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Abstract
Previous research of addictive substances suggests that use of alcohol, illicit drugs, and tobacco is overrepresented on prime‐time television (TV). These studies, however, have relied on frequency counts of the substance, rather than the prevalence of use among characters. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to compare the prevalence of alcohol, illicit drug, and tobacco users among characters on prime‐time TV during 1995 and 1996 with rates of use in the United States. In addition, we determined if the ratio of male to female, young to old, and white to minority addictive substance users on prime‐time TV were similar to the equivalent U.S. ratios. Comparing results for prime‐time TV characters versus the U.S. population (respectively), 11.0% (99% CI, 9.8–12.1) drank alcohol versus 51.0%; 0.8% (99% CI, 0.5–1.1) used illicit drugs versus 6.1 %; and 2.5% (99% CI, 2.0–3.1) smoked tobacco versus 28.9%. In addition, no consistent pattern was evident in our analyses that assessed whether addictive substance users on prime‐time TV were more frequently represented as men, young, or minority compared to the similar U.S. ratio. These results indicate that contrary to prevailing beliefs, alcohol, illicit drug, and tobacco users are uncommon on prime‐time TV and are less prevalent than in the U.S. population.
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Center for Health Equity and Research and Promotion, Philadelphia VA Medical Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Department of Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.
Department of Broadcasting, Theater, and Mass Media, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Clinical Epidemiology Unit, West Haven Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center, West Haven, Connecticut.
To whom correspondence should be addressed at Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Health System, 1201 Blockley Hall, 423 Guardian Drive, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104–6021; e‐mail: [email protected].
