Chapter 17, Problem 37E

Teen smoking A Vermont study published by the American Academy of Pediatrics examined parental influence on teenagers’ decisions to smoke. A group of students who had never smoked were questioned about their parents’ attitudes toward smoking. These students were questioned again two years later to see if they had started smoking. The researchers found that, among the 284 students who indicated that their parents disapproved of kids smoking, 54 had become established smokers. Among the 41 students who initially said their parents were lenient about smoking, 11 became smokers. Do these data provide strong evidence that parental attitude influences teenagers’ decisions about smoking?

1. a) What kind of design did the researchers use?
2. b) Write appropriate hypotheses.
3. c) Are the assumptions and conditions necessary for inference satisfied?
4. d) Test the hypothesis and state your conclusion.
5. e) Explain in this context what your P-value means.
6. f) If it is later found that parental attitudes actually do influence teens’ decisions to smoke, which type of error did you commit?
7. g) Create a 95% CI.
8. h) Interpret your interval.
9. i) Carefully explain what “95% confidence” means.