A study of German teens finds that those who were exposed to more cigarette advertisements during a nine-month observation period were more likely to take up smoking. The study is published in the journal Pediatrics.
Researchers looked at the role that any kind of advertising, including cigarette advertising, plays in influencing teens to begin smoking. Researchers showed advertisements to 2,102 German teens who had never smoked. The ads included six cigarette advertisements, and eight ads for other products including candy, clothes, cell phones and cars.
Students also answered surveys about how frequently they had seen each ad, as well as questions about smoking behaviors among their parents, peers, and their attitudes toward rebellious and sensation-seeking behaviors.
Initially, 47% of students reported one or more parents who smoked and 27% reported having peers who smoked.
During the nine-month observation period, 13% of students started smoking, the researchers reported. Increased incidence of smoking was associated with increased exposure to cigarette advertisements, according to the study. Other factors tied to taking up smoking included older age, lower socioeconomic status, having friends who smoked, and higher levels of sensation-seeking behavior.
The study authors say their research shows that adolescent exposure to cigarette advertising, but not to other advertisements, is tied,at least in part, to the initiation of smoking. The study points out that while some countries, including Italy, Finland and New Zealand have strong anti-tobacco marketing regulations, other countries, including the United States and Germany, have “considerably weaker tobacco-marketing policies.”
Almost 90% of smokers began the habit when they were teens, according to theAmerican Association of Pediatrics. Each puff of a cigarette exposes the body to more than 400 toxic substances including cyanide, benzene, formaldehyde, acetylene, ammonia, carbon monoxide, as well as nicotine, the substance that makes smoking so highly addictive.
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