TAMPERE, Finland (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Scientists who
suggested use of mobile phones among teenagers may be causing a
corresponding decline in tobacco may have been blaming the wrong
behavior, report Finnish investigators.
In a letter published in this months British Medical
Journal, researchers outline a study showing the opposite,
in fact, may actually be true.
In the late 1990s, researchers also publishing in the BMJ
hypothesized that increasing popularity of cell phones among
teens might be cutting into the amount of money they have to
spend on cigarettes. They suggested that might explain why
tobacco use among teens has been declining. These investigators
tested that reasoning in a study involving more than 9,300
adolescents in Finland.
About 70 percent of the group responded to a written
questionnaire asking about cigarette and cell phone use. Results
showed nearly 60 percent of the group had smoked at least twice
and about a quarter smoked on a daily basis. Ninety-one percent
used mobile phones. As the use of mobile phones increased, so
did the amount of smoking. Kids who used the phones for at least
an hour a day were nearly eight-times more likely to smoke than
those who never used the phones.
Amount of available cash did not appear to have any impact on
the link between use of the phones and smoking, although the
researchers note this may be different in countries where
parents do not cover the costs of the phones as frequently as
they do in Finland.
They conclude more study is needed to clarify the symbolic
role of mobile phones and smoking in modern adolescent
cultures.
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