journal critique Essay

Submitted By rockets2009
Words: 877
Pages: 4

Journal Critique
The article I chose to critique is a study done on the social determinants of drunken driving. This was a study that took place over fifteen years in Finland, and included 81,125 subjects. The authors of this particular article are as follows: Antti Impinen, Pia Makela, Karoliina Karjalainen, Jari Haukka, Tomi Lintonen, Pirjo Lillsunde, Ossi Rahkonen, and Aini Ostamo. References for this study include National Institute for Health and Welfare (Finland), The Department of Public Health (Finland), University of Helsinki, Finnish Foundation for Alcohol Studies, and Tampere School of Public Health. It was hypothesized that poor social position is associated with higher risk of drunken driving in men and women while strength of the association may vary by age and sex. Studies link alcohol use and abuse to social factors such as low socio-economic status, neighborhood poverty or deprivation, unemployment and family structure. Gathering experience throughout a career in bar tending; drunken people, drunken driving, and DUI’s are a very pertinent part of the job. Drinking and driving along with the harms that come with it can plague families and individuals involved. According to the article, “Several studies have found a high mortality among DUI offenders. Causes of death that are especially associated with abuse of alcohol are more prevalent among the DUI population. When critiquing this article the points that will be explored are whether the hypothesis was proved or disproved, the research was done without bias, and whether the results are organized in a meaningful order. This particular study is based on the database of all suspected drunken drivers apprehended by the police between 1993 and 2007. Any suspects that had a history of drugs or DUIs were excluded from this study. Information regarding the backgrounds of the subjects were obtained and maintained by Statistics Finland. These statistics give the best available snapshot of the subjects’ economic activity, employment, parents’ education and income, the subject’s own education and income, marital status, employment status, possession of a car, and socio-economic status. In an effort to protect subjects’ identity a random sample of 50% was chosen from the population. Two different age groups were analyzed separately; 15 to 24 years, and 25 to 64 years. These two age groups were then analyzed by all of the previous mentioned variables. These results were organized into a table showing how many subjects’ committed DUIs next to the given variables. The results were then figured into odds ratios to give certain portions of the sample a measure of how many times more likely the portion was at risk of drunken driving and organized into a separate table. The author then explores the several relationships between these variables and the subjects’ risk of drunken driving. The introduction of the article does a good job of explaining why the study of the causes of drunken driving is an important one. It goes on to note that one’s socio-economic position can be a cause of drunken driving and clearly states all of the variables involved. The article states that studies show relation between social factors and drunken driving, but goes on to say that other environmental factors may play a role. This can be a major flaw in the study due to the fact that individual mental and physical health goes unexplored. It also mentions the fact that there is little evidence linking female drunken driving and their socio-economic status. The authors take a moment to state that the