Sun Tanning Behaviors, Health Beliefs, Attitudes and Intentions among College Students

Purpose: Even though it is well known that sun tanning can cause cancer, the behavior is practiced by a significant proportion of the US population, with about 50% of white adolescents and adults engaging in the behavior. This study assessed the sun tanning behaviors and sun tanning health beliefs, attitudes, and intentions among college students at a university in a beach resort town. Methods: Students (n=632) were recruited by email and participated in an electronic survey. All students at the university were invited to participate. Results: Females and those who had higher perceived benefits of tanning, and those who had friends who sun tanned spent more time intentionally sun tanning. Also, an association existed between having a positive attitude toward tan skin and using tanning beds (OR=2.51). Those with intentions to decrease sun tanning were more often female, had higher perceived severity of tanning, and higher selfefficacy of avoiding tanning (OR=2.30). Conclusions: Females may be a prime target population for preventive interventions since they sun tan more often, but also have higher intentions to avoid the behavior. Additionally, the results of this study seem to indicate that females’ behaviors are more predictable according to the Health Belief Model (HBM). Because of this, interventions that seek to address HBM constructs might be more effective for females compared to males.