A couple of researchers think that may not be a coincidence. The cell phone seems to compete with cigarettes as teen statements of fashion and rebellion, the scientists suggested in a letter published in the British Medical Journal. It meets the same needs,'' said one of the theory's proponents, Clive Bates, director of Action on Smoking and Health in London. However, American researchers say any link would probably not be mirrored in the United States. Saul Shiffman, professor of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh, is skeptical and believes the teen smokers and cell phone users are different types of adolescents.
Smokers tend to be from lower income groups.
In the United States, cell phones are restricted to affluent teens and are much more expensive to use than conventional phones, said Joann Schellenbach, spokeswoman for the American Cancer Society. Smoking rates among U.S. high school students went down from 36.4 percent in 1997 to 34.8 percent in 1999, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. About 25 percent of American teens were using cell phones by the end of 1999. By the end of this year, that is expected to increase to about 32 percent, said Knox Bricken, a wireless communications analyst at the Boston-based technology research firm The Yankee Group. Mobile phone marketing in Europe promotes self-image and identity, which resembles cigarette advertising, the scientists said in their letter.