among partners. Although the researchers have substantially made substantial discussions on the subject matter based on the existing literature, I think they were shallow in doing research on the subject matter. There is wide knowledge relating to drug use and violence, and thus the article could have had more research, which would have provided researchers with a more comprehensive knowledge of the research topic. The additional research is important in shedding more light on the current state of affairs on the research topic, and the readers obtain an idea of what to expect in the research findings.

The authors did well in citing the references for their research. All the references were cited appropriately, which increases the credibility and authenticity of the research. The citations made helps the reader differentiate from what the researcher obtained from external sources of research and personal perceptions on the subject matter. The researchers critically evaluated the previous research in the literature review, although they summarized much of the work. As a result, they may have left out very critical information that would have provided more information to the research. However, I believe that the review of literature in the research provided a solid justification for the research objective. The research hypothesis was also reflected in the review of the literature. They hypothesis of the research was appropriately tested in the research.

Method, Design, and Procedure

After the review of the paper, I can say that this section was near perfect. The researchers were sure to sufficiently and clearly describe the instruments, design, and procedure of the research. For this reason, replication of the research is possible and systematically outlines how research data was obtained and procedurally analyzed to yield the desired results. The research instruments and design adequately reflected the various variables that were being investigated. For instance, the researchers clearly described the procedures for the three-part questionnaire, which greatly supported the results of the research. The evidence presented by the researchers based on the collected data were convincing particularly with the reliability and validity of the instruments used in each procedure. However, due to the fact that the researchers utilized a small research sample, the findings would not be representative. This is because college students under study compose of a high-violence group, and thus cannot be ideal. In addition, the responses of the college students cannot be entirely relied upon as many would not wish to disclose their personal lives particularly that which is associated with violent behavior.

Analysis of Results

I think the authors did not utilize appropriate statistical procedures in the analysis of the collected data towards realizing the research hypothesis. However, it is evident that the researchers came up with the results based on the responses provided, and in accordance with the research procedures adopted. The researchers found that higher dating violence was associated with lower use of alcohol and by expectancies of negative impacts of alcohol use. The results were consistent with the research hypothesis and previous research findings. This is an indication that the research objective was realized. The results presented in the articles are presented from a descriptive approach and ae not redundant.

Conclusions and Implications, and References

The results of the research were consistent with previous research that violence incidences are associated with moderate drug use compared to higher drinking behavior. However, the violence incidence in the study was higher than that reported in previous research because the researchers include verbal abuse as part of the violence category. This clearly indicates that the discussion of the research is a reflection of the previous research. Based on the research findings, I think the researchers clearly discussed their results on the basis of the responses provided by the sample population. However, the research did not specify future directions or recommendations for research, which is an important aspect of any research. The references are clearly and alphabetically listed, and are cited properly in the article.