STUDY LINKS TEENS' TV WATCHING TO RISK OF DRINKING

Research: The Author Notes That Alcohol Is The Most Common Beverage Shown
On Television.

Chicago-high School students who watch lots of television and music
videos are more likely to start drinking than other
youngsters,researchers say.

The Stanford University study of 1,533 ninth-graders also showed that
youngsters who rented movies were less likely to start drinking, while
playing video and computer games had no effect.

Watching TV and videos made no difference in the drinking habits of
those who already drank.

The findings are not surprising given research that shows alcohol is
the most common beverage shown on television, the study's lead author,
Dr. Thomas Robinson, said Monday.

The study found that each increase of one hour per day of watching
music videos brought a 31 percent greater risk of starting to drink
over the next 18 months. Each hour's increase in watching other kinds
of television corresponded to a 9 percent greater risk.

Each hour spent watching movies on a VCR corresponded to an 11 percent
decreased risk of starting to drink alcohol.

The study, reported in this month's edition of the journal Pediatrics,
looked at 2,609 ninth-graders in San Jose, and followed 1,533 of them
throughout the 18 months.

They reported their activities and were asked how many drinks of
alcohol they had ever had, and how many they had in the previous
month. Over the next 18 months, 36.2 percent of 898 non-drinkers began
to drink.

Television habits had no effect on the 635 students who already drank,
the authors said.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry