14 DAY TRIAL // For much of Hollywood's history, smoking has been a mainstay in movies. But investigators at the University of Bristol are now suggesting in a new study that the behavior depicted on the silver screen have a nefarious influence on teens, who become more likely to pick up the habit themselves.
The research indicates that teens who watch movies depicting smoking are more likely to start smoking themselves, despite the constant health warnings associated with this habit. According to the team, the work was carried out on 15-years-olds, hinting that the influence is far-reaching.
Experts at the university determined that the teens were up to 73 percent more likely to try a cigarette after viewing movies depicting the habit than they would otherwise be. This hints at a direct, causal link between the two, investigators argue.
Teens who were not as exposed to movies depicting smoking were 50 percent less likely to be constant smokers. Throughout their survey, the researchers took into account controlling factors such as alcohol and tobacco consumption among the teens' peers.
Even after accounting for these important influences, the teens who were exposed to more movies containing smoking scenes proved to be 32 percent more likely to have tried cigarettes themselves than the control group.
“More than half the films shown in the UK that contain smoking are rated UK15 or below, so children and young teenagers are clearly exposed,” UB School of Oral and Dental Sciences professor Dr. Andrea Waylen explains.
“Our results confirm an association between this exposure and youth smoking in this country, indicating that raising the certification to 18 in the UK is likely to lower smoking rates among youth,” the expert goes on to say.
UB investigators Dr. Sam Leary and professor Andrew Ness were also involved in the research, as were experts from the Dartmouth Medical School, in the United States. Together, the scientists managed to survey 5,166 teens, average age 15.
“Given that smoking depictions in films are not consistent with the ban on smoking in public places in the UK and that the relationship may be causal, a precautionary principle should be pursued,” Dr. Waylen explains further.
“Films ought to be rated by exposure to smoking in the same way that they are currently rated by level of violence. Smoking and its adverse consequences are certainly a larger public health problem,” he adds.
“Such a policy would also make the movie ratings system consistent with the ban on tobacco advertising in all other media,” the expert argues. The UK Center for Tobacco Control Studies also supports a different classification be introduced for movies depicting smoking.
Details of the new study appear in the latest issue of Thorax, an International Journal of Respiratory Medicine published by the prestigious British Medical Journal.