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Booze For Barbie
Study: Preschoolers at play mimic parents’ smoking, drinking
Sep 5, 2005 1:00 pm US/Pacific
CHICAGO (AP) Preschoolers pretending to shop for a Barbie doll’s social evening were more likely to choose cigarettes if their parents smoked, and wine or beer if their parents drank, a study found.
Researchers observing the children’s play found that the ones who watched PG-13 or R-rated movies also were more likely to choose alcohol for Barbie.
A 4-year-old girl chose Barbie-sized tobacco in the pretend store and said: “I need this for my man. A man needs cigarettes.”
A 6-year-old boy offered the doll cigarettes and said: “Honey, have some smokes. Do you like smokes? I like smokes.”
Parents who watched from behind a one-way mirror were surprised by their children’s choices, said study co-author Madeline Dalton of Dartmouth Medical School.
“It’s a very humbling experience to be a parent and see your children mimic your behaviors,” she said.
The study suggests that prevention efforts should target younger children, Dalton said. It was published Monday in the September issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
The study included 120 children, ages 2 to 6. An adult researcher led a standardized play activity in which each child, acting as a Barbie or Ken doll, shopped for a visiting friend. A store stocked with 133 miniature items gave the children choices—including meat, fruit, vegetables, snacks, nonalcoholic drinks, cigarettes, beer and wine.
The children could “buy” anything they wanted by filling a small grocery cart and taking it to a small checkout counter.
Twenty-eight percent of the children bought cigarettes, and 61 percent bought alcohol. The children whose parents smoked were almost four times more likely to buy cigarettes. The children whose parents drank at least monthly were three times more likely to buy alcohol.
Children who watched adult-content movies were five times more likely to buy alcohol, but the researchers did not find a statistically significant link between movie-watching and choosing cigarettes.
The study suggests that parents should be careful about the movies their children watch, said Craig Anderson, who studies media violence at Iowa State University. “Kids are basically little learning machines. Whatever the content is in front of them, they’re going to pick it up,” Anderson said.
the rest of the story
http://www.davesdaily.com/out.php?id...248150830.html
Study: Preschoolers at play mimic parents’ smoking, drinking
Sep 5, 2005 1:00 pm US/Pacific
CHICAGO (AP) Preschoolers pretending to shop for a Barbie doll’s social evening were more likely to choose cigarettes if their parents smoked, and wine or beer if their parents drank, a study found.
Researchers observing the children’s play found that the ones who watched PG-13 or R-rated movies also were more likely to choose alcohol for Barbie.
A 4-year-old girl chose Barbie-sized tobacco in the pretend store and said: “I need this for my man. A man needs cigarettes.”
A 6-year-old boy offered the doll cigarettes and said: “Honey, have some smokes. Do you like smokes? I like smokes.”
Parents who watched from behind a one-way mirror were surprised by their children’s choices, said study co-author Madeline Dalton of Dartmouth Medical School.
“It’s a very humbling experience to be a parent and see your children mimic your behaviors,” she said.
The study suggests that prevention efforts should target younger children, Dalton said. It was published Monday in the September issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
The study included 120 children, ages 2 to 6. An adult researcher led a standardized play activity in which each child, acting as a Barbie or Ken doll, shopped for a visiting friend. A store stocked with 133 miniature items gave the children choices—including meat, fruit, vegetables, snacks, nonalcoholic drinks, cigarettes, beer and wine.
The children could “buy” anything they wanted by filling a small grocery cart and taking it to a small checkout counter.
Twenty-eight percent of the children bought cigarettes, and 61 percent bought alcohol. The children whose parents smoked were almost four times more likely to buy cigarettes. The children whose parents drank at least monthly were three times more likely to buy alcohol.
Children who watched adult-content movies were five times more likely to buy alcohol, but the researchers did not find a statistically significant link between movie-watching and choosing cigarettes.
The study suggests that parents should be careful about the movies their children watch, said Craig Anderson, who studies media violence at Iowa State University. “Kids are basically little learning machines. Whatever the content is in front of them, they’re going to pick it up,” Anderson said.
the rest of the story
http://www.davesdaily.com/out.php?id...248150830.html
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