Grant Number:	3R01CA077026-09S1 Interpret this number
Primary Investigator:	Sargent, James
Organization:	Dartmouth College
Project Title:	Visual Media Influences on Adolescent Smoking Behavior (Yr 9 Supplement)
Fiscal Year:	2006

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Smoking is a major health risk factor for cancer and other diseases, being the most common preventable cause of death in this and other developed countries. Smoking begins during adolescence, and is generally thought to be prompted by social influences. Adolescent smoking has been associated with viewing smoking in movies in both cross sectional and longitudinal studies; however it is not clear what mechanism underlies this association. The overarching aim of this research program is to examine more fully the relationship between seeing smoking in movies and cigarette smoking among U.S. adolescents. The current continuation research project involves a representative national sample of 6500 adolescents 10-14 years at baseline, who are being surveyed over 4 waves at 8-month intervals. We have satisfied the aims of the parent application, showing that baseline never smokers with higher exposure to smoking in movies are significantly more likely to try smoking and to develop more favorable attitudes toward smoking. We have also found an association between exposure to movie smoking and risk of becoming an established smoker. This competing supplement application is aimed at the final year of the current application, May 2006-April 2007 and will allow us to conduct additional analyses, and to begin collecting the first of three additional survey waves that will follow the cohort through their high school years as part of a proposed competing renewal. We propose advanced analyses on waves 1-4 data that were not part of the original continuation aims. Using structural equation modeling, we will examine hypothesized mediators; using growth modeling, we will examine the trajectories of smoking progression among experimenters; and we will also assess moderation effects. This supplement will also us to prepare a wave 5 high school survey with process measures for smoking initiation and multiple dimensions of tobacco dependence, to begin that survey in spring of 2007 (when oldest members are seniors in high school), and to develop an intensified cohort maintenance plan. We propose to enrich the cohort with African-American adolescents, to better understand why they are resistant to the effects of movie smoking on behavior. Because U.S. movies are marketed and distributed all over the world, this research could have far-reaching public health implications for adolescents everywhere.





None. See parent grant details.