title: Effect of Exposure to Smoking in Movies on Young Adult Smoking in New Zealand.
abstract: Tobacco advertising has been prohibited in New Zealand since 1990, and the government has set a goal of becoming a smokefree nation by 2025. However, tobacco marketing persists indirectly through smoking in motion pictures, and there is strong evidence that exposure to onscreen smoking causes young people to start smoking. We investigated the relationship between exposure to smoking in movies and youth smoking initiation among New Zealand young adults. Data from an online survey of 419 smokers and non-smokers aged 18 to 25 were used to estimate respondents' exposure to smoking occurrences in 50 randomly-selected movies from the 423 US top box office movies released between 2008 and 2012. Analyses involved calculating movie smoking exposure (MSE) for each respondent, using logistic regression to analyse the relationship between MSE and current smoking behaviour, and estimating the attributable fraction due to smoking in movies.
  Exposure to smoking occurrences in movies was associated with current smoking status. After allowing for the influence of family, friends and co-workers, age and rebelliousness, respondents' likelihood of smoking increased by 11% for every 100-incident increase in exposure to smoking incidents, (aOR1.11; p< .05). The estimated attributable fraction due to smoking in movies was 54%; this risk could be substantially reduced by eliminating smoking from movies currently rated as appropriate for youth. We conclude that exposure to smoking in movies remains a potent risk factor associated with smoking among young adults, even in a progressive tobacco control setting such as New Zealand. Harmonising the age of legal tobacco purchase (18) with the age at which it is legal to view smoking in movies would support New Zealand's smokefree 2025 goal.
authors.affiliation: Department of Marketing, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gendall
authors.affiliation: Department of Marketing, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hoek
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.affiliation: Centre for Tobacco Control Research and Education, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Stanton
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Glantz
mesh_terms: D003710:Demography; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009040:Motion Pictures; D009520:New Zealand / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012907:Smoking; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution