Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2004 Jul;94(7):1239-44.
doi: 10.2105/ajph.94.7.1239.

Do favorite movie stars influence adolescent smoking initiation?

Janet M Distefan  1 , John P Pierce, Elizabeth A Gilpin
Affiliations

Do favorite movie stars influence adolescent smoking initiation?

Janet M Distefan et al. Am J Public Health. 2004 Jul.

Erratum in

  • Am J Public Health. 2004 Aug;94(8):1296

Abstract

Objectives: We sought to determine whether adolescents whose favorite movie stars smoke on-screen are at increased risk of tobacco use.

Methods: During interviews, adolescent never smokers taking part in the California Tobacco Survey nominated their favorite stars. We reviewed popular films released during 1994 through 1996 to determine whether stars smoked on-screen in at least 2 films.

Results: One third of never smokers nominated a star who smoked on-screen, which independently predicted later smoking risk (odds ratio [OR] = 1.36; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.02, 1.82). The effect was strong among girls (OR = 1.86; 95% CI = 1.26, 2.73). Among boys, there was no independent effect after control for receptivity to tobacco industry promotions.

Conclusions: Public health efforts to reduce adolescent smoking must confront smoking in films as a tobacco marketing strategy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE 1—
FIGURE 1—
Rates of smoking by the 1999 follow-up survey, by baseline (1996) receptivity to tobacco advertising and promotions and favorite stars’ on-screen smoking status: California (a) adolescent female (n = 1040) and (b) adolescent male (n = 1044) never smokers.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Glantz S. What to do about Hollywood: tobacco’s smoldering affair. Los Angeles Times. 2June2001:F12.
    1. Stockwell TF, Glantz SA. Tobacco use is increasing in popular films. Tob Control. 1997;6:282–284. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dalton MA, Sargent JD, Mott LA, et al. Relation between parental restrictions on movies and adolescent use of tobacco and alcohol. Effective Clin Pract. 2002;5:1–10. - PubMed
    1. Sargent JD, Beach ML, Dalton MA, et al. Effect of seeing tobacco use in films on trying smoking among adolescents: cross sectional study. BMJ. 2001;323:1–6. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Tickle JJ, Sargent JD, Dalton MA, Beach ML, Heatherton TF. Favourite stars, their tobacco use in contemporary movies, and its association with adolescent smoking. Tob Control. 2001;10:16–22. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms