Final Project: Introduction, Literature Review, and Methods Section & Final Research Paper (A+ Or Money Back Gaurantee Only Users)

Introduction/Literature Review

Peer pressure relies on interpersonal relations and the strength of friendship amongst age mates to thrive. Young people can develop such friendship bonds especially when they are in closer contact with each other every day hence brainstorm on many issues. However, based on the fact they are incapable of rational judgment and are indecisive due to their tender ages, they are vulnerable to peer pressure. Peer pressure therefore is more common in young people for the above reasons. The topic I chose for this paper is the effect of peer pressure on conformity. My research question for this study is what is the relationship between peer pressure and underage drinking? My hypothesis is that peer pressure in adolescents is directly connected to underage drinking and teen alcoholism. The sampling technique which will be used to collect my sample is convenience sampling.

Convenience sampling is a non-probability statistical method of drawing representative data by selecting people because of the ease of their volunteering or selecting units because of their availability or easy access. Convenience sampling is limited when generalizing. Since the sample is not representative of the population, the results of the study cannot speak for the entire population. This results to a low external validity of the study. The advantages of this type of sampling are the availability and the quickness with which data can be gathered. The disadvantages are the risk that the sample might not represent the population as a whole, and it might be biased by volunteers. For example, a study to determine the average age and sex of gamblers at a casino that is conducted for three hours on a weekday afternoon might be overrepresented by elderly people who have retired and underrepresented by people of working age

The two variables in my study are peer pressure and underage drinking. Peer pressure is the influence you feel from a person or group of people to do something you might not otherwise consider doing. Peer pressure isn’t always a negative thing. It can be a positive influence and help challenge or motivate you to do your best. However, it’s helpful to recognize that peer pressure can also be negative. It can result in you doing something that doesn’t fit with your sense of right and wrong. Peer pressure can be present at school or within a broader community. It can affect people of all ages and backgrounds. Peer pressure can affect you directly, indirectly, and individually. Underage Drinking refers to any use of alcohol by persons under the legal drinking age of 21. Consumption and/or purchase of alcohol by persons under the age of 21 is illegal in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. According to the NIAAA Alcohol Policy Information System (APIS) while all 50 States and DC prohibit underage possession, only 30 prohibit consumption and 47 prohibit purchase. (APIS,2009)

Methodology

Participants

For this study I think I would use about 200 students from 4 different schools in the same general area. I would get 25 students from each school, my inclusion characteristics would be female and male students ages 10-20, different social groups, grades levels, and those who have had an alcoholic drink. Some Exclusion characteristics would be kids who are too old, homeschooled, or have never had a drink. The sample for this study needs to be diverse because I don’t believe one could get an accurate reading and or estimation of which students are under the influence and which aren’t without a large population of samples. The samples do not need to be completely diverse however, because I am still looking for a certain type of person in a limited group.

Instruments

The instruments I will use to collect the data for this study will be a series of surveys and Clasen & Browns Peer Pressure Inventory in which teens were asked to rate how much pressure they felt from their peers in several areas such as school involvement, misconduct, and peer conformity.(Clasen,1985) The 5 things I would focus on the most during these data collection processes will be, Drinking Beliefs: Attitudes Toward Alcohol Use, Alcohol Expectancies Typical alcohol attitude items ask young people how wrong they think it is for someone their age to drink beer, wine, or hard liquor or how “good” or “bad” drinking is. Alcohol expectancies are measured with items focusing on perceived personal consequences of drinking. Specifically, respondents are asked how likely or unlikely they think it is that a series of consequences would happen to them personally if they were to have 3 or more drinks. Refusal/resistance efficacy beliefs refer to perceptions of one’s own ability to resist drinking, refuse drink offers, and resist direct pressure to drink.

Procedure

First I need to establish the aim of my research in this case it would be to find the correlation between peer pressure and underage drinking, then move on to research and determine my sample group. For this study since it about underage drinking all of my samples I would get from schools in a controlled neighborhood. Children as young as middle school age clear up until senior year of high school. Once I know who my target group is I need to work out the methodology of how I want to conduct the experiments whether it be face to face or by mail. For this study I am thinking I will anonymous surveys. Surveys are the best bet because they take the least amount of time to collect plus most people feel more comfortable writing things like this down when they know that people can’t put a face to the name. Before doing this I plan to gain written informed consent from these peoples parents or legal guardians for them to participate in the study. Next would be structuring and designing my questionnaire and determining what types of questions to ask. Most of these questions would be things like, When did you have your first drink, who were you with, what was going through your mind when you took the first sip, did you feel pressured whether directly or indirectly to drink? Lastly I would Analyze my results and draw my conclusions about the information I gathered and what I learned.

Ethical Issues:

Since this study will be done on underage children they will need signed consent from their parents to participate in it. Many students might not be willing to be honest unless I promise confidentiality and the parents might not want that because they would want to know I their children are drinking or trying to coerce fellow students into it. The way I could address this is to accept the surveys anonymously from students who have informed consent.

Sources