STAT 337 ASSIGNMENT 2 Due: 5:00pm EDT Thursday, June 16, 2022
Notes for Submission: Upload your assignment directly to Crowdmark via the link you
receive by email. It is your responsibility to make sure your solution to each question is
submitted in the correct section, that the pages are rotated correctly, and that everything is
legible. Typed solutions are preferred.
Notes on the use of statistical software: Unless specifically told otherwise, you are free
to do your calculations using any software you like (SAS, R, Excel, etc) but your solutions
should clearly explain the steps you used in the computation, showing intermediate calcu-
lations when necessary, and give the formulas that you used. Any code and output created
should also be submitted.
1. [6 marks] In 2020, a group of eight articles were published in the Journal of Studies on
Alcohol and Drugs summarizing the current scientific literature and evidence related to
the research question: Does exposure to alcohol marketing have a causal influence on
youth drinking 1 For each statement below (lighted edited from the original source),
indicate which of the seven Bradford Hill criteria discussed in class are related to the
statement. Multiple criteria may be addressed in each case.
(a) Jernigan et al. (2017) conducted a systematic review of longitudinal studies that examined
exposure to advertising and drinking among underage persons. All 12 studies found a positive
association between marketing exposure and one or more alcohol consumption outcomes. For
initiation of alcohol use the odds ratios for di erent marketing exposures ranged from 1.00 to
1.69, and for subsequent hazardous or binge drinking, the range was so
mewhat higher: 1.38 to
2.15.
(b) In recent years, psychologists have developed and tested theoretical models in which marketing
exposures are hypothesized to a ect psychological mediators relating to thoughts, cognitions and
attitudes. These marketing-induced changes are hypothesized to predict whether an individual
will engage in drinking behaviour. Jackson and Bartholow (2020) provide a narrative summary
of psychological plausibility using an integrated conceptual model that depicts relevant psycho-
logical processes as they work together in a complex chain of influence.
(c) Hanewinkel et al. (2008) conducted a prospective observational study of 2110 German adoles-
cents younger than 15 years who had never smoked or drunk alcohol at baseline. The percentage
of students who tried smoking was 16.3%, 10.9% initiated binge drinking and 5.0% used both
substances during the follow-up period. There was a significant e ect of parental movie restric-
tion on each substance use outcome measure after controlling for covariates. Compared with
adolescents whose parents never allowed them to view FSK-16 movies (movies that only those
aged 16 years and over would be allowed to see in theatres), the adjusted relative risk (RR) for
use of both substances were 1.64 for adolescents allowed to view them once in a while, 2.30 for
sometimes and 2.92 for all the time. FSK-16 restrictions were associated with substantially lower
exposure to movie depiction of tobacco and alcohol use.
1Sargent, J. D., Cukier, S., & Babor, T. F. (2020). Alcohol marketing and youth drinking: is there a causal
relationship, and why does it matter . Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, Supplement, (s19), 5-12.
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