No butts about it: Teens who view smoking in movies likely to use cigarettes for the first time

ANN ARBOR, Mich.-Teens who see movie characters using cigarettes are quicker to try smoking than their peers who did not watch the same scene, a new study finds. However, the exposure to movie images involving cigarettes does not appear to lead teens who have tried smoking to become regular smokers sooner, said Sonya Dal Cin, an assistant professor of communication studies at the University of Michigan and the study's lead author. Having friends who smoke and access to cigarettes at home resulted in teens smoking earlier in life, the study said. Dal Cin wrote the study with Mike Stoolmiller, a senior research associate at the University of Oregon, and James Sargent, a professor of pediatrics at Dartmouth Medical School. The researchers investigated the link between the exposure to smoking in movies and how it affects teens. More than 6,500 teens nationwide ages 10 to 14 years completed the telephone survey. In four separate s, researchers asked the teens if they saw any of 50 randomly selected movies from a comprehensive list of top grossing films.