English 201 Data Article Analysis

Ryan Gabrish
English 201: 8:00 section
Formal Essay Four: Data article comparison
A comparison of J. Hall and T. Valente (2007), Adolescent smoking networks: The effects of influence and selection on future smoking, Addictive Behaviors, 32, 3054-9, and B. Hoffman, P. Monge, C. Chou (2007), Perceived peer influence and peer selection on adolescent smoking, Addictive Behaviors, 32, 1546-54 These two articles examine the growing issue of adolescent smoking with its effects through the smoking status of friends, peer influence, and peer selection. Both articles are representative of current social views of smoking (specifically 2007), which reflect smoking as detrimental to health and financially costly, unlike past social views of smoking…show more content…
Two measures of network centrality were used to represent the impact of influence and selection: 1) Out- degree represents peer selection (the number of friends a student nominates) and 2) in-degree represents peer influence (the number of friendship nominations a student receives). Smokers were identified as a student who had tried smoking, even one puff. Students were identified as susceptible smokers when they refused to indicate they would not smoke over the next year. Fig. 1 (p. 3055) details selecting smokers and smokers' influence: If the focal student chooses five friends, and two of those friends are smokers and three are not, then this student's proportion out-degree to smokers (selecting users) is .40. If the focal student is chosen by four other students as a friend, and one of those students are smokers and three are not, then this student's proportion in-degree from smokers (smokers' influence) is .25. The proportion of in- and out-degree nominations was used rather than the absolute number of nominations made and received to control for classroom size. For each student, smokers' influence was calculated by dividing total nominations from smokers by total nominations received and selecting smokers was calculated by dividing total nominations to smokers by total nominations sent (see Fig.1). Similarly, the proportion of in- and out-degrees to students…show more content…
At the first time point, students were seventh through twelfth grade students at 80 high schools and 52 middle schools. High schools were randomly selected from all high schools in the United States, stratified on region of the country, urbanicity, school size, school type, percent White, percent Black, grade span, and curriculum. A feeder (middle) school for each high school chosen was also selected to participate. The study population consisted of 20,747 participants who participated in both waves of measurement under study. Response rate at Wave 1 was 78.9% and 88.2% at Wave 2; as high school seniors at Wave 1 were not included in Wave 2 because according to Hoffman, Monge, and Chou: “Retention is not a valid measure for this study”(p.