Published online March 30, 2009
PEDIATRICS Vol. 123 No. 4 April 2009, pp. e551-e558 (doi:10.1542/peds.2008-2102)
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Dalton, M. A.
Right arrow Articles by Titus-Ernstoff, L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Dalton, M. A.
Right arrow Articles by Titus-Ernstoff, L.
Related Collections
Right arrow Office Practice
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Facebook   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

ARTICLE

Early Exposure to Movie Smoking Predicts Established Smoking by Older Teens and Young Adults

Madeline A. Dalton, PhDa,b,c,d, Michael L. Beach, MD, PhDa,c,d,e, Anna M. Adachi-Mejia, PhDa,b,d, Meghan R. Longacre, PhDa,b, Aurora L. Matzkin, MSa, James D. Sargent, MDb,c,d, Todd F. Heatherton, PhDf and Linda Titus-Ernstoff, PhDa,b,c,d

a Community Health Research Program, Hood Center for Children and Families
b Departments of Pediatrics
c Community and Family Medicine, Dartmouth Medical School, Lebanon, New Hampshire
d Norris Cotton Cancer Center
e Department of Anesthesia; Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, New Hampshire
f Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire

OBJECTIVE. Movie smoking exposure is a strong predictor of smoking initiation by adolescents; however, we do not know whether it is a long-term predictor of established smoking. We conducted a prospective study to determine whether movie smoking exposure during early adolescence predicts established smoking in older teens and young adults.

DESIGN. We assessed movie smoking exposure and smoking status through a written school-based survey in 1999, when participants were 10 to 14 years of age. We enrolled 73% (n = 2603) of those who had never tried smoking in a follow-up study. In 2006–2007, we conducted telephone interviews with 69% (n = 1791) of the cohort to ascertain current smoking status. The primary outcome was established smoking, defined as having smoked >100 cigarettes. Mean age at follow-up was 18.7 years.

RESULTS. Thirteen percent (n = 235) progressed from never smoking to established smoking during the follow-up period. Eighty-nine percent (n = 209) of established smokers smoked during the 30 days before the survey. Even after controlling for a wide range of baseline characteristics, the relative risk for established smoking increased by one third with each successive quartile of movie smoking exposure. Those in the highest quartile for baseline movie smoking exposure were twice as likely to be established smokers at follow-up compared with those in the lowest quartile.

CONCLUSIONS. Movie smoking exposure significantly predicted progression to established smoking in long-term follow-up. We estimate that 34.9% of established smoking in this cohort can be attributed to movie smoking exposure.

Key Words: adolescent • adult • smoking • established smoking • tobacco • media • movies • films • epidemiology

Abbreviations: RR—relative risk • CI—confidence interval

Accepted Dec 16, 2008.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Facebook Facebook   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?