Weekend Television Viewing and Video Gaming Are Associated with Less Adolescent Smoking (Journal of Substance Abuse)

Using the adolescent sample of 2005 California Health Interview Survey (n = 4029), the authors explored the association between adolescent smoking and daily screen time. They used four predictors of screen time to predict smoking initiation experience and one's current status of being a regular smoker: number of hours spent on viewing TV and playing video games per weekday, number of hours spent on recreational computer use per weekday, number of hours spent on viewing TV and playing video games per weekend day, and number of hours spent on recreational computer use per weekend day. The researchers included covariates of demographics and family environment. The results showed that the number of hours spent on viewing TV and video gaming per weekday was positively associated with having ever smoked cigarettes and the current status of being a regular smoker. The number of hours spent on viewing TV and video gaming per weekend day was negatively associated with having ever smoked and the current status of being a regular smoker. Neither weekend time spent on recreational computer use nor weekday time spent on recreational computer use was associated with smoking behavior in either of the two models.

Publication Authors:

• Lu Shi
• Yuping Mao