MUSIC VIDEOS, TV LINKED TO DRINKING IN TEENS, STUDY SAYS

CHICAGO - High-school students who watch lots of television and music
videos are more likely to start drinking alcohol than other
youngsters, while those who rent movies are at less risk, according to
a new study.

The Stanford University survey of 1,533 ninth-graders also showed that
playing video and computer games had no effect on drinking, and that
watching television 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 yesterday.

"The great majority of drinking on television is by the most
attractive and most influential people, and it is often associated
with sexually suggestive content," said Robinson of Stanford's Center
for Research and Disease Prevention.

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 increase of watching other kinds of
television corresponded to a 9 percent greater risk.

Each hour spent watching movies in a videocassette recorder
corresponded to an 11 percent decreased risk.

The study, reported in this month's edition of the journal Pediatrics,
looked at 2,609 ninth-graders in San Jose, Calif., and followed 1,533
of them for the 18 months. They reported their activities - how many
hours playing video games, for example - 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 nondrinkers began to
drink. Television habits had no effect on the 635 students who already
drank.

Alyse Booth, spokeswoman for the National Center on Addiction and
Substance Abuse at Columbia University, said the results of the study
did not surprise her.

"There is a tremendous glamorization of the use of alcohol," she said.
"Alcohol use is portrayed as normal and glamorous, never with the
consequences."

Checked-by: Patrick Henry