Adolescent Characters and Alcohol Use Scenes in Brazilian Movies, 2000–2008

Abstract

Quantitative structured assessment of 193 scenes depicting substance use from a convenience sample of 50 Brazilian movies was performed. Logistic regression and analysis of variance or multivariate analysis of variance models were employed to test for two different types of outcome regarding alcohol appearance: The mean length of alcohol scenes in seconds and the prevalence of alcohol use scenes. The presence of adolescent characters was associated with a higher prevalence of alcohol use scenes compared to nonalcohol use scenes. The presence of adolescents was also associated with a higher than average length of alcohol use scenes compared to the nonalcohol use scenes. Alcohol use was negatively associated with cannabis, cocaine, and other drugs use. However, when the use of cannabis, cocaine, or other drugs was present in the alcohol use scenes, a higher average length was found. This may mean that most vulnerable group may see drinking as a more attractive option leading to higher alcohol use.