New Delhi, july 10: If watching actors smoke on screen attracts youngsters to smoking, playing team sports keeps them away from the butt, says a report in the latest issue of Archives of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.
The study said participation in team sports plays a protective role against established smoking, even in the face of exposure to smoking on screen. Parents, teachers, coaches should thus encourage youngsters to participate in team sports to minimise chances of their picking up the stick.
“Active participation in sports generates certain chemicals that satisfy the attention-seeking tendencies and feeling of well-being, which is why sportspersons are less inclined towards smoking,” said Dr Jitendra Nagpal, a psychiatrist at Vidyasagar Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (VIMHAMS), Delhi.
The study found that on being exposed to smoking on screen, those who did not take part in team sports were more likely to smoke than those who take part in team sports.
Past studies have showed a link between exposure to smoking on screen and youth lighting up. In fact 30-50% youth smokers attribute it to movies.
Experts from various American institutes analysed data from school and surveys from New Hampshire and Vermont in the US. They assessed smoking on screen and team sports participation among 2,048 youths aged 16 to 21 years. About 353 (17.2%) respondents were established smokers (having smoked 100 cigarettes or more in their lifetime).
“Compared to other respondents, established smokers were significantly more likely to be male, be older, have parents with lower levels of education, have a higher proportion of close friends who smoke, have parents who smoke, report lower school performance, have higher levels of sensation-seeking and rebelliousness and be less likely to be enrolled in school at the time of follow-up,” the authors wrote.
“This study supports the benefits of youth participation in team sports, which appears to protect against established smoking even in the face of movie smoking exposure,” the authors concluded.
–Agencies