Research Reveals How Silver Screen Inspires Some Teens to Try Smoking
by Mary Rettig
November 15, 2005
(AgapePress) - - Dr. James Sargent, a professor of pediatrics at Dartmouth Medical School, says a recent study shows movies have a profound impact on whether a teenager will try smoking. However, he notes that no single factor can be blamed for adolescents lighting up. Sargent, lead author of the study, points out that ten percent of U.S. teens try smoking cigarettes between the ages of 10 and 14. And of that ten percent, he adds, nearly 40 percent of them say they did so because they saw people smoking in movies.
But although films may hold powerful sway over young people's actions and attitudes, the doctor says friends and parents still hold significant influence. "If you think of a kid starting smoking as starting a ball rolling down a hill," he explains, "there are a bunch of forces, usually, pushing against the rock. And what we're saying is the rock kind of got tipped over the edge -- about 40 percent of the time -- by smoking in the movies."
Sargent's hope is that, as a result of releasing the study's findings, parents will take notice and become more restrictive about the films they allow their teens to watch. Of course, he acknowledges, "It's hard to control the movies because they're advertised so heavily on television; kids see the advertisements, and they want to go see them."
Nevertheless, the researcher contends, mothers and fathers must be assertive about dealing with this problem. "It's really an important part of parenting to control access to movies," he says, "because there are so many behaviors that we don't want our kids to engage in that are depicted there."
Also, because movie depictions can have such a strong social influence on teens, Sargent feels the film industry should take some responsibility to address teen smoking. One suggestion, he says, is for the industry to add smoking to the movie rating advisory list, just as it already includes warnings about violence, profanity, nudity and sexual content.
Mary Rettig, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
