Association of Sun Safety Behaviors and Barriers with Sunburn History in College Students in a Region with High UV Exposure

Abstract

Over five million cases of skin cancer are diagnosed each year in the United States with melanoma the third most common cancer in young adults. While publications have shown that sunburns increase the risk of developing melanoma throughout the lifetime including in adolescence and adulthood showing the importance of altering sun exposing behaviors throughout the lifetime, use of sun protection in college students remails low. In Fall 2019, an online survey of undergraduate students living on campus at a large southwestern university was conducted to determine the frequency of recent sunburns as well as sun protective behaviors and perceived knowledge of and barriers to sun protection. Associations between knowledge, behaviors, and barriers with self-reported sunburn were evaluated using logistic regression. Over 46% of 458 students reported at least one sunburn in the past three months and 21% reported having multiple sunburns in that period. Furthermore, 53% reported that they intentionally tanned their skin outdoors occasionally or more frequently, while 6.4% reported using an indoor tanning bed occasionally or more. Adjusted for skin sensitivity, recent sunburn history was associated with higher tanning activity scores and with high agreement that tanning was attractive (p < 0.01). This information can inform a more targeted series of intervention programming on the university campus.

Sun exposure practices, attitudes and knowledge among students and teachers at a University School of Health Sciences in Ecuador

“…To date, however, few studies have been undertaken to analyze this question with respect to persons in their late teens and early adulthood, as is the case of the university community. In the published literature, the data reveal a good knowledge about sun exposure and photoprotection measures by university students ( Castilho et al, 2010 , Gambla et al, 2017 , Othman Bahakim et al, 2016 , Rodríguez-Gambetta et al, 2016 , Sirera Rus et al, 2020 ), although some studies also show the existence of risky sun exposure behaviors in this group ( Basch et al, 2017 , Kirk and Greenfield, 2017 , Miller et al, 2022 , Spradlin et al, 2010 ).…”