Term Paper on "Effects of Emotional Intelligence in Adolescents and Smoking Cessation Programs"

Term Paper 20 pages (6326 words) Sources: 15

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Emotional Intelligence and Adolescent Smoking

The purpose of this research is to determine the impact of emotional intelligence on the success of various strategies to prevent smoking in adolescents. A number of methods have been attempted including in-school programs, clinical smoking interventions, increasing tobacco tax, and an anti-smoking media campaign. All of these programs have demonstrated some ability to reduce smoking in adolescents. However, none of them have proven to be 100% effective in stopping adolescent smoking. This study will examine the role of emotional intelligence in the decision to engage, or not engage in smoking behaviors.

This study is based on correlational research design, as it seeks to explore the relationship between two variables. This study will utilize a survey that combines elements of emotional intelligence, personality traits, family and cohort smoking behaviors, and information from various cessation programs. It will compare emotional intelligence scores to the other items on the survey. It will categorize the other study results so that emotional intelligence scores can be isolated from other variables that might effect the propensity to begin smoking, or difficulty stopping smoking once one has started. It will use a quantitative design as its basis.

In this study emotional intelligence, will the independent variable. Emotional intelligence is the culmination of many factors in one's life. There is little that one can do to improve emotional intelligence, at least on a short-term basis. The emotional intelligence of a person is expected to remain somewhat constant over time, unless something drastic happens to change it. Therefore, emotional intelligence will represent the factor in the study that cannot be reasonably changed through actions taken in this research study. Emotional intelligence resembles a personality trait more than an experimental instrument.

The dependent variable of the study will be smoking behaviors in adolescents. Smoking behaviors represent a choice, at least in the beginning. The individual chooses to smoke or not to smoke. Ultimately, it is the person themselves that makes this decision. The decision that they make is based on many factor, one of which is closely tied to their level of emotional intelligence. Their decision to smoke is the variable that will be "manipulated" through the use of smoking cessation programs, such as GottaQuit.com.

There are a number of confounding variables that will affect the results of this study. For instance, a family history of smoking will lead to an increased risk of smoking in adolescence. Other factors such as gender, race, and economic status will also have an effect on the decision to smoke as a teen. How many times the teen has tried to quit in the past will also have an effect on the success of the smoking cessation program. These confounding variables could skew the results in either direction if there are a significant number of sample subjects with a particular trait.

In order to account for and determine the effects of confounding variables, survey questions will be included to identify these variables within the individual subject. These results will be cross tabulated to determine if differences exist across the various categories of participants. This will help the researcher to identify the effects of confounding variables that might be present in the sample population. Many of these variables are the result of previous life experience and cannot be eliminated experimentally. Therefore, we must identify those that have a potential for affecting the results of the study and statistically address them.

Study Population

This study will involve a random sample of 200 adolescents between the ages of 13-18 in a nearby metropolitan area. The study will consist of 100 males and 100 females. They will be selected from a sample of area high school students that have been enrolled in the smoking cessation program "GottaQuit.com." Some of these students will have enrolled voluntarily and others as a result of disciplinary action by the high school guidance counselor. The teens will require parental consent in order to participate in the study. Assistance with administration and identification of potential study participants will be obtained from school administration.

Participation in the study will be random and the researcher will not have control over the participants selected. The researcher will be provided a list of potential participants through guidance counselor lists of enrollees in the GottaQuit program. The sample population will include a variety of study participants, including males, females, and those of many races present at the school. Therefore, the results will better reflect the population at large and will be more easily generalized to the general population.

Hypotheses

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of emotional intelligence on the success rates of a smoking cessation program. The hypothesis will state, students with high emotional intelligence will have a statistically significant greater success rate with a smoking cessation program than those with low emotional intelligence."

The null hypothesis will state that, no statistically significant difference in success with the smoking cessation program will be found between those teens with high emotional intelligence and those with low emotional intelligence."

In addition to the primary research hypothesis, the study will also explore several research questions. These research questions will stem from the presence of confounding variables that might effect the research hypothesis. The following research question will be addressed in the research study.

Are there any differences in the success rates of the smoking cessation program between males and females?

Are there any differences in the success rates of the smoking cessation program between different races that are identified in the sample population?

Are there any differences in the success rates of the smoking cessation program between those that have taking part in the smoking cessation program in the past and those that are entering a smoking cessation program for the first time?

Are there any differences in the success rates of the smoking cessation program between males and females?

Are there any differences in the success rates of the smoking cessation program between those in their early teens (13-15) and those in their late teens (16-18)?

Are there any differences in the success rates of the smoking cessation program between those of various income levels?

Are there any differences in the success rates of the smoking cessation program between those that have parents or guardians that smoke and those whose parents or guardians that do not smoke?

These research questions will play a role in validating the hypothesis as well as providing insight into the effects of external variables that might have an effect on the success rate of the smoking cessation program. Understanding how these variables effect the hypothesis and the success rate of the smoking cessation program will allow better understanding of the programs and ways to improve them in the future.

Data Analysis

Data analysis will focus on the relationship between the independent variable (emotional intelligence) and the dependent variable (success in smoking cessation program).

Emotional Intelligence data was obtained from the survey, as well as relevant demographic data. High and Low emotional intelligence scores were divided at the median. Smoking cessation success was measured two months after completion of the GottaQuit program. Data for this portion of the study was also obtained via questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were measured for emotional intelligence scores, as well as smoking cessation success rates. Pearson Product Correlation was used to determine if a correlation exists between the variables being measured. a.05 confidence level was used for all analyses.

Instrumentation

This study consists of a two-phase survey. Part a of the survey investigates demographic information, whether their parents smoked, and other information that might effect the results of the study. Part B consists of an investigation of the emotional intelligence level of the participant. Parts a and B. will be administered prior to completing the GottaQuit smoking cessation program.

Two months after completion of the GottaQuit program, the participants will be administered the third part of the survey. At this time the emotional intelligence portion of the survey will be re-tested to determine the internal reliability of the survey questionnaire.

This will consist of questions designed to measure the success of the smoking cessation program. The reliability of the survey instrument was assessed using Cronbach Alpha. It was found to have a Cronbach Alpha of 0.90, which is considered to be an acceptable level of internal consistency. It also had an internal test-retest reliability of 0.78 the survey instrument was Likert type.

Schutte et al. (1998) found that there are four factors in emotional intelligence. They are:

Optimism/Mood Regulation - Those that have the ability to maintain a positive emotional outlook or that have the ability to control emotions under pressure have the greatest degree of emotional intelligence.

Utilization of emotions - Those that have the ability to use emotional impact or to use major events for personal development are associated with greater emotional intelligence.

Appraisal of Emotions - This means the ability to judge the emotions that others are feeling using facial cues and expressions.

Social Skills - This refers to… READ MORE

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