Researchers in Finland surveyed 9,309 adolescents to test whether mobile phones are competing with cigarettes for their weekly spending money.
Of 6,516 respondents 57% had smoked at least twice, 24% smoked daily, and 91% used mobile phones. The amount of smoking increased in proportion to the use of mobile phones. Taking into account the amount of spending money did not change the association.
A high proportion of Finnish adolescents use mobile phones, but their use is associated with health endangering lifestyles indicated by smoking, say the authors.
Although this association may not apply to countries where parents do not help pay for their children's mobile phone costs as much as they do in Finland, the symbolic role of mobile phones and smoking in modern adolescent cultures needs to be studied, they conclude.