On-screen smoking in movies linked to young adult smokin...( New study findings show that exposur...),Health

New study findings show that exposure to on-screen smoking in movies has a strong correlation with beginning to smoke or becoming established smokers among young adults 18-25, a critical age group for lifelong smoking behavior.

The research was conducted by a team from the University of California, San Francisco. Previous studies from around the world found that viewing on-screen smoking was linked to recruitment of adolescent smokers, but this is the first time that smoking among young adults has been associated with their exposure to smoking scenes on screen, said senior author Stanton Glantz, PhD, professor of medicine and director of the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education.

Ages 18 to 25 are critical years, when one-third of smokers start and others who began smoking as adolescents either stop smoking or become regular smokers, he said.

The research team found a dose-response relationship between exposure to smoking on screen and the likelihood of having smoked in the past 30 days in a sample of 1,528 young adults. The study findings are published in the November issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Young adults who saw the most smoking on screen have a 77 percent greater chance of having smoked at least once in the last 30 days (a measure of smoking initiation) and an 86 percent increased chance of being regular established smokers compared to young adults who saw little smoking in movies, the study showed. Established smokers are defined as those who have smoked 100 cigarettes or more and currently smoke.

Participants in the study reflected a cross-section of the U.S. population for the age group, and they took part through a web-based survey. Of the study group, 24.7 were smokers, comparable to estimates of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of 25.3 percent for this population. The survey format was similar to the studies of adolescents, with participants
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