TransitionTimes: Is it right that only adults can see certain films? And who cares about ratings anyway? Louise Holden reports

When you go to the cinema do you look at the films' age classifications before deciding what to watch? Or will you go to any film as long as you can get past the ticket desk? Under-18s watch more films and are generally more film literate than anyone else, but everyone else decides what they should watch.

With this in mind the Irish Film Censor's Office commissioned a survey to find out how teenagers feel about film classification. Are they distressed by gore, unnaturally aroused by graphic sex or tempted by onscreen drug taking? Do 16-year-olds see an 18 rating as a bonus rather than a warning?

Twelve secondary schools were selected at random and 1,045 of their students surveyed for the study. A series of interviews took place in four of the schools after the survey results were collected.

The students had plenty to say: 76 per cent go to the cinema at least six times a year, and more than half go at least once a month.

One of their first points was that the classification system does not keep bad movies and young people apart.

They claimed that if they wanted to see a film they could get past the ticket desk (using false ID, approaching a male vendor or sending the oldest looking in the group) or, failing that, get the film out on DVD.

What the survey also found, however, was that some teenagers were glad to know that a film might prove too much to handle. A number of the students named films they wished they had never seen: The Ring, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Exorcist.

Last year the censor's office surveyed parents; it turns out that parents and teenagers feel largely the same about a lot of issues. They're more concerned about drugs than sex in movies, for example. Neither group is particularly bothered about bad language.

Carol McKeogh of the school of communications at Dublin City University, one of this year's researchers, came away with the sense that young movie-goers are a lot more discerning than they are often given credit for. "Ultimately, the students I spoke to said there was no question of their indulging in copycat behaviour resulting from watching risky material on film.

"Most felt that by 15 years of age most people have seen it all, but they did worry about their younger siblings seeing some of the films that they had.

"The most important rating as far as these students were concerned was quality. They have an expertise in film that is undermined by being told what they can and can't see."

The Irish Film Censor's Office website (www.ifco.ie) explains why the censor decided to award films their ratings. The IFCO survey was carried out by the school of communications at Dublin City University and the school of business and humanities at DúLaoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology

What the survey found

• More than half of the teenagers surveyed feel that the Irish Film Censor's Office classifies films too strictly. Fewer than one in five (19 per cent) feels that the classifications are sometimes too lenient.

• Parents play active roles in teenagers' viewing, regularly watching films with them, particularly on television.

• The students have a good grasp of film classifications, although their parents are confused about the terminology.

• Teenagers and parents are both most worried about films' depictions of hard drugs.

• Almost 90 per cent of teenagers believe their parents are more concerned about sex, however. In fact, parents rank it in fifth place as a cause for concern.

• Ninety-six per cent of teenagers say they have seen films intended for an older age group. Almost 20 per cent watched an 18-certificate film before they were 12.

• Teenagers say they do not push their luck at the cinema, generally only trying to get into films for an age group a year or two older than they are at the time.

• Almost half of teenagers wish they hadn't seen a film that scared them.