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Both good/bad movie characters who
smoke influence teens to do the same
Dartmouth researchers have determined that movie characters
who smoke, regardless of whether they are "good guys" or "bad guys,"
influence teens to try smoking. The study, published in the July 2009
issue of the journal Pediatrics, is titled "Adolescent Smoking:
Who Matters More, Good Guys or Bad Guys?" |
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| "Previous studies have
confirmed a link between smoking in movies and the initiation of smoking
by adolescents, and we wanted to dig deeper into the data to see if the
type of character who is smoking matters. Is it 'good guys' or 'bad
guys' that have more of an influence?" said Susanne Tanski, the lead
author on the study, and an assistant professor of pediatrics at
Dartmouth Medical School. "It's true that 'bad guys' are more often
smokers in the movies, but there really are not that many 'bad guys'
compared to 'good guys'. Episode for episode, youth who saw negative
character smoking were more likely to start smoking, but since overall
there is so much more exposure to 'good guy' smoking, the net effect is
similar."
The survey also revealed that low-risk teens, based on
sensation-seeking behavior, are more strongly influenced by "bad guy"
movie smoking. "This suggests that it's alluring for 'good' kids to
emulate the 'bad' characters on the movie screen," said Tanksi.
Tanski is part of a team of researchers at Dartmouth
College and Dartmouth Medical School (DMS) who have been studying the
connections between popular culture and risky behavior in adolescents.
They have published numerous journal articles that document the link
between exposure to smoking and drinking alcohol in movies and teens
using tobacco and alcohol.
In May 2009, two members of this team, James Sargent
and Todd Heatherton, published a research letter in the Journal of the
American Medical Association that reported declining trends in both
occurrences of smoking in movies and in smoking among U.S. eight graders
between 1996 and 2007. In that letter, the authors state, "[M]ovie
smoking represents only one of several factors that contribute to youth
smoking trends, including the marketing of tobacco, price of cigarettes,
restrictions imposed by the Master Settlement Agreement in 1999, and
state prevention programs. … Nonetheless, the downward trend in movie
smoking is consistent with an influence on downward trends in adolescent
smoking." Sargent is a professor of pediatrics and the co-director of
the Cancer Control Research Program at DMS's Norris Cotton Cancer Center
at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Heatherton is a professor of
psychological and brain sciences at Dartmouth College.
Tanski acknowledges that, although there is a downward
trend, smoking still occurs in many movies that teens watch,
particularly given the popularity of movie channels and video rentals
providing access to older films. "Parents should limit movie viewing and
specifically restrict access to R-rated movies, which tend to contain
more smoking," she said. "When teens do see movies or TV shows that
contain smoking, parents should talk with them in an effort to
discourage initiation of smoking."
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