Correlation and Causation: Examining the Relationship Between Anxiety Disorders and Drug Abuse in Adolescents
Overview
This paper examines the distinction between correlation and causation in the context of adolescent mental health and substance abuse. The author proposes a survey-based research methodology to investigate whether teenagers with anxiety disorders are more likely to abuse drugs, while clarifying that statistical relationships do not necessarily indicate causal mechanisms.
What this coursework covers
- Definition and distinction between correlation and causation with application to anxiety and drug abuse
- Research questions contrasting correlational inquiry with causal inquiry
- Proposed survey research methodology for data collection from adolescent population
- Alternative observational study approach for investigating causal relationships
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Correlation and Causation
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Correlation and Causation
Prompt 1
Research question on Correlation
Are teenagers with anxiety disorders more likely to abuse drugs?
Research question on Causation
Do anxiety cause students to perform poorly in school?
The difference between Causation and Correlation is that one infers the relationship between two variables while the other infers one event causing another event to occur. However, a correlation between two variables does not mean that the change in one variable is the cause of the change in the other variable's values. In our case, there might be a relationship between anxiety and drug abuse. Still, we cannot necessarily conclude that anxiety causes drug abuse among teenagers since there may be many other factors contributing to the same.
Prompt 2
For this study, we will conduct survey research to determine whether teenagers with anxiety disorders are more likely to abuse drugs. The survey research method will be more appropriate since we seek to find a statistical relationship between anxiety and drug abuse. Unlike other research methods, surveys can get data near the exact characteristics of the broader population (Blote et al. 2015). This study's target population is teenagers; therefore, we will select a random sample of students and provide each student with questionnaires. Students will be informed about the importance of the study and urged to be as honest as possible. The information collected will then be assembled in statistical software and then analyzed and interpreted before concluding.
Another method that might also work for this study is observational studies.