Seeing Movie Stars Smoke Makes Teens More Vulnerable to Tobacco Use

Hanover, NH -- The more times an adolescent sees movie characters smoke, the more receptive that child is to the idea of taking up smoking, new Dartmouth Medical School research reveals.

"Movies are a powerful socializing force for contemporary adolescents, shaping views of what is 'cool,' attractive and grown-up," notes lead author James D. Sargent, MD, associate professor of pediatrics and of community and family medicine. With increasing restrictions on public tobacco use, movies have become "a key way that adolescents learn about the stylistic elements and social context of tobacco use," he adds. Their research is documented in the April issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Previous studies have demonstrated that the adolescents who most frequently view smoking in movies tend to be the heaviest tobacco users. However, this association does not indicate which comes first, the viewing or the smoking. Sargent and his colleagues tested the idea that more frequent viewing of smoking in movies makes nonsmoking adolescents more receptive to the idea of using tobacco.

The investigators began by counting the number of times a major or minor character smoked in each of 601 recently released movies. They then identified every student at 15 middle schools in New Hampshire and Vermont who had never smoked tobacco, and gave each one a different, randomly selected list of 50 of the films. Each participant checked off every movie seen on his or her list. The researchers used the results to rank each student's overall exposure to smoking in movies.

Each study participant also answered questions that measured his or her vulnerability to starting smoking. A separate questionnaire solicited personal information, such as the student's sex, school performance level and family smoking patterns.

The results reveal "a strong relationship between viewing tobacco use in movies and more positive attitudes toward smoking among adolescent never-smokers," Sargent reports. High exposure to smoking in movies was strongly linked to a greater intent to start smoking, lower resistance to peer offers to smoke, a greater expectation of positive benefits from smoking and a stronger belief that smoking is a normal adult behavior. Each of these attributes has been shown to indicate a greater likelihood that a nonsmoking teen will start to smoke.

The observed associations remained strong even when other factors known to predict teen smoking behaviors - including family and peer smoking behaviors -- were taken into consideration.

These results are so compelling, Sargent observes, that they "suggest that movie tobacco use, when viewed in doses to which adolescents are typically exposed, is almost as influential ... as having friends who smoke."

Because only northern New England teens participated in the study, Sargent avoids making any general recommendations concerning movie content or teen movie selection. Before that can be done, he cautions, his group's findings need to be confirmed in samples that include more urban and minority teens.

Funding for the research was provided by a National Cancer Institute grant.

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