The research team assessed the number of on-screen smoking/tobacco occurrences in 572 top grossing films in the UK, which included 546 screened in the US plus 26 high earning films released only in the UK.

They then divided the total box office earnings of each film by the year’s average ticket price, to calculate the estimated number of ‘tobacco impressions’ delivered to cinema going audiences for each film.

A ‘tobacco impression’ is defined as one person seeing an occurrence of smoking or tobacco on one occasion, with the cumulative number of impressions a measure of how much the film encourages smoking.

Among the 572 films assessed, more than two thirds (69%) featured tobacco. Of these, more than nine out of 10 were classified as suitable for adolescents (’15′ or ’12A’) under the UK ratings system.

In all, 5.07 billion tobacco impressions were delivered to UK cinema going audiences during the period under study, of which 4.49 billion (89%) were delivered in ’15′ and ’12A’ rated films.

Because 79% of the films rated only for adults in the US (‘R’) were classified as suitable for young people in the UK, this meant that young Britons were exposed to 28% more smoking impressions in ’15′ or ’12A’ rated movies than their US peers, calculate the authors.

Although UK produced films contained more instances of smoking, on average, than US produced films, the market dominance of the latter meant that Hollywood was responsible for most of the tobacco impressions delivered to UK audiences in 2001-6, say the authors.

Evidence from several countries, including the US, suggests that the more smoking young people are exposed to in movies, the more likely they are to start smoking themselves. Those who see the most are around three times more likely to take it up than those who see the least, say the authors.

Awarding an ’18′ rating to films that contain smoking "would create an economic incentive for motion picture producers to simply leave smoking out of films developed for the youth market," say the authors.

When they compared total box office sales of a random sample of 40 films rated suitable for children and 40 rated ’18′, they calculated that films targeted at young people grossed 1.75 times as much as those targeting adult audiences.

"The decision to classify a film as appropriate for youths clearly has economic benefits for the film industry," they say.

And they conclude: "A film classification policy that keeps on-screen smoking out of films rated suitable for youths…would reduce this exposure for people under 18 years of age and probably lead to a substantial reduction in youth smoking."

Young Britons See More Smoking in Movies than American Peers is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

Science Daily reports that studies have consistently found that prenatal cigarette smoke exposure is associated with increased rates of behavior problems, irritability, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, the risk of violent offenses, conduct disorder, adolescent onset of drug dependence, and the risk for criminal arrest in offspring. This study adds another potential negative outcome to the list of reasons for mothers to stop smoking while pregnant.

Most of the effects of tobacco either during pregnancy or on postnatal outcomes are attributed to nicotine. However, smoking is associated with reduced monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) activity, enzymes that degrade brain neurotransmitters in smokers. Prenatal smoke exposure-induced low MAO-A activity in fetal life may dysregulate brain neurotransmission, creating a potential vulnerability to develop behavioral disorders later in life. This dysregulation can occur with or without interaction with nicotine’s effect on the developing brain.

French scientists compared blood biomarkers of MAO-A activity in smoking and non-smoking pregnant women and in the cord blood of their newborns. They also assessed the newborns’ comfort level during their first 48 hours of life. They found that MAO-A activity is reduced both in pregnant smokers and in their newborns. The newborns of smoking mothers also showed significantly more discomfort than those of non-smoking mothers, potentially related to MAO-A inhibition.

Corresponding author Dr. Ivan Berlin explained that this paper’s findings "may have implications for future research because it proposes a biological explanation for the previously demonstrated relationship between smoking during pregnancy and behavioral disorders in the offspring."

"We know that maternal smoking can negatively affect a newborn in many ways, such as contributing to low birth weight. Berlin and colleagues provide new evidence that the newborns of mothers who smoke experience more behavioral discomfort, and they suggest a mechanism that helps to explain the cause of this discomfort," commented Dr. John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry.

Although additional studies are needed, this work highlights the importance of targeting pregnant women for help to stop smoking

Maternal Smoking Can Increase Level of Discomfort in Newborns is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

All the effects observed during this research study have been "significantly reduced" among waiters in bars where smoking has been completely banned than among those who work in places with smoking areas, or where there are no restrictions in place.

