Exposure to tobacco in video games and smoking in Argentina

Abstract

Background: Our objective was to assess whether exposure to tobacco in videogames is associated with smoking in adolescents from Argentina. Method(s): We performed a cross-sectional study with 3,646 s middle school students from public and private schools in Argentina. Tobacco content in video games was estimated using previously validated methods and adolescent's tobacco exposure was assessed by multiplying tobacco content by the hours per day played (range 0 to 5). Outcome measure was current smoking among video game players. Logistic regression models with random intercepts for school were used to regress current smoking on tobacco exposure and study variables multivariate models were adjusted for age, sex, parental education, rebelliouness, sensation seeking, parenting style of mother and father, tecnophilia and rules about the use of video games. Result(s): 3113 students responded to the survey (response rate 85.4%), 1802 boys and 1312 girls; 1658 (92%) boys and 737 (56.2%) girls were gamers and were included in the analytic sample (n = 2442). Mean age was 14.3 years (SD = 1.1), and the prevalence of smoking was 13.8 among boys and 22.0% among girls; 74.5% of boys played more than 1 hour per day compared with 47.7% of girls. High exposure to tobacco as compared to no exposure to tobacco in video games was independently associated with current smoking among girls (OR = 1.78; 95%CI = 1,02 - 3,09) but not among boys ( OR = 0.98; 95%CI = 0,64 - 1,51). Conclusion(s): Higher levels of exposure to tobacco in videogames were associated with higher likelihood of smoking in girls from Argentina.