Sun exposure in Australian adolescents

Abstract

Little information is available on the sun-related behavior of teenagers despite the considerable resources spent to decrease sun exposure in this age group. Our purpose was to describe the sun exposure behavior of Australian adolescents and define characteristics that predict use of sun protection. Cross-sectional study of a random sample of 972 school students 13 to 15 years of age from three different locations in Australia (two urban and one rural) using a diary to document sun exposure and sun protection on two consecutive weekends. More than 80% of adolescent boys in each place and more than 60% of adolescent girls in both of the large cities spent more than 2 hours outdoors during the peak ultraviolet (UV) periods on each weekend. Neither sunscreen nor hats were used for more than half the time spent in the sun; however, shirts were worn most of the time. Students who wore hats were more likely to be boys (odds ratios [OR] = 2.2, 95% confidence intervals [CI] 1.40 to 3.44) and live in the rural region (OR = 4.6, 95% CI 2.36 to 9.04). Students who used sunscreen tended to have skin that sunburned easily (OR = 3.2, 95% CI 1.27 to 7.88) and score highly on the knowledge questions (OR = 2.9, 95% CI 1.46-5.69). This model was not a good predictor of behavior on a subsequent weekend, possibly because behavior was highly variable, with 35% to 50% of students changing their pattern of protection use from one weekend to the next. Adolescents spend long periods on summer weekends in the sun and do not follow recommended sun protection guidelines. The high variability of sun-related behavior makes modeling and consequent development of education programs a difficult task.