Smoking in movies and adolescent smoking initiation

Morgenstern, M., Sargent, J.D., Engels, R.C.M.E., Scholte, R.H.J., Florek, E., Hunt, K. , Sweeting, H. , Mathis, F., Faggiano, F. and Hanewinkel, R. (2013) Smoking in movies and adolescent smoking initiation. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 44(4), pp. 339-344. (doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2012.11.037)

Abstract

<p>Background: Longitudinal studies from the U.S. suggest a causal relationship between exposure to images of smoking in movies and adolescent smoking onset.</p> <p>Purpose: This study investigates whether adolescent smoking onset is predicted by the amount of exposure to smoking in movies across six European countries with various cultural and regulatory approaches to tobacco.</p> <p>Methods: Longitudinal survey of 9987 adolescent never-smokers recruited in the years 2009–2010 (mean age=13.2 years) in 112 state-funded schools from Germany, Iceland, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, and the United Kingdom (UK), and followed up in 2011. Exposure to movie smoking was estimated from 250 top-grossing movies in each country. Multilevel mixed-effects Poisson regressions were performed in 2012 to assess the relationship between exposure at baseline and smoking status at follow-up.</p> <p>Results: During the observation period (M=12 months), 17% of the sample initiated smoking. The estimated mean exposure to on-screen tobacco was 1560 occurrences. Overall, and after controlling for age; gender; family affluence; school performance; TV screen time; personality characteristics; and smoking status of peers, parents, and siblings, exposure to each additional 1000 tobacco occurrences increased the adjusted relative risk for smoking onset by 13% (95% CI=8%, 17%, p<0.001). The crude relationship between movie smoking exposure and smoking initiation was significant in all countries; after covariate adjustment, the relationship remained significant in Germany, Iceland, The Netherlands, Poland, and UK.</p> <p>Conclusions: Seeing smoking in movies is a predictor of smoking onset in various cultural contexts. The results confirm that limiting young people's exposure to movie smoking might be an effective way to decrease adolescent smoking onset.</p>

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Hunt, Professor Kathryn and Sweeting, Dr Helen
• Authors: Morgenstern, M., Sargent, J.D., Engels, R.C.M.E., Scholte, R.H.J., Florek, E., Hunt, K., Sweeting, H., Mathis, F., Faggiano, F., and Hanewinkel, R.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Health & Wellbeing > MRC/CSO SPHSU
• Journal Name: American Journal of Preventive Medicine
• ISSN: 0749-3797