Choosing Research Topic

Anya Runnels

27 January 2017

Choosing Topic

Smoking and Depression

                  For my research topic, I have chosen to investigate whether or not there is a correlation between smoking and depression. There are many different scenarios in which these two conditions occur. The first would be if already having depression will make you more likely to develop smoking. The second would be if smoking will make you more likely to develop depression. Another factor may be the age of the individual and at which age they either developed smoking or depression and how soon after the other occurred. I have chosen this topic because there a few different possible outcomes from research revolving around the correlation between smoking tobacco and depression. This means that multiple questions arise from this specific topic. The questions come from the two different scenarios stated above. Before deciding to conduct my research on this topic, I considered a more broad topic- the debate of the recent proposed women's health care reform. After careful consideration, I decided that this topic was too broad. It is also a current news story, therefore there are not many published, peer-reviewed journal articles on the topic. This is why I chose to research the correlation between smoking and depression rather than the women's health care reform. I have found multiple articles pertaining to this topic that are peer-reviewed and have many credible sources. This topic is still relevant to todays society because both tobacco use and mental illness have been prevalent in a significant amount of the general population for decades and it seems as though not much progress has been made in the prevention of these. Any research proving what makes an individual more at risk for developing these would be beneficial because this could potentially raise awareness and the amount of individuals affected by them would be reduced. 

Research Question: Upon finding evidence that there is a correlation between smoking and depression, is an individual who has already began smoking just as likely to develop depression as an individual who is already developed depression to begin smoking?

Key Terms: Smoking- the use of tobacco for an extended and consistent period of time

Depression- severe decline in mood, loss of interest in daily activities, and         impairment of everyday life lasting longer than two weeks

The article “Tobacco Smoking and Depressed Mood in Late Childhood/Early Adolescence” discusses whether or not there is a correlation between smoking tobacco and depression. The research goal of this specific study was to find out whether an adolescent who is depressed will be more likely to begin smoking or if an adolescent who smokes tobacco will be more like to develop depression. The third possible scenario is that both are found to be true. A second research goal of this study was to explore whether or not a difference in age category affected the scenarios above. This study focused on if an adolescent had the same risk of developing depression while smoking tobacco as an adult. The study was conducted from 1985 to 1994. Over this time period, a total of 2150 adolescents where recruited to help complete the study. These adolescents began the trial around ages 8-9 and completed the study around age 13-14. Data was collected through a series of interviews. Of those children who began smoking tobacco it was found that a statistically significant amount of individuals also developed a depressed mood within a one year period of beginning to smoke. The next research question, whether or not a depressed mood may increase the likelihood of beginning to smoke, was answered by finding that there was not a statistically significant amount of adolescents who began smoking after having already developed a depressed mood.
This article was found on the American Journal of Public Health. It is a peer reviewed journal with credible sources. 

Works Cited

Wu, L. T., & Anthony, J. C. (1999). Tobacco smoking and depressed mood in late childhood and early adolescence. American Journal of Public Health, 89(12), 1837-1840. doi:10.2105/ajph.89.12.1837