Movie smoking and urge to smoke among adult smokers.
BACKGROUND
Few studies have assessed the association between exposure to movie smoking and urge to smoke under real-world conditions.


METHODS
We conducted exit interviews with 4,073 movie patrons, of whom 2,817 were aged 18 years or older. Some 536 were smokers and had complete data. Subjects had exited 26 movies, of which 12 contained smoking. We used least squares regression to assess the association between exposure to movie smoking and urge to smoke (scale range 0-10), controlling for movie rating, age, sex, heaviness of smoking index (HSI, range 0-6), and time since last cigarette smoked.


RESULTS
Median age was 27 years and 52% were female. Median urge to smoke level at movie exit was 7. The dose-response between higher categories of movie smoking and median urge to smoke was one point for two lower categories (1-11 and 11-54 s) and two for the highest category (>or=55 s), but these differences were not statistically significant. In the multivariate analysis, attendance of a movie with smoking was associated with a 0.81-point increase (95% CI = 0.46-1.16) in urge to smoke. For comparison, an HSI score of 3 (vs. 0) was associated with a 2-point increase in urge to smoke.


CONCLUSIONS
In this sample of adult smokers, exposure to movie smoking was associated with higher urge to smoke after the movie, independent of movie rating. The effect size was consistent with responses seen in cue reactivity experiments. Exposure to movie smoking may affect urge to smoke among adult smokers.
Sargent
James D
JD
Dartmouth Medical School, Cancer Control Research Program, Norris Cotton Cancer Center, Lebanon, NH, USA.
Morgenstern
Matthis
M
Isensee
Barbara
B
Hanewinkel
Reiner
R
D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009040:Motion Pictures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009042:Motivation; D010565:Persuasive Communication; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D012931:Social Environment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult