Citation

Bigman G, Wilkinson AV, Vandewater EA, Daniel CR, Koehly LM, Spitz MR, Sargent JD. J. Ethn. Subst. Abuse 2019; ePub(ePub): 1-16.

Affiliation

Department of Pediatrics Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth , Lebanon , New Hampshire.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/15332640.2018.1548319

PMID

30652524

Abstract

Mexican American adolescents report high rates of alcohol consumption as well as media use. Viewing alcohol images in the media is associated with increased alcohol consumption; however, to date, this association has not been examined across different ethnic groups in the United States. To bridge this gap, we examined the association between viewing alcohol use images in PG-13-rated movies and alcohol initiation in Mexican-heritage adolescents. A cohort of 1,154 Mexican-heritage youth, average age 14 years, was followed for 2 years; in 2008-2009, participants reported alcohol use in the past 30 days and again in 2010-2011. Exposure to alcohol use images in PG-13-rated movies was estimated from 50 movies randomly selected from a pool of 250 of the top box office hits in the United States using previously validated methods. A series of generalized linear models, adjusting for age, gender, peer and family alcohol use, family functioning, anxiety, sensation-seeking tendency, and acculturation were completed. Multiple imputation was utilized to address missing data. Overall, N = 652 participants reported no alcohol use in 2008-2009; by 2010-2011, 33.6% (n = 219) had initiated alcohol use. Adjusted models indicated an independent association between exposure to alcohol use images in PG-13-rated movies and alcohol initiation (comparing quartiles 3 to 1: RR =1.53; 95% CI [1.11, 2.10]). The findings emphasize that the relationship between viewing alcohol use scenes in American films and alcohol initiation holds among Mexican-heritage adolescents and underscore the need to limit adolescents' exposure to such powerful images in PG-13-rated movies.

Language: en

Keywords

Alcohol initiation; Mexican-heritage adolescents; PG-13 movies