Does smoking in movies turn teens on to cigarettes?

Check in with us as we feature the latest trends, research and news in medicine, health and science. A team of Star Tribune staffers will aggregate updates from news wires, websites, magazines and medical journals.

resize text
subscribe via RSS

Does smoking in movies turn teens on to cigarettes?

Posted by: Colleen Stoxen Updated: July 9, 2012 - 11:46 AM

0
comments
print

Tweet
share

email
Email share

your name

your email

recipients email

+ add a comment add a comment

Youth who watch a lot of movies with cigarette-smoking characters - whether the films are rated R or PG-13 - are more likely to start smoking themselves, researchers suggest in a new study.

The report's lead author said the finding supports the idea that it's the smoking itself - and not the sex, profanity or violence that may go along with it in certain films - that influences youth to take up the habit.

"Movie smoking seems to be just as impactful if it's packaged in a PG-13 movie as opposed to an R movie," said Dr. James Sargent, from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth in Lebanon, New Hampshire.

"I really think it's a ‘cool' factor. The more they see it, the more they start to see ways that (smoking) might make them seem more movie-star," he told Reuters Health - even if the effect is subconscious.

Above, Brad Pitt starred -- and smoked -- in "Fight Club."