PG-13 Movie Smoking Prompts Teens to Smoke

Watching Smoking in Both PG-13 and R-Rated Movies Linked to Teen Smoking

July 9, 2012 — Watching motion picture stars smoking on the huge screen makes teens more likely to begin smoking themselves, regardless of whether the motion picture is rated R or PG-13.

A new study suggests it’s the cigarette smoking itself in movies that affects teenage smoking habits, rather than other adult behaviors that go with it.

Researchers found that on-screen smoking in movies rated R and PG-13 had a comparable impact on making teens more likely to smoke.

Researchers state about 60% of teens’ exposure to smoking in movies comes from watching youth-rated, nearly entirely PG-13 movies.

The results suggest imposing an R rating on movies that include cigarette smoking would have a huge impact on curbing teenage smoking.

“An R rating for smoking could reduce smoking onset in the United States by 18%,” write researcher James Sargent, MD, of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., and colleagues in Pediatrics, “an effect similar to making all parents maximally authoritative in their parenting.”

Earlier this year, the U.S. Surgeon General’s report on tobacco and youth said that there is a causal relationship between depictions of smoking in movies and initiation of smoking among young people.

But researchers state until now it was unclear whether or not the context in which the smoking is presented in movies affects teenage smoking behaviors.

In the study, researchers surveyed more than 6,500 youth and teens aged 10-14 every eight months over a two-year period. They were asked about which top-grossing movies they had seen in the previous year and if they had ever smoked a cigarette.

Researchers then counted the number of smoking occurrences each teen had seen based on their list of movies.

The results showed smoking was rare in movies rated G or PG and not linked to teenage smoking habits.

Researchers state the average number of exposures to smoking in movies was about three times higher from PG-13 movies than from R-rated movies, but the effect on teen smoking habits was comparable.

For example, teens exposed to the average number of smoking scenes from PG-13 movies were 49% more likely to have tried smoking. Those exposed to the average number of smoking scenes from R-rated movies were 33% more likely to have tried smoking.

“This study suggests that it is the depiction of smoking in movies, not other contextual variables, that matters for the onset of youth smoking,” the researchers write.

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Submited at Monday, July 9th, 2012 at 8:15 am on Uncategorized by madison
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