Adolescents who watch smoking in movies are more likely to t...( hield young children from the messages ...),Health

The team also hopes that, in light of their new research, the movie industry will be persuaded to voluntarily reduce depictions of smoking and cigarette brands. They also suggest that the movie industry could incorporate smoking into the movie rating system to make parents aware of the risks a movie with smoking poses to the adolescent viewer, and include an antismoking preview on all DVD movies that depict smoking. "Those measures have a minimal cost to the movie industry," said Sargent.

Co-authors of the study, in addition to Sargent and Titus-Ernstoff, are Madeline Dalton, PhD; Michael Beach, MD, PhD; Jennifer Gibson, MA; Anna Adachi-Mejia, PhD; Charles Carusi, PhD; Susan Swain, PhD; and Todd Heatherton, PhD. Dr. Beach is a member of the Department of Anesthesiology at DHMC and a professor of anesthesiology at DMS, as well as a member of NCCC. Drs. Dalton, Titus-Ernstoff, Adachi-Mejia, and Gibson are members of NCCC. Dr. Heatherton is a member of the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth College.

Related Findings:

Sargent is one of the lead scientists in a prolific research group at Dartmouth dedicated to understanding adolescent behavior and how it's linked to exposure to movies. They have published numerous studies. In January 2001, this research team reported that actor endorsement of cigarette brands in movies was increasing. In March 2001, they released findings that adolescents whose favorite movie stars smoke on-screen are more likely to be smokers themselves. In December 2001, they published a paper stating that children are less likely to smoke if their parents disapprove. In another article, published in December 2001, the researchers revealed that as adolescents see more smoking in movies, it's more likely to entice them to try smoking. A paper in early 2002 stated that children who are not restricted fro
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Contact: Andy Nordhoff
Mednews@Dartmouth.edu
603-653-0784
Dartmouth Medical School
7-Nov-2005