The Los Angeles Times (4/14, Kaplan) “Science Now” blog reports that a study published online April 13 in the journal Pediatrics “offers fresh support for the idea that teens who see drinking on the big screen are more likely to drink themselves.”
TIME (4/14, Steinmetz) reports the study found that “15-year-olds who have watched more alcohol being consumed in films than their peers are more likely to have tried alcohol, more likely to binge drink and more likely to have alcohol-related problems.” Researchers arrived at that conclusion after using “data from a longitudinal study in the United Kingdom that surveyed 5,163 15-year-olds on a wide variety of topics,” then adjusting for confounding factors.
Related Links:
— “To fight teen drinking, experts call for stricter movie ratings,” Karen Kaplan, Los Angeles Times, April 13, 2015.