STUDY FINDS ALCOHOL SCENES IN MOVIES CONTRIBUTE TO TEEN DRINKING (BMJ, AFP)

By Nancy Tartaglione-Moore

A new study published at BMJ Open shows exposure to scenes of alcohol consumption in movies is a bigger risk for teen drinking than having parents who drink or if alcohol is easily available at home. The study queried 6522 US teens, surveying them four times over 2 years.

Teens were surveyed on what big movies they had seen, whether they drank alcohol and other issues relevant to school and home life. Researchers measured the amount of exposure to alcohol in movies whether by a character's actual or implied drinking or purchase of alcohol.

Over the course of the study, respondent who said they had started to drink rose from 11% to 25%. Those who started binge drinking moved from 4% to 13%.

The AFP, which parsed the data, says movie alcohol exposure ranked the third biggest risk for the onset of drinking, and fourth in terms of progression to binge drinking.

Teens who watched the most movies featuring alcohol were twice as likely to start drinking as those who watched the least. They were also 63% likelier to progress to binge-drinking.

The study's authors now say it's time to consider restrictions. They note that 61% of Hollywood movies use product placement of some kind, but contrary to cigarettes there are no restrictions on alcohol.

"Like influenza, images in Hollywood movies begin in one region of the world then spread globally, where they may affect drinking behaviours among adolescents everywhere they are distributed," the study says.