Teens may want their MTV, but a new Stanford study suggests it might be a good idea to pull the plug. In a survey of more than 1,500 San Jose ninth-graders published in the journal Pediatrics Online, Medical School researchers found that the more music videos kids watch on TV, the greater the chance they'll start drinking alcohol.
Researchers asked students to fill out a questionnaire about drinking and a variety of possible health risk factors, including TV viewing. Eighteen months later the teens filled out a follow-up survey. The results: for every extra hour they spent watching music videos per week, there was a 31 percent increase in the likelihood that they also had started drinking. Furthermore, every extra hour of general TV-watching was linked with a 9 percent increase. Perhaps surprisingly, computer or video games didnot seem to have an effect one way or the other, while watching videotapes somehow correlated with a lower risk of first-time drinking.
More study is needed to show what kinds of measures would best counter the influence of TV and music videos among teens, says the lead author, Tom Robinson, assistant professor of pediatrics and medicine. While "a ban [on advertising] is not a panacea," he says, the liquor industry's recent decision to resume advertising on TV and radio is definitely a step in the wrong direction.
