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new study reveals exposure to movies with people smoking is a primary risk factor in determining whether adolescents will start smoking. It's the first national study to look at the connection.

Researchers from Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, N.H., asked more than 6,500 adolescents ages 10 to 14 to identify the movies they watched out of a list of 50 films randomly selected from a database of movies released between 1998 and 2000. Of the 532 movies in the database, researchers found examples of smoking in 74 percent. Adolescents were split into four groups based on which movies they had seen and how much smoking was in each of those movies.

Researchers say, of the 100 adolescents who tried smoking, 38 tried it because of exposure to smoking in movies. The results of the study lead investigators to suggest one-third of kids in the United States will start smoking due to exposure to smoking in movies.

James Sargent, M.D., from Dartmouth Medical School, says, "We found that as the amount of exposure to smoking in movies increased, the rate of smoking also increased. Part of the reason that exposure to movie smoking has such a considerable impact on adolescent smoking is because it is a very strong social influence on kids ages 10-14."

The study also revealed Hispanics and blacks were exposed to significantly more smoking in movies than whites, thus increasing the potential impact among minorities. Dr. Sargent says, "As a pediatrician, I think that parents need to become more aware of what their young children watch and make an effort to shield young children from the messages in PG-13 and R rated movies."

The researchers hope the movie industry will voluntarily reduce depictions of smoking and cigarette brands in movies. They say the industry could also include smoking in the movie rating system to make parents aware of the risks smoking in movies can have on their kids.

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

SOURCE: Pediatrics, 2005;116:1183-1191

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