Restricted Movies, Unrestricted Habits
Youth who watch R-rated films are far more likely to smoke than their more PG-centric peers, according to a new study published in the January issue of Pediatrics. In fact, research indicated that 10- to 14-year-olds who didn’t watch R-rated movies at all were two to three times less likely to light up. “Our findings indicate that parental R-rated movie restrictions were directly related to a lower risk of smoking initiation, but also indirectly through changes in children’s sensation seeking,” said the study’s lead author Rebecca de Leeuw, a doctoral student at the Netherlands Radboud University Nijmegen. “Sensation seeking is related to a higher risk for smoking onset. However, children with parents who restrict them from watching R-rated movies were less likely to develop higher levels of sensation seeking and, subsequently, at lower risk for smoking onset.” (U.S. News and World Report)

Tawdry Television
Do sexy images on television affect the teens who watch them? The Parents Television Council sure thinks so. The PTC recently checked out the top 25 scripted programs on prime-time TV and found that underage girls—most often those depicted as being in high school—were portrayed in a sexualized manner more often than adult women. “It’s a ubiquitous saturation of sexualization of young girls in every form of media,” said Tim Winter, president of the PTC. “It’s not just college kids, it’s not just 20-somethings, we’re now talking about teenagers.” While the study didn’t look at whether such images actually made youth who watched them inclined to act more adult, experts say there’s little doubt that TV shows do affect those who watch. “It really has an effect on their mental health and their attitudes toward themselves,” said Ann Pleshette Murphy, parenting expert for Good Morning America. “[I]t really can have lifetime negative consequences.” (ABC News)

Caffeinated Kids
While youth don’t drink as much cola and soda as they once did, about three-fourths of children between the ages of 5 and 12 still drink caffeine in one form or another. Kids between the ages of 5 and 7 typically consumed about 52 milligrams of caffeine, or about what you’d get if you drank 16 ounces of Coke. Eight- to 12-year-olds normally consume more than twice that much. (New York Daily News)

Happiest Place…Online?
You might expect Walt Disney, even though he’s been dead since 1966, still would have a lot of friends. Judging by the numbers on Facebook, you’d be absolutely right. All told, Disney’s 200 Facebook sites have collected a total of 100 million fans; and the Mouse House is collecting an average of 5 million new fans a week. For comparison’s sake, Texas Hold’em Poker and Facebook itself have just around 30 million fans, while Lady Gaga comes in at around 25 million. (Time)

Top 10 YouTube Videos, 2010
1. YouTube Bed Intruder Song
2. Tik Tok Ke$ha Parody
3. Greyson Chance Singing “Paparazzi”
4. Annoying Orange—”Whazzup?”
5. Old Spice: The Man Your Man Could Smell Like
6. Yosemitebear Mountain Giant Double Rainbow
7. OK Go—This Too Shall Pass—Rube Goldberg Machine version
8. The Twilight Saga–Eclipse trailer
9. Jimmy Surprises Bieber Fans
10. Ken Block’s Gymkhana Three, Part 2; Ultimate Playground; l’Autodrome, France
Source: YouTube