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Frequent Tanning Bed Use, Weight Concerns, and Other Health Risk Behaviors in Adolescent Females (United States)

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Abstract

Objective

To examine the association between tanning bed use and weight concerns, health risk behaviors, and peer influence.

Methods

The Growing Up Today Study (GUTS) is an ongoing prospective cohort study of adolescents established in 1996. In 1999, a total of 6,373 adolescent females ages 12–18 (offspring of participants in the Nurses Health Study 2) completed the survey.

Results

Almost nine percent (8.6%) of the adolescent girls had used a tanning bed 1–9 times and an additional 5.4% had used tanning beds at least 10 times in the past year (frequent users). Logistic regression models revealed that frequent tanning bed use was associated with being highly concerned about weight (OR = 1.5, 95%CI = 1.1, 2.0), frequently dieting to lose weight (OR = 1.5, 95%CI = 1.1, 2.0), using laxatives or vomiting to control weight (OR = 3.6; 95%CI = 2.2–5.8), having friends who placed a lot of importance on being thin (OR = 2.6; 95%CI = 1.3–5.1), smoking cigarettes (OR=1.7, 95%CI = 1.1, 2.6), binge drinking (OR = 2.1, 95%CI = 1.3, 3.1), using recreational drugs (OR = 3.0; 95%CI = 2.4, 3.8), and trying to look like females in the media (sometimes/pretty much: OR = 1.3, 95%CI = 1.0, 1.8).

Conclusion

Frequent tanning bed use among adolescent females is associated with a range of health risk behaviors. This effect may be mediated by peer influence and a desire to look like other females in the media. Multi-pronged approaches, particularly those that target attitudes of young females, are needed to combat increased use of tanning beds.

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Acknowledgment

Funding for this project was provided by the American Skin Association.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Prevention and Control Program, Cancer Research Center of Hawai’i, Honolulu, HI, USA

    David L. O’Riordan

  2. Department of Dermatology, Boston University School of Medicine, 720 Harrison Avenue, DOB 801A, Boston, MA, 02118, USA

    David L. O’Riordan & Alan C. Geller

  3. Division of Adolescent Medicine, Department of Medicine and Department of Psychiatry, Children’s Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Alison E. Field

  4. The Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Alison E. Field, Gideon Aweh, Graham A. Colditz & A. Lindsay Frazier

  5. Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Alan C. Geller & Daniel R. Brooks

  6. The Department of Pediatric Oncology, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    A. Lindsay Frazier

Authors
  1. David L. O’Riordan
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  2. Alison E. Field
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  3. Alan C. Geller
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  4. Daniel R. Brooks
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  5. Gideon Aweh
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  6. Graham A. Colditz
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  7. A. Lindsay Frazier
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alan C. Geller.

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O’Riordan, D.L., Field, A.E., Geller, A.C. et al. Frequent Tanning Bed Use, Weight Concerns, and Other Health Risk Behaviors in Adolescent Females (United States). Cancer Causes Control 17, 679–686 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-005-0453-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-005-0453-9

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