Chapter 12, Problem 8CTC

Adult Children of Alcoholics

Shown here are the abstract and two tables from a research study entitled “Adult Children of Alcoholics: Are They at Greater Risk for Negative Health Behaviors?” by Arlene E. Hall. Based on the abstract and the tables, answer these questions.

Abstract The purpose of the study was to examine and compare the health behaviors of adult children of alcoholics (ACOAs) and their non-ACOA peers within a university population. Subjects were 980 undergraduate students from a major university in the East. Three groups (ACOA, non-ACOA, and Unsure) were identified from subjects’ responses to three direct questions regarding parental drinking behaviors. A questionnaire was used to collect data for the study. Included were questions related to demographics, parental drinking behaviors, and the College Wellness Check (WS), a health risk appraisal designed especially for college students (Dewey & Cabral, 1986). Analysis of variance procedures revealed that ACOAs had significantly lower wellness scores (WS) than non-ACOAs. Chi-square analyses of the individual variables revealed that ACOAs and non-ACOAs were significantly different on 15 of the 50 variables of the WS. A discriminant analysis procedure revealed the similarities between Unsure subjects and ACOA subjects. The results provide valuable information regarding ACOAs in a nonclinical setting and contribute to our understanding of the influences related to their health risk behaviors.

*p < 0.01

8. Why was the one-way ANOVA procedure used, as opposed to another test, such as the t test?