Statistical Thinking & Algebraic Concepts

Is Marijuana a “Gateway” Drug?

I. Scatter Plot
Recently, a study tracked marijuana use and other illicit drug use by teenagers in the United
States and in 10 other western European countries. Below is a chart that shows what percent of
teenagers in these countries have ever used marijuana and what percent have ever used other
illicit drugs (like ecstasy, cocaine, LSD, heroin, etc.)

% of Teens who have used % of Teens who have used

Country marijuana other illicit drugs
Czech Republic 22 4
Denmark 17 3
England 40 21
Finland 5 1
Ireland 37 16
Italy 19 8
Northern Ireland 23 14
Norway 6 3
Portugal 7 3
Scotland 53 31
United States 34 24

Below is a scatter plot showing all this data.

Marijuana & Other Drug Use (11 Western Nations)

35
Per Cent of Teens Who Have used Other

30

25

20
Illicit Drugs

15

10

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Per Cent of Teens Who Have Used Marijuana

© 2013 Marcus McAleer

Statistical Thinking & Algebraic Concepts

1) Why do you suppose that the “% used marijuana” variable was chosen for “x”? Explain.

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2) How would you classify the correlation shown on the scatter plot?

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II. Measuring the Strength of Correlation.

Refer to the following tables:
Category Mean Standard Deviation
% Marijuana 23.9 15.6
% Other Drugs 11.6 10.2

% z- % Other z- Product
Country Marijuana score Drug score of
Use Use z-scores
Czech Republic 22 -0.122 4 -0.745
Denmark 17 -0.442 3 -0.843 0.373
England 40 21 0.922
Finland 5 -1.212 1
Ireland 37 0.840 16 0.431 0.362
Italy 19 -0.314 8 -0.353
Northern Ireland 23 -0.058 14
Norway 6 3 -0.843
Portugal 7 -1.083 3 -0.843 0.913
Scotland 53 1.865 31 1.902
USA 34 24

1. Fill in the 6 z-scores that have been left blank.

2. If a country has a negative z-score for “% marijuana use”, what type of z –score does it
generally have for “% other drug use”? Are there any exceptions to this trend?

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© 2013 Marcus McAleer

Statistical Thinking & Algebraic Concepts

3. If a country has a positive z-score for “% marijuana use”, what type of z –score does it
generally have for “% other drug use”? Are there any exceptions to this trend?

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4. Now fill in the last column of the chart by multiplying each country’s 2 z-scores together.
What type of numbers are these products? Are there any exceptions to this trend?

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5. Now calculate the correlation coefficient (r) by finding the “generous average” of these
products (add up the last column & divide by 10).

R = ________________

6. Does this r-value indicate a statistically significant correlation between these two
variables? Explain.

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7. Does this study prove that marijuana is a gateway drug? Explain. Why do you think that
this correlation exists?

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8. Could researchers run an experiment in order to determine if marijuana acts as a

gateway to other drugs? Explain.

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© 2013 Marcus McAleer