Renewed calls to restrict films showing smoking
Tuesday September 20th, 2011
Adolescents are more likely to take up smoking if they regularly see it in films, according to an analysis published today.
The
film rating system should therefore be reviewed, say the researchers,
led by Dr Andrea Waylen of Bristol University, UK.
They looked at the possible link by analysing figures on 5,166 15 year olds living in the UK. Higher exposure to smoking in films was significantly linked with higher risk of starting to smoke, even when factors such as alcohol use and smoking in the peer group were taken into account.
Those in the top quarter for exposure were 73 per cent more likely to start smoking than those in the bottom quarter, say the researchers in the journal Thorax.
The authors then analysed all previous cross-sectional ("snapshot") studies and found that viewing smoking in films more than doubles the likelihood of starting smoking.
They conclude: "This study provides evidence that adolescents in the UK and elsewhere who are exposed to smoking depictions in films are more likely to initiate smoking. Given the association between smoking and poor health outcomes, these data justify a review of film ratings.
Also in the journal, experts from the UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies at Nottingham University, UK, give their opinion. Dr Ailsa Lyons and Professor John Britton say that the link "applies across different cultural contexts and levels of implementation of other tobacco control policy".
"These new studies thus provide further and urgent evidence in support of calls, as yet unheeded, for a radical overhaul of film classification to protect all children and young people from this pervasive and highly damaging imagery," they conclude.
Waylen, A. E. et al. Cross sectional association between smoking depiction in films and adolescent tobacco use nested in a British cohort study. Thorax, Vol. 66, September 2011, pp. 856-61.
Lyons, A. and Britton, J. Protecting young people from smoking imagery in films: whose responsibility? Thorax, Vol. 66, September 2011, pp. 856-61.
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