Daily HealthBeat Tip - January 07, 2008

Kids, smoking and movies (Pediatrics)

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Kids do remember what they see, even when it’s not good for them. Researchers found signs of that in elementary school kids who saw movies that had scenes of people smoking.

A study at Dartmouth Medical School assessed smoking content in hundreds of popular movies, and asked children what movies they watched.   The study in the American Academy of Pediatrics’ journal Pediatrics was supported by the National Institutes of Health. 

Lead author Linda Titus-Ernstoff says nine- to 12-year-olds who saw lots of smoking in movies were more likely to start smoking as teen-agers – about one third of their smoking could be attributed to that early exposure.

So she advises:

``Parents should try to reduce their children’s viewing of movies, including youth-rated movies, that show smoking.’’  (6 seconds)

And she says children should listen to their parents.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: January, 08 2008