Question

Correlates of Alcohol and Tobacco Use*

Significance of a Correlation Coefficient: III

Excerpt from the Research Article'

From intact families, 321 adolescents participated in the present study...the age range for all being 12-16 years. There was no significant age difference between the sexes. Participants were asked to estimate how often (a) they, (b) their mothers, (c) their fathers, and (d) their best friends smoked tobacco and used alcoholic beverages. The estimations were made on a 5-point scale with anchors of 0: never, 1: almost never, 2: occasionally, 3: often, and 4: very often.

Table 1

Correlations for Adolescent Girls' and Boys' Tobacco and Alcohol Habits with Those of Their Mothers, Their Fathers, and Their Best Friends

	Girls' habits		Boys' habits
	Tobacco	Alcohol	Tobacco	Alcohol
Mother smokes	.39**	.38**	.30*	.16
Mother uses alcohol	.43***	.37**	.23	.20*
Father smokes	.22	.01	.20	.08
Father uses alcohol	.18	.39**	.42***	.34**
Friends smoke	.52***	.52***	.71***	.72***
Friends use alcohol	.43***	.83***	.70***	.76***

* p < .05. ^**p < .01. ***p < .001.

The present study corroborates previous research indicating both parental and peer influence on tobacco and alcohol consumption among adolescents. The study suggests that the influence of peers might be greater than that of parents. However, correlations as such do not suggest causal rela­tionships. There are certainly other social psychological factors that may contribute to the explana­tion of or covary with adolescent alcohol and tobacco consumption.

1. For boys, which variable correlates most highly with their tobacco habits?
2. For girls, which variable correlates most highly with their tobacco habits?
3. What variable has the strongest relationship with girls’ alcohol habits?
4. Which variable has the weakest relationship with girls’ alcohol habits?
5. Is the relationship between girls' alcohol habits and their mothers' alcohol habits statistically significant? If yes, at what probability level? If no, how do you know it isn’t significant?
6. Should the null hypothesis for the relationship referred to in Question 5 be rejected?

Answer 1