A SURVEY OF RECREATIONAL SUN EXPOSURE OF RESIDENTS OF SAN-DIEGO, CALIFORNIA

The incidence of skin cancer in San Diego is one of the highest in the nation. Research has documented that excessive unprotected exposure t o ultraviolet (UV) radiation over rime significantly increases a perso n's risk for developing various types of skin cancer. Our study invest igated the amount of sun exposure and the practice of sun protection a mong San Diegans and examined factors thought to be associated with th ese behaviors. In April 1994,a random sample of 864 San Diego resident s was surveyed by telephone. Because most survey questions specificall y asked about sun exposure and fun protection when tanning versus recr eating, the analyses sere presented separately for recreators (i.e., t hose who spent time in the sun during the hours of 8:00 am and 6:00 pm for recreation last summer; n = 786) and tanners (i.e., those who spe nt at least 10% of their time in the sun to get a tan last summer; n = 464), a subset of recreators. Study results indicated that on average , 27% of the tanners' time in the sun last summer was spent getting a tan, and tanners reported using sunscreen about 50% of the time on bot h their Ease and body. In terms of sun protection while recreating, su rvey respondents reported using sunscreen on their face approximately 40% of the time compared to approximately 30% of the time on their bod y. Correlates of sun exposure and sun protection for both tanners and recreators included demographic characteristics, susceptibility factor s, attitudes, and knowledge. The findings from this study support the need for education on skin cancer prevention, The practical implicatio ns of these findings are discussed in terms of appropriate community s kin cancer prevention interventions.