Coursera - Data Management and Visualization

Data Mgmt and Visualization - Week 1 Assignment

My Data Analysis Research Topic is Ready 

Background Story

I have registered for online course for Data Analysis in Coursera and my research topic is ready.

My Research Topic

Few months back I have read an article that says suicide rate in US climbing especially among adolescence. When I looked through code book for AddHealth , I recalled about that article and I would like to do my analysis on suicide rate. So now I am including all possible variables for my study.

I made a decision that I would be exploring the association between relationship with parents and suicide rate. I add to my codebook variables reflecting the relationships of adolescence with their parents.

As a second topic I am interested to analyse whether physical health associated to mental health.

I considered following questions as my research questions.

Is relationship with parents and physical health associated with suicide rate?

I have considered variables in addhealth closely, the figures under the following topics seems closely related to suicide rates.

·         Parents letting their kids to make their own decisions

·         Leisure/household activities with father and no dad

·         Physical education and involvement in physical activities

My Code Book
Below you can find a screen-shot from the AddHealth code book with highlighted variables which correlations with suicide rate I would like to analyse.

Literature review
Here my preliminary literature review

Topic 1 : Suicide Rate Vs. Parents Relationship

1.Bearman PS, Moody J. Suicide and friendships among American adolescents.
Am J Public Health 2004;94:89–95.
2. World Health Organization. Mental health. Available: www5.who.int/
mental_health/main.cfm 2001. Accessed 2006 July 11.
3. Lewinsohn PM, Rohde P, Seeley JR. Psychosocial characteristics of adolescents
with a history of suicide attempt. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry
1993;32:60 –8.
3. World Health Organization. Mental health. Available: www5.who.int/
mental_health/main.cfm 2001. Accessed 2006 July 11.
4. Lewinsohn PM, Rohde P, Seeley JR. Psychosocial characteristics of adolescents
with a history of suicide attempt. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry
1993;32:60 –8.
5.  Sarah A Fotti, MD1, Laurence Y Katz, MD, FRCPC2, Tracie O Afifi, MSc, PhD Candidate3,

Brian J Cox, PhD4 - "The Associations Between Peer and Parental Relationships and Suicidal behaviours in Early Adolescents" 
6. Garber J, Little S, Hilsman R, Weaver KR. Family predictors of suicidal
symptoms in young adolescents. J Adolesc 1998;21:445–57.

Topic 3 : Suicide Rate Vs. Physical Health

1. Journal of Adolescent Health 39 (2006) 305–317
3. Resnick, M. D. (2000). Protection, resiliency, and youth development. Adolescent Medicine: State of the Art Reviews,11(1), 157-164.
4. Saunders, J. C. (2003). Families living with severe mental illness: A literature review. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 24, 175-200.
5.National Adolescent Health Information Center. (2007a). 2004 & 2005 National Health Interview Survey [Private Data Run]. [Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis.htm]

Hypothesis
Based on the literature review, I have developed a hypothesis about what I believe the association might be between these topics.I am giving my hypotheses below. 

 1. Parents letting their kids to make their own decisions :   

   Hypothesis : There is a correlation between these two topics. ie. Kids who are having more freedom to take decision in their life, more they have tendency to do suicide.

2. Leisure/household activities with father and no dad:

         Hypothesis : Kids who have more commitment to the family and house hold work have more attached to the family. Thus they feel they are getting enough support from the family. Thus reduced suicide rate.

3. Physical education and involvement in physical activities

    Hypothesis: Kids who have poor physical health also have poor mental health.

As a whole I finalized my hypothesis as follows,

Suicide rate in adolescence is closely associated with the parent relationship and physical health