Study Links Advertising To Adolescent Smoking

Advertising by tobacco companies has a greater effect than peer pressure or family influence on whether some adolescents take up smoking, according to a study of California youths.

Nonsmoking adolescents who are very aware of tobacco advertising are twice as likely to be at risk of taking up smoking as those whose family members and peers are smokers, the study found.

Its authors say their findings challenge the claim by tobacco companies that marketing has far less of an impact on adolescent...