Slide 6 (treatment barriers) dissertation samples

Most of the text is already on the slides, but there are some slides that need further explanation, they are listed below.

Introduction

In addition to listing everything on the slides, it is important to discuss the preference for counselor ethnicity point and the point below:
“ Only one study on Mexican Americans reported that students prefer counselors with the same ethnicity as themselves whereas other studies found that students prefer counselors who share similar attitudes and have a similar personality as themselves. Therefore, the preference for counselors from the same ethnic group could actually indicate that those students who preferred counselors of the same ethnic group were actually expecting that the similarities in ethnicity would imply similar attitudes and personalities.”

Slide 8 (RQs and hypotheses)

On the first RQ/H1 mention that “ the hypothesis was developed based on the fact that all states were included in the survey and that geographic data was collected. Upon further investigation of the codebook, the researchers mentioned that the data was coded to protect the participant’s privacy. Therefore, instead of states, the study used population density (higher than 1 million persons vs. lower than 1 million persons) instead of state of residence. However, the idea remains the same, and it was hypothesized that highly populated areas would be associated with higher alcohol and marijuana consumption rates compared to areas with low population.”

Methods

Slide 15 (Design and Analyses)
A precautionary note: The Wilcoxon signed ranks test is used as a non-parametric alternative to the paired t-test (example: comparing marijuana and alcohol use within the entire student population because the same people gave both responses, so you are looking for differences within one group) whereas the Mann Whitney U test is used as a non-parametric alternative to the independent samples t-test (for example, because males and females are different people and you want to compare how the same response is different between the groups).

Results

Slide 17 (Demographics)
First, mention that “ the dataset was filtered to include only college students between the ages of 18 and 24.” Then proceed with pointing out that:

Both genders were equally well represented.

European Americans were the most represented, followed by African Americans and Hispanics. The others were not so well represented, and the Native ethnic groups had to be excluded due to the small sample size.

Full-time students were the majority of the sample.

Slide 19 (Ethnicity)
First note which ethnic groups are the most likely to drink and smoke (bolded in the table). Also note that Hispanics had similar alcohol use in the past 30 days as African Am. and Asians, but they tend to binge drink more than those groups.

Other Slides

No additional notes necessary, just report the results presented on the slides. Anything below p < 0. 05 indicates a statistically significant difference between the two groups.

Discussion

In addition to the content on the slides, it is important to discuss the possible explanations of those findings, which are included below:

Slide 24 (Alcohol vs. Marijuana)

This difference in use habits can be explained by the fact that perceived risks for alcohol use are greater compared to the perceived risk for marijuana use, so marijuana is used more frequently on a monthly basis compared to alcohol.

Slide 25 (Ethnicity)

First finding: “ This is consistent with all previous studies. It is possible that alcohol use as a symbol of social status is more important to European Americans than other ethnic groups.”
Second finding: “ High ethnic identity was associated with Hispanics, so the high binge drinking risk associated with this ethnic group can be attributed to the negative interpretation of machismo, that is masculinity.”
Third finding: “ This could be explained by the fact that ethnic identity can be a protective factor against substance use. However, as those individuals have multiple ethnic backgrounds, they do not have a sense of belonging to any group, so the low ethnic identity and perceived social support could be the reasons for their high prevalence of alcohol and marijuana use reported in this study.”

Slide 26 (Gender)

“ Cultural influence” in the last point of the slide refers to the beliefs regarding female use of alcohol as inappropriate, so they tend to feel psychological consequences like guilt and shame.

Slide 27 (Location)

After presenting the findings, proceed with the discussion. Pages 59 and 60 of the dissertation contain speculations about the findings, but they are too long to include in the presentation.

Slide 28 (Student Status)

“ It is important to note that all participants were 18-24 years of age, so age cannot account for the observed difference. It is speculated, based on previous research, that binge drinking is more common in full time students because they are exposed to the physical and social environment of the college more than part-time students. However, part-time students may report fewer instances of binge drinking because of other factors, such as full-time employment or household obligations due to marital status or other factors.
“ The higher prevalence of marijuana and alcohol use in part-time students was unexpected because previous studies found similar prevalence of marijuana use in both groups. However, because alcohol is legal and cheaper than marijuana, it is harder to access than alcohol for full-time students. That could explain why part-time students, especially if they are employed, have easier access to marijuana compared to full-time students.”