Research Proposal II

Nyeisha Rushing, Henry Glaze

SW 603 Social Work Research Methods Section I

University of Mississippi

April 28, 2024

 Conceptual Framework

Previous studies have examined the relationship between mental health disorders and the

development of Substance Use Disorders (SUD). These studies provide evidence that suggests

alcohol and drug related problems arise from individuals’ attempts to cope with issues and

mental health difficulties (Berenz et al., 2016). This coincides with evidence that suggests an

increase in illicit and prescription drug misuse in college students since 2014. College students,

being the subject of this research, are under academic pressure besides any underlying mental

health issues they may have (Welsh et al., 2019). Understanding these relationships is crucial to

benefiting the future of college students and the population.

The study that is proposed here is meant to determine the relationship between the

presence of individuals’ in college past childhood trauma and likelihood to develop Substance

Use Disorder (SUD). Researchers hypothesized that there would be a positive relationship

between college students’ past trauma and the development of SUD. This will continue the

similar research done by other researchers such as the study around the strain theory and how

some individuals may use drugs to cope with trauma (Ayres, 2020). This proposed research will

differ from earlier studies and seek to bridge the gap between the limitations of this previous

research by reaching larger populations in sampling. This will allow for more generalizability.

This will simply mean that it will more accurately represent results and their relationships to the

desired population (Rubin & Babbie, 2017).

Measurement

The independent variable, variable being examined as a cause, in this study will the potential

trauma that was experienced by the participants and reported in this study. The dependent
variable, or resulting effect of the independent variable, will be the potential development of a

SUD. Two control variables, variables that remain constant and unchanged throughout the

experiment, identified in the study would be the fact that all participants are college students and

all participants are currently living in the greater oxford community.

In this proposed study, two separate measurement tools would be used to examine

trauma, coping, and substance use.

1. Adverse Childhood Experiences questionnaire (ACEs)

This questionnaire is used to examine trauma experienced as a child by answering detailed

questions revolving around different forms of potentially experienced trauma that an individual

may have been in contact with. Past trauma is characterized as: abuse, neglect, or household

dysfunction. This is a ten question survey that examines these adverse childhood experiences

(Felitti et al., 2019).

2. Diagnostic Interview of Substance Use Disorder

Using the DSM-5, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, an interviewer would

meet with individual participants to evaluate if the individuals meet the criteria for a Substance

Abuse Disorder Diagnosis. This interview will examine eleven symptoms and separate the

results into; mild, moderate, or severe based on the results (Diagnostic and statistical manual of

mental disorders: DSM-5-TR 2022).

Both measurements’ data will be gathered at different points over time. The first would be at the

beginning of the study to gather the baseline data. The same measurements will be used over the

next two years at six month intervals to continue gathering information to examine any changes

or assess any further developments in relation to the dependent variable. This would allow for
the study to be described as cohort study that would bridge the gap of previous studies in an

attempt longitudinally examine the independent variable, past trauma, and how it effects the

dependent variable, development of SUDs.

Using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental disorders, the level of measurement used

will be ordinal. Participants answer questions by self reporting their answers to a questionnaire

that gives different levels of answers. These range from answering; no, sometimes, often, and

almost always. Alongside this measurement, the ACEs questionnaire is also ordinal and asks the

participants to self report their answers to the questions in a similar way. This is characterized by

answering either in the same range as the previous measurement.

As mentioned prior, the independent variable is the level of past trauma experienced by

individual participants. This is nominal defined as either abuse, neglect, or household

dysfunction. Operationally this is defined and scored by the Adverse Childhood Experiences

questionnaire as a score from zero to ten. Each answer to a provided question has a score in the

range of zero to 3. The answers; no, sometimes, often, and almost always correspond with

scores; zero, one, two, and three, respectfully (Felitti et al., 2019).

The dependent variable, as explained previously as the development of Substance Use

Disorders, is measured using the Diagnostic Interview using the DSM-5 and the criteria for

diagnosing these disorders. This disorder is operationally described as meeting the required

diagnostic criteria for what is required to be diagnosed by a professional. The diagnosis can

range due to the fact that Substance Use Disorder can be further characterized into multiple

specific substance disorders; cannabis disorder, alcohol use disorder, stimulant use disorder, exc.

In scoring, the questions and answers follow the same method as the ACE questionnaire. The

same system of answers and scoring remain the same. The scores are then used to measure the
severity on a scale ranging; mild, moderate, and severe. The professionals participating in the

interview process will determine upon interviewing what actual specific diagnosis is met, if any

(Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-5-TR 2022).

Method

Sampling

The sampling method for this proposed study will be a survey given to students at the beginning

of a spring semester. The survey will be provided electronically to students in applied sciences

and related health fields to earn credits toward their required hours. The students will be

intensified by these credits to participate their time and provide to the study. This sample will

provide enough students from various educations to provide enough generalizability to the study

(Rubin & Babbie, 2017).

