Concurrent Psychosocial Predictors of Sun Safety among Middle School Youth

Autor/inn/en	Andreeva, Valentina A.; Reynolds, Kim D.; Buller, David B.; Chou, Chih-Ping; Yaroch, Amy L.
Titel	Concurrent Psychosocial Predictors of Sun Safety among Middle School Youth
Quelle	In: Journal of School Health, 78 (2008) 7, S.374-381 (8 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0022-4391
DOI	10.1111/j.1746-1561.2008.00317.x
Schlagwörter	Ethnicity; Cancer; At Risk Persons; Health Behavior; Gender Differences; Racial Differences; Questionnaires; Hypothesis Testing; Barriers; Life Style; Psychological Patterns; Social Influences; Middle School Students; Predictor Variables; Social Attitudes; Peer Influence; Arizona; Colorado; New Mexico + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ethnizität; Carcinoma; Karzinom; Krebs (med); Krebserkrankung; Risikogruppe; Health behaviour; Gesundheitsverhalten; Geschlechterkonflikt; Rassenunterschied; Fragebogen; Hypothesenprüfung; Hypothesentest; Lebensstil; Sozialer Einfluss; Middle school; Middle schools; Student; Students; Mittelschule; Mittelstufenschule; Schüler; Schülerin; Prädiktor; Social attidude; Soziale Einstellung
Abstract	Background: Sun-induced skin damage, which increases skin cancer risk, is initiated in early life and promoted through later sun exposure patterns. If sun safety determinants are well understood and addressed during the school years, skin cancer incidence might be reduced. This study tested psychosocial influences on youth's sun safety and assessed their strength within and across gender and ethnicity in a sample of 1782 middle school students. Methods: Predictors included sunburn and skin cancer knowledge, tanning attitudes, peer norms, and barriers regarding sun exposure and were assessed with a self-administered, validated questionnaire. The hypothesized relationships were tested with structural equation models and confirmed with multilevel regression. Results: Across gender and ethnicity, knowledge emerged as an important sun safety predictor with both direct and indirect effects mediated through tanning attitudes. The relationship with barriers did not reach statistical significance within any of the subgroups, possibly due to measurement limitations. An indirect effect of peer norms on sun safety, mediated through tanning attitudes, was confirmed only among girls. Also, an indication that peer norms operate differently within the ethnic groups was found, since this predictor had a statistically significantly stronger relationship with sun safety among non-Hispanics. Conclusions: Youth's sun safety is a multifactorial practice, partially determined by ethnicity- and gender-based standards. In order to ensure health-promoting school environments, needed are multicomponent programs where peer norms and knowledge are salient and where sun safety is addressed individually and together with other health risk behaviors. (Contains 4 figures and 2 tables.) (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10