"Changing the partial ban on tobacco consumption in bars and restaurants for a total ban would have beneficial effects on the health of all the workers in this sector", said Esteve Fernández, one of the authors of the study and a researcher at the ICO.

The results confirm that 5% of waiters have stopped smoking and that, among those who continue to smoke, the number of cigarettes consumed has fallen by almost 9% (almost two cigarettes per day). In addition, levels of cotinine—a nicotine metabolite used to measure active, and especially passive, exposure to smoke—in workers’ saliva has fallen by 4.4%.

In total, 431 workers in the bar and restaurant trade were studied (half of whom were smokers) from three months before the law came into force and for a further two years afterwards. The scientists took data from five autonomous regions: Cantabria, Catalonia, Valencia, Galicia, and the Balearic Islands.

Anti-Smoking Law in Spain Has Helped Many Quit Smoking is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

“Research shows that higher levels of neuroticism can lead to earlier mortality, and we wanted to know why,” said Daniel K. Mroczek, a professor of child development and family studies.

“We found that having worrying tendencies or being the kind of person who stresses easily is likely to lead to bad behaviors like smoking and, therefore, raise the mortality rate. This work is a reminder that high levels of some personality traits can be hazardous to one’s physical health.”

Chronic worrying, anxiety, and being prone to depression are key aspects of the personality trait of neuroticism. In this study, the researchers looked at how smoking and heavy drinking are associated with the trait. A person with high neuroticism is likely to experience anxiety or depression and may self-medicate with tobacco, alcohol, or drugs as a coping mechanism.

The researchers found that smoking accounted for about 25 percent to 40 percent of the association between high neuroticism and mortality. The other 60 percent is unexplained, but possibly attributed to biological factors or other environmental issues that neurotic individuals experience, Mroczek said.

The researchers analyzed data of 1,788 men and their smoking behavior and personality traits over a 30-year period from 1975 to 2005. The data was part of the VA Normative Aging Study, which is a long-term study of aging men based at the Boston VA Outpatient Clinic.

A better understanding of the bridge between personality traits and physical health can perhaps help clinicians improve intervention and prevention programs, Mroczek said.

“For example, programs that target people high in neuroticism may get bigger bang for the buck than more widespread outreach efforts,” he said. “It also may be possible to use personality traits to identify people who, because of their predispositions, are at risk for engaging in poor health behaviors such as smoking or excessive drinking.”

Study Examines Relationship between Chronic Stress and Substance Abuse is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

Tanski, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Dartmouth Medical School, said that “bad guys” are more often smokers in movies, but that there are usually more “good guys” than “bad guys.” “Episode for episode, youth who saw negative characters smoking were more likely to start smoking, but since overall there is so much more exposure to ‘good guy’ smoking, the net effect is similar,” she said.

The study also found that low-risk teens, based on sensation-seeking behavior, are more strongly influenced by “bad guy” smoking. “This suggests that it’s alluring for ‘good’ kids to emulate the ‘bad’ characters on the movie screen,” said Tanski.

Tanski and colleagues at Dartmouth College and Medical School have been studying the connection between popular culture and risky behavior in adolescents. They have published several journal articles documenting the link between exposure to smoking and drinking in movies and teens using the substances.

In May 2009, two members of the team published a research letter that reported declining trends in both occurrences of smoking in movies and smoking among US eighth graders between 1996 and 2007. The authors state, “Movie smoking represents only one of several factors that contribute to youth smoking trends, including the marketing of tobacco, price of cigarettes, restrictions imposed by the Master Settlement Agreement in 1999, and state prevention programs…Nonetheless, the downward trend in movie smoking is consistent with an influence on downward trends in adolescent smoking.”

Tanski acknowledges that although there is a downward trend, smoking still occurs in many movies that teens watch, particularly given the accessibility to “older” movies through movie channels and video rental services. “Parents should limit movie viewing and specifically restrict access to R-rated movies, which tend to contain more smoking,” she said. “When teens do see movies or TV shows that contain smoking, parents should talk with them in an effort to discourage initiation of smoking.”

Cigarette Smoking in Movies Influences Teens is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment