Sun exposure in Australian adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Little information is available on the sun-related behavior of teenagers despite the considerable resources spent to decrease sun exposure in this age group.
OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to describe the sun exposure behavior of Australian adolescents and define characteristics that predict use of sun protection.
METHODS: 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.
RESULTS: 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.
CONCLUSION: 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.