Research

Smoking in movies influences teens to become established smokers
A recent study suggests that the more smoking scenes teenagers view in movies, the more likely they are to become established smokers who consume more than 100 cigarettes in their lifetime. Researchers analyzed data from 2003 regarding the smoking and movie watching habits of 6,552 American youth ages 10 to 14. The researchers calculated how many times the children had been exposed to smoking scenes in 2003, and interviewed the children 16 and 24 months later to assess smoking status. Primary results indicate an increase in the number of established smokers over the course of the study. Moreover, children who saw more than the median number of smoking scenes were more likely to have smoked more than 100 cigarettes than the children exposed to less than the median number of smoking scenes, after controlling for a variety of potentially confounding variables. Click here to read more about the study, published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.

Harm perception of nicotine products in college freshman
A recent study investigated the association between sociodemographic characteristics and smoking behaviors with nicotine product harm perception among college freshman. In the 2004 online survey, students were asked to compare the relative harm of 11 products containing nicotine with that of a regular cigarette. Researchers uncovered significant associations between the perception of nicotine product harm and sex, race, income, citizenship, and smoking behavior. Moreover, a relatively high percentage of students incorrectly reported the level of danger of various nicotine replacement therapies, other smoked tobacco products, and some smokeless tobacco products in comparison to smoking a regular cigarette. To read more about the research, click here to view the study abstract from the September issues of Nicotine and Tobacco Research.  

Teen girls on diets more apt to become smokers
A recent study has revealed that teenage girls who begin dieting are nearly twice as likely to become regular smokers compared to girls who are not dieting. Researchers at the University of Florida analyzed data from more than 7,800 teens who participated in the 1994-1996 National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. They found that over half of the girls surveyed were dieters, while roughly one-third were consistent dieters. Moreover, girls who began dieting during the study period were 1.9 times as likely to begin smoking regularly. The researchers found the reverse to be true for teenage boys; those who began to diet but stopped were 1.7 times as likely to become regular smokers. Click here to read more about the study, which was published in the September/October issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion.

Smoking ‘prolific’ on YouTube – Conference
Recent research has uncovered that the video-sharing website YouTube contains a staggering number of videos that feature smoking. Speaking at the Oceania Tobacco Control Conference, researcher Becky Freeman cited her own research that revealed almost 30,000 returns for the search term “smoking.” After categorizing these videos into six categories (e.g. anti-smoking, female smoking, male smoking, smoking fetish, comedy, and magic trick), her research found that female smoking and fetish smoking videos were the most-watched pro-smoking videos. Ms. Freeman sees vast potential in mounting an anti-smoking campaign on YouTube, which would likely reach a large youth and young adult population. Click here to read more.

The influence of school smoking policies on student tobacco use
Recent research has helped elucidate the association between school smoking policies and levels of current smoking among students. Canadian researchers analyzed smoking data from 763 thirteen year-olds and 768 sixteen year-olds, as well as the smoking policies at each school included in the study. While no association between daily smoking and policies regulating student smoking and indoor faculty smoking were found, 13 year-old girls were approximately five times as likely to be daily smokes if they attended a school where faculty members were allowed to smoke outdoors. Click here to read more about the study, which is published in the September 4, 2007 issue of Neurology.

School, church activities may help curb youth smoking
A recent study focused on identifying factors that protect disadvantaged youth from becoming smokers. Researchers at the University of Michigan analyzed data regarding smoking habits of 824 ninth-grade students who all had grade point averages less than 3.0. Primary results indicate that students who participate in extracurricular school activities or church programs were less likely to smoke, even in the presence of similar neighborhood risk factors. Click here to read more about the study, which is published online in the American Journal of Public Health.

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Projects

Washington: Anti-smoking ads turn off young viewers
The Washington State Health Department and the Tobacco Prevention and Control Program are in the process of pilot-testing several anti-tobacco television ads that will appear later this year. They invited a number of 12 to 14 year olds to view the ads and provide feedback in several focus groups. The ads are quirky and full of teenage humor to capture the attention of this target audience. Some of the anti-smoking ads feature the “No Stank You” message and emphasize the physical and biological effects of smoking. Other ads expose teenagers to the unpleasant realities of chewing tobacco. Across the board teenagers enjoyed the ads and, more importantly, expressed that they did not want to start using tobacco products. To read more about the advertisements, click here.

British Medical Association publishes action plan to tackle teen smoking
The British Medical Association of Scotland has released an action plan to help curb teenage smoking. The plan calls for a number of policy and legislative changes, which include: banning tobacco vending machines, introducing legislation to ban the sale of packs of ten cigarettes, introducing a positive licensing scheme to help enforce the increase in the minimum age to purchase tobacco products, banning cigarette displays at the point of sale, and investing in long-term smoking prevention programs and cessation services. To view a synopsis of the action plan, click here.

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