This grouping was designed so that various students from various backgrounds would be invited

to participate with the incentive of required credits. Many undergraduate classes on campus

require participation in studies such as the proposed to benefit the university's research and give

the student body an attempt to experience the research process.

Potential risks for the participants in this study come in the form of, one, stigma. Certain

participants may feel negatively in sharing their past experiences in such as a way to someone

they may not know. This could cause them psychological stress or bring up many different

negative emotions in relation to their trauma and substance abuse (Corrigan et al., 2014) Another

potential risk to participants that is particular to a study such as this and how it relates to issues

with substances and addiction may be the potential for relapse. Discussing substance use and

addiction, certain study participants may encounter cravings similar to the ones they may have
experience during addiction. This in turn can potentially trigger a relapse (Witkiewitz & Marlatt,

2004).

To mitigate these potential risks to participants in the proposed study, researchers should ensure

certain steps are taken. The first being that informed consent should be given to all participants.

This will allow them to not only understand the potential risks of participation in this research

but also understand their potential impact the study may provide from data gathered (Social

Work Code of Ethics). Researchers should also take steps to maintain confidentiality for all

participants. This will ensure the protection of all information given by the participants so that all

participants know that any information they give will only be seen by the researchers. Lastly, one

important thing researchers can provide are mental health resources to those participants who

may or may not need them during and after the course of this study. This can take the form of the

resources and professionals on campus that are their for students.

Research Design

The physical design of this study is characterized as a longitudinal cohort study. The study will

begin with a set number of student participants who will be participating over the course of two

years with examinations, or evaluations, at six-month intervals. The reasoning behind this is that

researchers can see the effects over time of the development of SUDs in the participants. This is

an attempt to bridge the gap of previous research that had limited scope in the impact, over time,

of the development of SUDs. The bivariate analysis used in this research was correlation

analysis. This was to ensure an understanding of the potential positive relationship described in

the hypothesis and test it accordingly.

With this particular proposed study, there are several threats to validity that researchers should

be aware of. The first is experimenter bias. It can be assumed that most researchers may already

believe that there is a positive relationship between trauma and the development of substance use

disorders. This can lead for much of the findings in this study to be skewed by the researchers to

fit that preconceived assumption of the relationship between these variables. Mortality of

participants can also be a threat to internal validity. Participants are not forced to participate in

this study as it is completely voluntary. If participants decide to cease their participation, the

resulting absence of data or skewed data can give the researchers an inaccurate representation of

the results.

Discussion

The research problem that is being examined is the relationship between past childhood trauma

and the development of substance use disorder. This study’s hypothesis states that childhood

trauma will positively correlate with the individuals development of substance abuse disorders.

The limitations that this study may have, as compared to similar studies, can best be described as

limited generalizability and causality. The population may not be accurately represented which

could lead to limited generalizabilty. Causality, with this study, can best be described as the

potential for the findings in the data can be less representative of the hypothesis. This simply

means that not all factors that are potentially influencing the dependent variable may be

accounted for, so the hypothesis may be proven right or wrong regardless of the actual

relationship between the variables.

 References

Ayres, T. C. (2020). Childhood trauma, problematic drug use and coping. Deviant Behavior,
42(5), 578–599. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2020.1746132

Berenz, E. C., Kevorkian, S., Chowdhury, N., Dick, D. M., Kendler, K. S., & Amstadter, A. B.
(2016). Posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, anxiety sensitivity, and alcohol-use
motives in college students with a history of interpersonal trauma. Psychology of Addictive
Behaviors, 30(7), 755–763. https://doi.org/10.1037/adb0000193

Corrigan, P. W., Druss, B. G., & Perlick, D. A. (2014). The impact of mental illness stigma on
seeking and participating in mental health care. Psychological Science in the Public
Interest, 15(2), 37–70. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100614531398

Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-5-TR. (2022). . American

Psychiatric Association Publishing.

Felitti, V. J., Anda, R. F., Nordenberg, D., Williamson, D. F., Spitz, A. M., Edwards, V., Koss,
M. P., & Marks, J. S. (2019). Reprint of: Relationship of childhood abuse and household
dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults: The adverse childhood
experiences (ACE) study. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 56(6), 774–786.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2019.04.001

Rubin, A., & Babbie, E. R. (2017). Research methods for social work. Cengage Learning.

Social Work Code of Ethics. NASW, National Association of Social Workers. (n.d.).
https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English

Welsh, J. W., Shentu, Y., & Sarvey, D. B. (2019). Substance use among college students.
FOCUS, 17(2), 117–127. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.focus.20180037

Witkiewitz, K., & Marlatt, G. A. (2004). Relapse prevention for alcohol and drug problems: That
was zen, this is Tao. American Psychologist, 59(4), 224–235. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-
066x.59.4.224