Perhaps films like "Project X" have more of an affect on teenagers than you might imagine. According to new study by Pediatrics (via the Los Angeles Times), teens are more likely to binge drink if they have seen a movie that depicts its main characters imbibing alcohol.
The study, which focused on five European countries (Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Poland and Scotland), found that "the link between alcohol use in movies and adolescent binge drinking was robust and seems relatively unaffected by cultural contexts."
Participants were given a list of 50 popular movies and asked which they had seen. The researchers than watched the movies to discern how many hours of alcohol intake the young viewers had been exposed to during the course of their lives; based on their viewing choices, some children had been exposed to upward of 10,000 instances of drinking on film.
The study focused on the years between 2004 and 2009, and while no movies were cited individually, you can assume that hits like "The Hangover" (2009), "Hancock" (2008), "Sex and the City" (2008) and "Pirates of the Caribbean" -- all with booze-soaked protagonists -- factored heavily in young peoples' viewing habits.
Check out the full study by clicking here.
[via LAT]
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