Abstract
Objective

To investigate the effects of smoking as portrayed in movies, on the attitudes towards smoking of adolescents.

Method
A sample of 27 adolescents, 13 boys and 14 girls were selected from a local private school in Islamabad. After establishing a baseline, subjects were exposed to positive or negative stimulation in terms of smoking and later tested on ATS-18 scale on the four trials. The attitude scores were compared through the trials to obtain the overall change in attitude of the groups towards smoking.

Results
There was a significant different in the attitude of adolescents exposed to positive stimulation on repeated trials whereas there was no significant effect of negative stimulation on the attitude change on repeated trials. There was no difference in the strength of the positive and negative portrayal on attitude towards smoking. Overall, there was a difference in the attitude change of boys and girls. On positive portrayal, boys experienced more attitude change in positive direction than girls. Whereas, on the negative portrayal condition, girls reported more change in negative direction than boys.

Conclusion
There is a significant effect of positive stimulation on repeated trials in changing adolescent’s attitudes towards smoking in movies. (Rawal Med J 2009;34: ).

Key words: Attitude, portrayal in movies, smoking, adolescents.