Article Review

Article Review

Introduction to the Article

The article taken into account is “Tobacco use moderates the association between major depression and obesity”. This article, written by Leventhal, Adam M.; Mickens, Lavonda; Dunton, Genevieve F.; Sussman, Steve; Riggs, Nathaniel R. and their team, published in the Journal of Health Psychology in 2010. The authors present relationship between obesity and major depression. The researchers found that overall; the use of tobacco plays a significant role in moderating the association of obesity and major depression. While this explanation contributes to our understanding of the symptoms and treatment of major depression, as well as the general study of unhealthy eating and sedentary behavior.

Hypothesis of the Study

The hypothesis of the study is that the depression forces people to engage in addictive behaviors that might comprise of mainly binge eating, higher caloric intake or smoking. This might be the case, since depressed females are seen to engage in alternative behavior, which explains the relationship between major depression (MD) and obesity. Therefore, the association between obesity and MD might be predominantly strong in people who do not smoker, and it would be weak in people who smoke.



Population for the Study

The population of the study comprised of non-institutionalized people who were aged 18 and above. The population only included individuals belonging to the African American and American Hispanic race who are residing in United State of America. The sampling method included stratified random sampling method dividing the population into race, age, ethnicity and gender.

Methodology

The most popular research approaches used to make informed scientific decisions include qualitative and quantitative methods (Neuman, 2005; Polit & Beck, 2005). Differences between quantitative and qualitative research lie in their approach to identification of the research problems and reviews of the literature. The two approaches have different strategies in specifying the purpose, data collection, data analysis, reporting, and evaluating research (Burns & Grove, 2005; Hudacek, 2008; Polit & Beck, 2005). In identifying a research problem, Creswell (2005) claimed that it is descriptive and explanatory for quantitative but exploratory for qualitative research.

Like all scholarly articles, Leventhal, Adam M. and his team began their study with a review of the existing literature. In this section, the researchers present what is already known about the symptoms of depression and describe how it leads people to engage in alternative behaviors. First, the authors provide a description of obesity, noting how it affects various functions, including the psychological, biological, and social systems. Sussman & Black, (2008) had previously described the degree to which the use of tobacco offsetting depression, while Flegal et al. (2007) have also demonstrated that the obesity can lead to cancers that are obesity related and cardio vascular diseases. The authors then noted that Grant, Dawson et al. (2003) found that substance abuse is also found in people suffering from major depression. However, the researchers argue that the psychiatric effects of substance abuse counter with depression and anxiety.

How Data was Collected

Following the scientific method, the researchers conducted their interviews and collected ...