Research

Adolescent smoking trajectories: results from a population-based cohort study
A study of 3637 Minnesota youth examined predictors of smoking patterns through adolescence. Youth aged 12-16 were interviewed every six months for three years about their tobacco use, smoking among social contacts, attitudes and beliefs relating to smoking, and home smoking policies. Researchers classified youths into six trajectories of tobacco use based on smoking history:  nonsmokers, triers, occasional users, early established, late established, and decliners (former smokers). Comparing the nonsmokers to the other groups, specific factors were associated with smoking. Youths were likely to be classified into a smoking trajectory if parents or friends smoked, or if smoking was perceived to be common among adults and youths. Individuals who were placed in the nonsmoking trajectory were more likely to perceive smoking in public places to be difficult, to have negative perceptions of the tobacco industry, and to live in a home with policies against smoking. Click here to read the abstract of the article, which was published in the October 2008 Journal of Adolescent Health.

Comparing the effects of entertainment media and tobacco marketing on youth smoking
A study recently published in the journal Tobacco Control examines how smoking in movies interacts with influences from tobacco marketing to encourage smoking during adolescence. Few research studies have studied both types of tobacco-related messages together. A cross-sectional sample of youths aged 10-14 was surveyed about their past and present smoking habits, amount of exposure to smoking in movies, and level of receptivity to tobacco marketing. In this sample, both exposure to smoking in movies and susceptibility to tobacco industry marketing were associated with having tried smoking. Two years later, the researchers followed up with a subset of the youths who had never tried smoking to determine whether they had later tried smoking. Exposure to smoking in movies was highly predictive of whether the adolescents had tried smoking during the two-year follow-up period, but high receptivity to tobacco marketing was not a significant factor. The data suggest that movie smoking influences smoking onset, while tobacco marketing encourages continued smoking. Click here to read the abstract of the article.

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Reports

Tobacco firms target teenage girls with 'super slim' products (UK)
Public health groups have accused tobacco companies of capitalizing on adolescent girls’ weight concerns with new products that target girls with sleek, feminine packaging and presentation. Silk Cut will launch new “super slim” cigarettes, which will be sold in “perfume-shaped” packs. In a similar marketing approach, the American cigarette brand Virginia Slims will launch redesigned pink “purse packs” next year in an effort to appeal to women. Virginia Slims Lights and Ultralights will be sold in the new purse packs to help Philip Morris grow its market share in “light” cigarettes. Since the 1920s, tobacco companies have used marketing messages to link smoking to a slim figure, and according to the director the of UK public health group Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), Silk Cut’s use of the “super slim” terminology glamorizes smoking and preys on young women’s weight anxieties. Click here for more information on these new lines of “women’s cigarettes”. Click here to read a marketing article on the Virginia Slims purse packs.

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