Dating and disclosure. Refer to the Journal of Adolescence (April 2010) study of adolescents’ disclosure of their dating and romantic relationships, Exercise 8.31 (p. 365). Data collected for a sample of 222 high school students were used to determine the level of disclosure of the date’s identity to an adolescent’s mother (measured on a 5-point scale, where 1 = ;never tell,₁ = 1 if female, 0 if male), age ( x₂ , years), dating experience ( x₃ , years), and level of trust in parents ( x₄ , 5-point scale).

a. Give the equation of a first-order model for y as a function of the four independent variables.

b. The coefficient of determination for the model, part a, was reported as R² = .24. Give a practical interpretation of this value.

c. Give the null hypothesis for testing the overall adequacy of the model, part a.

d. The test, part c, resulted in F = 56.60 with p-value

e. The estimate of the beta coefficient for age ( x₂ ) was reported as -.09 . Give a practical interpretation of this value.

Exercise 8.31

Dating and disclosure. Refer to the Journal of Adolescence (April 2010) study of adolescents’ disclosure of their dating and romantic relationships, Exercise 1.29 (p. 21). Recall that a sample of 222 high school students was recruited to participate in the study. One of the variables of interest was the level of disclosure to an adolescent’s mother (measured on a 5-point scale, where 1 = “never tell,” 2 = “rarely tell,” 3 = “sometimes tell,” 4 = “almost always tell,” and 5 = “always tell”). The sampled high school students had a mean disclosure score of 3.26 and a standard deviation of .93. The researchers hypothesize that the true mean disclosure score of all adolescents will exceed 3. Do you believe the researchers? Conduct a formal test of hypothesis using a = .01

Exercise 1.29

Dating and disclosure. As an adolescent, did you voluntarily disclose information about dating and romantic relationships to your parents? This was the research question of interest in the Journal of Adolescence (Apr. 2010). A sample of 222 high school students was recruited to participate in the study. Some of the many variables measured on each student were age (years), gender, dating experience (number of dates), and the extent to which the student was willing to tell his/her parent (without being asked) about a dating issue (e.g., how late the daters stayed out). The responses for the last variable were categorized as “never tell,” “rarely tell,” “sometimes tell,” “almost always tell,” and “always tell.” a. Identify the data type for each variable.

b. The study was unclear on exactly how the sample of students was selected, stating only that “participants were recruited from health or government classes in a primarily European American middle-class school district.” Based on this information, what are the potential caveats to using the sample to make inferences on dating and disclosure to parents for all high school students?