Psychosocial correlates of sunburn among young adult women

Skin cancer is an increasingly common disease, particularly among young adult women. Sunburn early in life is a risk factor for skin cancer. Few studies have reported on psychosocial correlates of sunburn. The current study consisted of an online survey of undergraduate women from a university in th...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of environmental research and public health 2012-06, Vol.9 (6), p.2241-2251
Main Authors: Heckman, Carolyn J, Darlow, Susan, Cohen-Filipic, Jessye, Kloss, Jacqueline D, Manne, Sharon L, Munshi, Teja, Perlis, Clifford S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Disease prevention
Female
Humans
Logistic Models
Self Efficacy
Skin cancer
Skin Neoplasms - prevention & control
Skin Neoplasms - psychology
Sunbathing
Sunburn & sun tanning
Sunburn - epidemiology
Sunburn - psychology
Sunscreen
Sunscreening Agents - therapeutic use
United States - epidemiology
Women
Young Adult
Young adults
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Skin cancer is an increasingly common disease, particularly among young adult women. Sunburn early in life is a risk factor for skin cancer. Few studies have reported on psychosocial correlates of sunburn. The current study consisted of an online survey of undergraduate women from a university in the northeastern part of the USA. A logistic regression demonstrated that young women who reported a history of four or more sunburns were significantly more likely to report fair skin, higher perceived susceptibility to skin cancer, greater perceived benefits of tanning (e.g., appearance enhancement), lower perceived control over skin protection, and more frequent sunscreen use. Sunbathing was not associated with a greater number of sunburns. These results suggest that young women who sunburn more often possess other skin cancer risk factors, are aware of their susceptibility to skin cancer, and try to use sunscreen, but feel limited control over their skin protection behavior and are not less likely to sunbathe than others. Therefore, interventions are needed to assist high risk young women in asserting more control over their sun protection behavior and perhaps improve the effectiveness of the sunscreen or other skin protection methods they do employ.
ISSN:1660-4601
1661-7827
1660-4601
DOI:10.3390/ijerph9062241