Young Adults Influenced By Smoking Scenes In Movies: Survey

Main Category: Smoking / Quit Smoking
Article Date: 04 Oct 2007 - 1:00 PDT

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Do young adults learn behavior from movies? Researchers have found a positive correlation for smoking.

In a paper published Tuesday in the November issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, reported their findings from a national web-enabled survey of 1528 young adults between September and November 2005.

They examined the relationship between young adults (aged between 18 and 25) observing smoking scenes in movies and the likelihood they would start to smoke themselves. They found that more exposure to smoking scenes in movies was significantly associated with young adults beginning to smoke or becoming established smokers.

Young adults compose the largest share of United States movie viewers, with 34 percent attending a film at least once a month.

After falling for several decades, the incidence of smoking in movies started increasing around 1990 and, by 2000, it was comparable to 1950 levels, said the research team.

"This study is the first to demonstrate that smoking in movies is associated with smoking in young adults in a dose-dependent manner; the more a young adult is exposed to smoking in the movies, the more likely he/she will smoke in 30 days or become an established smoker," said the report.

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