Social Influences on Indoor Tanning Behavior in Young Women

描述（由申请人提供）：黑色素瘤是最致命的皮肤癌，发病率和死亡率迅速上升，目前是美国第六大常见癌症。美国癌症协会估计，2010年美国有68，000例确诊病例，8，700人死于黑色素瘤，平均每小时有8例确诊和1例死亡。流行病学研究表明，使用人工紫外线室内日光浴床与黑色素瘤风险之间存在联系，国际癌症研究机构最近将室内日光浴床列为对人类致癌的物质。尽管人们普遍意识到使用室内晒黑会增加患皮肤癌的风险，但这种行为在年轻成年女性中仍然很流行。研究发现，去年室内晒黑的流行率高达抽样年轻女性的一半。尽管众所周知，年轻女性经常进行室内晒黑以改善她们的外表，但社会文化对室内晒黑的影响，例如媒体和室内晒黑行业的影响，却相对没有得到充分研究。具体来说，我们将使用身体客观化理论的结构来确定年轻女性对媒体中女性对晒黑和IT使用的描绘的看法（即，电影，广告）影响他们对自己身体外观的感觉，最终影响他们的IT行为。目前的提案采用混合方法。该提案的第一个目的是通过与室内晒黑用户进行一系列焦点小组讨论，确立身体客观化理论对室内晒黑的重要性。第二个目标是使用调查研究，以经验评估的理论模型，室内晒黑的行为，结合结构确定为重要的第一个目标。更好地了解室内晒黑行为对于开发 新的干预措施旨在减少室内晒黑行为，并实现减少未来皮肤癌发病率的公共卫生目标。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer, has a rapidly rising incidence and mortality rate and is now the sixth most common cancer in the United States. The American Cancer Society estimates that 68,000 cases were diagnosed and 8,700 individuals died from melanoma in the U.S. in 2010, an average of 8 diagnoses and 1 death every hour. Epidemiological research has shown a link between use of artificial ultraviolet indoor tanning beds and risk of melanoma and the International Research Agency for Cancer recently classified indoor tanning beds as carcinogenic to humans. Despite being generally aware of the increased risk of skin cancer associated with the use of indoor tanning, the behavior remains popular among young adult women. Studies have found prevalence rates of past year indoor tanning use to be as high as half of young women sampled. Although it is well established that young women often engage in indoor tanning to enhance their physical appearance, sociocultural influences on indoor tanning, such as media and indoor tanning industry influences, have been relatively understudied. Specifically, we will use constructs from Body Objectification Theory to determine if young women's perceptions of the portrayal of tanning and IT use by women in the media (i.e., movies, advertising) influence how they feel about their bodily appearance and ultimately their IT behaviors. The current proposal utilizes a mixed methods approach. The first aim of the proposal is to establish the importance of Body Objectification Theory constructs on indoor tanning by conducting a series of focus groups with indoor tanning users. The second aim is to use survey research to empirically evaluate a theoretical model of indoor tanning behavior that incorporates constructs identified as important in the first aim. A better understanding of indoor tanning behavior is critical for the development of novel interventions designed to reduce indoor tanning behaviors and achieve a public health goal of reducing incidence of future skin cancers.