Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Studies have linked exposure to movie smoking and smoking initiation among U. Cross sectional survey of schoolchildren aged 10β17 with a mean of Overall, The sample quartile Q of movie smoking exposure was significantly associated with the prevalence of smoking initiation: 0. Movie smoking exposure was significantly associated with the prevalence of current smoking: 0.
The adjusted odds ratios for current smoking were 1. Smoking in internationally distributed movies is associated with ever and current smoking among German adolescents. This suggests the need for prospective studies of this association in countries other than the U. Despite recent prevalence declines in many countries, smoking remains the single greatest preventable cause of mortality, and will be responsible for over a billion deaths worldwide if current patterns of smoking continue.
Adolescents initiate smoking for social reasons, 3 and the social risk factors include influences such as parent 4 β 7 and friend smoking.
However, a comprehensive ban on tobacco marketing would not limit other mass media venues from projecting favorable images of smoking, such as smoking contained in motion pictures, increasingly recognized as an important contributor to the smoking epidemic. Much of the research linking exposure to smoking to movies with adolescent smoking comes from studies of U.
Cross-sectional 11 β 13 and longitudinal 14 studies have assessed such exposure and have found a strong, independent association with smoking onset. Other studies in U. It is important to assess other samples in order to understand the reach and impact of Hollywood movies beyond the U.
