Smoking in Film

“For me, it doesn’t really matter if I saw someone
smoking in the movie,” he says.

But other teens argue that smoking in movies does have an
effect on teens.

“If they thought it was cool enough, like you if it
was your idol, you might. If he smokes … you might want
to do it,” 17-year-old Ryan Moses says.

A new study suggests that Ryan may be right. According to
Darmouth Medical School researchers, nonsmoking kids who saw
a large number of movies in which smoking was depicted were
three times more likely to later pick up the habit than kids
exposed to little on-screen smoking.

“Now what that is saying is even if you are doing a
lot of things, like not smoking in your house and helping
your kids stay away from other influences, the movies can
overcome all of that influence,” says Dr. Terry Pechacek
of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Experts say that’s why it’s important for parents
to talk to kids about how movies may glamorize smoking and
to explain that it’s not reality.

“Kids need resistance skills. They need to be able
to interpret the media images,” Dr. Pechacek says.

The CDC produces three-minute video clips, hosted by teen
actors, designed to do just that – show kids how actors
use smoking in movies as a crutch.

“And there are even people who believe high rates of
smoking in movies should be used as a criteria for parents
saying, just like sex, just like violence … that I don’t
think you should see this movie,” Dr. Pechacek says.

No matter what influences a child to start smoking, few would
disagree that stopping is a whole lot harder.

Sixteen-year-old Jay McManeon could not agree more.

“I never think smoking’s an OK thing. It’s
bad for your lungs. I just do it ‘cause I’m addicted,”
he says.

A new study published
in The Lancet further illustrates
how watching television or movies with actors who smoke negatively
impacts youth behavior. Researchers from Dartmouth Medical
School analyzed the viewing habits of 2,603 nonsmoking children
aged 10 to 14, keeping track of how many incidents of smoking
occurred in each movie they watched from a list of 50. After
two years, they found that 10% of the children took up smoking
or had at least tried it. Consider these additional findings
from the study:

• Of those children exposed to movies with the least amount
  of on-screen smoking, 22 began smoking.
• Of those children exposed to movies with the highest occurrence
  of on-screen smoking, 107 became smokers.
• Approximately 52% of the startup in smoking could be attributed
  to the movies.
• Children of nonsmokers who watched movies with the highest
  number of smoking scenes were four times more likely to
  begin smoking than those who viewed movies featuring few
  smoking actors.

More than 6,000 children under the age of
18 try their first cigarette each day. The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention also reports that more than 3,000 become
daily smokers every day. In 1996, more than 1.8 million Americans
became daily smokers, of which an estimated 1.2 million (66%)
were under the age of 18.

The statistics show that little progress has been made in
the past decade in reducing teen smoking. The American Lung
Association calls smoking a “tobacco-disease epidemic”
and points to the high rates of cigarette use among high school
seniors, particularly girls, as evidence of this lack of progress.

Health and medical experts agree that parents must discourage
children from starting to smoke and becoming addicted. Parents
should also talk to their children about the health risks
of tobacco and set a good example for their children by not
smoking themselves. School-based tobacco education programs
have also been shown to be effective in reducing the onset
of teen smoking.

According to research from the National Center on Addiction
and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA), the key
to keeping kids from smoking and using drugs is dependent
on the extent to which parents take a “hands-on”
approach to raising their kids. The more they establish appropriate
rules and standards of behavior and monitor their teens, the
lower the teen’s risk of substance abuse.

A “hands-on” approach to preventing your teen
from smoking, drinking or trying drugs, according to CASA,
includes consistently taking 10 or more of these 12 actions:

• Monitor what your teen watches on television.
• Monitor what your teen does on the Internet.
• Put restrictions on the music (CDs) your teen buys.
• Know where your teen spends time after school and on weekends.
• Expect to be told the truth by your teen about where he
  or she is going.
• Be “very aware” of your teen’s academic
  performance.
• Impose a curfew.
• Make clear you would be “extremely upset”
  if your teen smoked.
• Eat dinner with your teens six or seven times a week.
• Turn off the television during dinner.
• Assign your teen regular chores.
• Have an adult present when your teen returns from school.

American
Lung Association
Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention
National
Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University
The Lancet