Study links teen smoking to movies

A new study links exposure to cigarettes in movies to a risk of teenagers becoming smokers in adulthood.

The study, which will be published in this month’s issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, shows that teens who watched smoking scenes in movies were twice as likely to become established smokers.

The study surveyed more than 6,500 children ages 10 to 14 about their smoking and movie-watching preferences in 2003.

“It’s not just one cigarette the kid is smoking,” said Dr. James Sargent, a researcher of adolescent behavior at Dartmouth University, who led the study. “The study establishes a link between movies and ongoing smoking.”

However, not all adolescents who try smoking become addicted to cigarettes. A follow-up survey conducted two years later found that half of high school seniors had tried smoking at some time but just 7 percent smoke half a pack or more per day.

The American Cancer Society estimates that 8.5 million Americans have illnesses related to cigarettes and 80 percent of people who smoke start before they turn 18.

Dr. Sargent has been part of numerous studies on adolescent smoking, including the first-of-its-kind study done on the relationship between teen smoking and movies, released in 2005.

The 2005 study, published in the journal Pediatrics, emboldened anti-smoking groups to push the movie industry to consider smoking when determining ratings. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) took a step in that direction this year when it announced cigarette smoking will be incorporated into movie ratings.

“Teen smoking is a serious public health concern that we take very seriously,” said Kori Bernards, spokeswoman for the MPAA. “We are working through the rating system to provide parents with as much information about movies and their content as possible.”

With the National Association of Theater Owners, the MPAA oversees the Classification and Ratings Administration, which gives movies their ratings. Because the initiative happened so recently, no movies yet are rated based on smoking.

Ellen Vargas, general counsel for the American Legacy Foundation, a public health group created with tobacco settlement money, said the MPAA’s effort falls short of what is needed to turn around the increase in teen smokers.

“The research shows that depiction of smoking in movies is a powerful tool that influences 400,000 kids every year to start smoking,” she said.

The foundation wants the MPAA to eliminate smoking in movies in which it is not historically accurate and integrate public service announcements into movies that contain smoking scenes.

Until a few years ago, teen smoking was on the decline. Sociologists cite a reduced effort by states to promote anti-smoking campaigns. Some states don’t have as much money to run the campaigns because funds from the major tobacco settlement in 1998 have all but run out.