Movies Influencing Drinking Habits: Study
New Delhi: Bollywood seems to be pushing Indian adolescents into taking alcohol. A study presented at the World Congress of Cardiology in Dubai on Friday says alcohol use in Bollywood movies is directly influencing the drinking habits of Indian adolescents with those exposed to such movies three times more likely to take to alcohol.
The study, involving 3,956 adolescents by an organization called Health Related Information Dissemination Against Youth (HIRDAY), found 10% of the students (aged between 12 and 16 years) surveyed had already tried alcohol.
Students, who had been most exposed to depicted of alcohol consumption in Bollywood movies, were found to be 2.78 times more likely to have tried drinking as compared with those who were least exposed.
Even when adjustments were made for demographic variables, social influences and characteristics of adolescent and parenting, teens were found to be 1.49 times more likely to have tried alcohol if they had been highly exposed to alcohol use in Bollywood films.
“These results show that exposure to depictions of alcohol use in Bollywood films is directly associated with drinking among Indian youth,” said Dr GP Nazar from HIRDAY.
“While alcohol advertising is banned in all Indian media and scenes that justify or glorify drinking are not allowed in Bollywood films, there is no dedicated health legislation that prohibits the depiction of alcohol in these films. Besides, there is a clear need for an immediate alcohol control policy,” he added.
The study saw 59 popular Bollywood movies being coded to record the number of alcohol use occurrences and 3,956 adolescents were asked if they had seen these films. Students in the fourth quartile – the quarter than had seen the greatest number of alcohol use occurrences in these movies – were found to be 2.78 times more likely to have tried alcohol compared with those in the first quartile of exposure.
A World Health Organization study recently said families with frequent drinking husbands in the national Capital spend 24% of their family income on alcohol as compared to 2% in other families.
India was among the first countries in the world to raise an alarm against alcohol. However, since then, it has not been able to put in place an effective anti-alcohol policy.
In 2007, the Union health ministry had called for strict control over alcohol sale in India, including banning of scenes in movies that show consumption of alcohol. It had also prepared a draft national alcohol policy, but that never saw the light of the day.
The average age of alcohol consumption in India has been constantly falling by nearly nine years over the past decade. At present, on an average, Indians take their first sip of alcohol at 19 years compared to 28 in the 1990s. Soon, experts say it will become 15 years. About 62.5 million people in India drink alcohol with the per capita consumption being around four litres per adult per year. For every six men, one woman drinks in India.
India has one of the largest alcoholic beverage industries in the world, producing 65% of the alcohol in Southeast Asia. It also contributes to about 7% of the total alcohol beverage imports to the region.
The Planning Commission says alcohol consumption is connected to more than 60 types of diseases and injury. Alcohol is a risk factor for oesophageal cancer, liver cancer, cirrhosis of liver, homicide, stroke, psychiatric illness and motor vehicle accidents.
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