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Evidence Base
New 2008 Research
Click here to access new research about smoking in youth-rated movies
The science behind the effects of on-screen smoking is one of the cornerstones of the Screen Out! Campaign. Below are some staggering statistics that exemplify the urgency of getting smoking out of youth-rated films:
- Every day, in the United States, about 3,900 youths (ages 12-17) try a cigarette for the first time, and about 1,500 will become daily smokers.1
- In the U.S., about 22 percent of high school students and eight percent of middle school students smoke cigarettes.2
- Of youth who are smokers, about one-third will eventually die from a tobacco-related disease.3
- Children with the highest exposure to smoking in movies are nearly three times more likely to start smoking than those with the least exposure.4
- In 2001, young teens (ages 12-14) were more likely to report having seen smoking on television and in movies than were young adults (ages 18-24).5
- Children and adolescents report high levels of awareness of smoking on-screen. In 2004, 78 percent of middle school students and 87 percent of high school students reported having seen actors on television or in movies smoking.3
- Nearly all 12-17 year olds in the United States have seen smoking in a movie trailer on television. Ninety-three percent of youth in the United States were exposed to at least one televised movie trailer depicting tobacco use between August 2001 and July 2002.6
- The current movie rating system does not prevent children from seeing smoking in movies. About 60 percent of youth exposure to smoking in movies is from G-, PG- or PG-13-rated movies. 6
- An analysis of the top 50 grossing movies from May 2003 to April 2004 found that 58 percent of PG-rated movies and 68 percent of PG-13-rated movies depicted smoking.7
1 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2004). 2003 National Survey on Drug Use & Health: Detailed Tables. Table 2.31A Cigarette Use in Lifetime, Past Year, and Past Month among Persons Aged 12-17, by Demographic Characteristics: Numbers in Thousands, 2002 and 2003.
2CDC. Tobacco Use Among Middle and High School Students - United States, 2004. MMWR 2005; Vol.54, No.12: 297-301.
3CDC. Projected Smoking-Related Deaths Among Youth United States, MMWR 1996, Vol. 45, No. 44.
4Sargent, J.D., Beach M.L., Adachi-Meija A.M., Gibson J.J., Titus-Ernstoff L.T., Carusi C.P., Swain S.D., Heatherton T.F., Dalton, M.A., (2005) Exposure to Movie Smoking: Its Relation to Smoking Initiation Among U.S. Adolescents. Pediatrics 116(5):1183-1191.
5American Legacy Foundation. First Look Report 12. Exposure to Pro-tobacco Messages among Teens and Young Adults: Results from three National Surveys. November, 2003.
6American Legacy Foundation. Smoking in the Movies Study; May 2003.
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