title: Smoking in Movies and Adolescent Smoking Initiation: A Longitudinal Study among Argentinian Adolescents.
abstract: To assess whether exposure to movie smoking is associated with cigarette smoking among Argentinian adolescents.
  
  
  
  A school-based longitudinal study involving 33 secondary schools in Argentina was performed. The sample included 2502 never smokers (average age at entry = 12.5 years), 1700 (67.9%) of whom completed follow-up surveys 17 months later. Exposure to the top 100 highest-grossing films for each year between 2009 and 2013 was assessed by content-coding films for tobacco and then by asking adolescents whether they had seen each of 50 titles, randomly selected from the larger pool, then parsing exposure into tertiles. Logistic regression models estimated aOR for the following transitions: nonsusceptible to susceptible never smoker, never smoker to ever smoker, and never smoker to current smoking (last 30 days).
  
  
  
  At follow-up, 34.4% of nonsusceptible never smokers became susceptible, 24.1% reported having tried smoking, and 9.4% were current smokers. Most exposure to movie smoking was from US-produced films (average 60.3 minutes compared with only 3.4 minutes from Argentine films). Greater exposure to smoking in movies was significantly associated with increased odds of becoming susceptible (aORfirst vs third tertile1.77, 95% CI 1.30-2.41), of trying smoking (aORfirst vs third tertile1.54, 1.14-2.08), and marginally associated with current smoking (AORfirst vs third tertile1.54, 0.99-2.40). Exposure to smoking in US- or Argentine-produced films had similar associations.
  
  
  
  In Argentina, exposure to smoking in the movies predicted future smoking transitions among early adolescents, with most exposure coming from viewing US movies.
authors.affiliation: Center for the Study of State and Society, CABA, Argentina; Hospital de Clinicas, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Raul
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mejia
authors.affiliation: Center for the Study of State and Society, CABA, Argentina; Hospital de Clinicas, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pérez
authors.affiliation: Center for the Study of State and Society, CABA, Argentina.
authors.forename: Lorena
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Peña
authors.affiliation: Department of Health and Human Performance, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC.
authors.forename: Christy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kollath-Cattano
authors.affiliation: Center for the Study of State and Society, CABA, Argentina.
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Morello
authors.affiliation: Center for the Study of State and Society, CABA, Argentina; Hospital de Clinicas, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Braun
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC.
authors.forename: James W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Hardin
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion, Education & Behavior, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC; Department of Tobacco Research, Center for Population Health Research, National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca, Mexico.
authors.forename: James F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Thrasher
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH. Electronic address: james.d.sargent@dartmouth.edu.
authors.forename: James D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Sargent
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001118:Argentina; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009040:Motion Pictures; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*
keywords: Latin America; film industry; tobacco; youth