An examination of the association between seeing smoking in films and tobacco use in young adults in the west of Scotland: cross-sectional study

The objective is to examine the association between the amount of smoking seen in films and current smoking in young adults living in the west of Scotland in the UK. Cross-sectional analyses (using multivariable logistic regression) of data collected at age 19 (2002–04) from a longitudinal cohort originally surveyed at age 11 (1994–95) were conducted. The main outcome measure is smoking at age 19. No association was found between the number of occurrences of smoking estimated to have been seen in films (film smoking exposure) and current (or ever) smoking in young adults. This lack of association was unaffected by adjustment for predictors of smoking, including education, risk-taking orientation and smoking among peers. There was no association between film smoking exposure and smoking behaviour for any covariate-defined subgroup. Associations have been found between film smoking exposure and smoking initiation in younger adolescents in the United States. In this study, conducted in Scotland, no similar association was seen, suggesting that there may be age or cultural limitations on the effects of film smoking exposure on smoking. The lack of association could be due to methodological issues or greater sophistication of older adolescents and young adults in interpreting media images or the greater ubiquity of real-life smoking instances in Scotland. If the latter, film smoking exposure could become a more important risk factor for smoking uptake and maintenants in older adolescents following the recent ban on smoking in public places in Scotland

Smoking in film in New Zealand: measuring risk exposure

BACKGROUND: Smoking in film is a risk factor for smoking uptake in adolescence. This study aimed to quantify exposure to smoking in film received by New Zealand audiences, and evaluate potential interventions to reduce the quantity and impact of this exposure. METHODS: The ten highest-grossing films in New Zealand for 2003 were each analysed independently by two viewers for smoking, smoking references and related imagery. Potential interventions were explored by reviewing relevant New Zealand legislation, and scientific literature. RESULTS: Seven of the ten films contained at least one tobacco reference, similar to larger film samples. The majority of the 38 tobacco references involved characters smoking, most of whom were male. Smoking was associated with positive character traits, notably rebellion (which may appeal to adolescents). There appeared to be a low threshold for including smoking in film. Legislative or censorship approaches to smoking in film are currently unlikely to succeed. Anti-smoking advertising before films has promise, but experimental research is required to demonstrate cost effectiveness. CONCLUSION: Smoking in film warrants concern from public health advocates. In New Zealand, pre-film anti-smoking advertising appears to be the most promising immediate policy response

The incidence of experimental smoking in school children: an 8-year follow-up of the child and adolescent behaviors in long-term evolution (CABLE) study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Studies have established that most regular adult smokers become addicted in their adolescent years. We investigated the incidence of and risk factors associated with initial experimental smoking among a group of school children who were followed for 8 years.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We used cohort data collected as part of the Child and Adolescent Behaviors in Long-term Evolution (CABLE) study, which selected nine elementary schools each from an urban area (Taipei City) and a rural area (Hsingchu county) in northern Taiwan. From 2002 to 2008, children were asked annually whether they had smoked in the previous year. An accelerated lifetime model with Weibull distribution was used to examine the factors associated with experimental smoking.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In 2001, 2686 4^th-graders participated in the study. For each year from 2002 to 2008, their incidences of trial smoking were 3.1%, 4.0%, 2.8%, 6.0%, 5.3%, 5.0% and 6.0%, respectively. There was an increase from 7^thto 8^thgrade (6.0%). Children who were males, lived in rural areas, came from single-parent families, had parents who smoked, and had peers who smoked were more likely to try smoking earlier. The influence of parents and peers on experimental smoking demonstrated gradient effects.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study used a cohort to examine incidence and multiple influences, including individual factors, familial factors, and community factors, on experimental smoking in adolescents. The findings fit the social ecological model, highlighting the influences of family and friends. School and community attachment were associated with experimental smoking in teenagers.</p

Moderation of the Association between Media Exposure and Youth Smoking Onset: Race/Ethnicity, and Parent Smoking

This study of youth smoking onset aims to replicate previously published media moderation effects for race/ethnicity in a national longitudinal multiethnic sample of U.S. adolescents. Previous research has demonstrated that associations between media and smoking during adolescence are greater for Whites than Hispanics or Blacks, and for youth living in non-smoking families. In this study, changes in smoking status over 24 months were assessed among 4,511 baseline never-smokers. The incidence of smoking onset was 14.3% by 24 months with no differences by race/ethnicity. Blacks had higher exposure to movie smoking and overall television viewing compared with Whites and Hispanics. Whites responded to movie smoking regardless of parent smoking but more strongly if their parents were non-smokers. In contrast, Black adolescents showed little behavioral response to any media, regardless of parent smoking. Hispanic adolescents responded only to TV viewing and only when their parents did not smoke. In an analysis assessing the influence of the race of smoking characters on smoking behavior of White and Black adolescents, Whites responded to both White and Black movie character smoking, whereas Blacks responded only to smoking by Black movie characters. Taken as a whole, the findings replicate and extend previous findings, suggesting media factors are more influential among adolescents at low to moderate overall risk for smoking. We draw analogies between these low-moderate risk adolescents and “swing voters” in national elections, suggesting that media effects are more apt to influence an adolescent in the middle of the risk spectrum, compared with his peers at either end of it

Does smoking among friends explain apparent genetic effects on current smoking in adolescence and young adulthood?

We used data from a prospective cohort study of twins to investigate the influence of unmeasured genetic and measured and unmeasured environmental factors on the smoking behaviour of adolescents and young adults. Twins were surveyed in 1988 (aged 11–18 years), 1991, 1996 and 2004 with data from 1409, 1121, 732 and 758 pairs analysed from each survey wave, respectively. Questionnaires assessed the smoking behaviour of twins and the perceived smoking behaviour of friends and parents. Using a novel logistic regression analysis, we simultaneously modelled individual risk and excess concordance for current smoking as a function of zygosity, survey wave, parental smoking and peer smoking. Being concordant for having peers who smoked was a predictor of concordance for current smoking (P<0.001). After adjusting for peer smoking, monozygotic (MZ) pairs were no more alike than dizygotic pairs for current smoking at waves 2, 3 and 4. Genetic explanations are not needed to explain the greater concordance for current smoking among adult MZ pairs. However, if they are invoked, the role of genes may be due to indirect effects acting through the social environment. Smoking prevention efforts may benefit more by targeting social factors than attempting to identify genetic factors associated with smoking