Parental Support for Age-based Indoor Tanning Restrictions

Abstract

Introduction Regulatory agencies, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, are considering policies to ban indoor tanning for youth aged <18 years. Using data from a nationally representative sample, this study assessed parental support for age-based bans as well as less restrictive parental permission requirements. Methods Data came from an online survey completed by 1,244 parents of adolescents aged 11–17 years. Weighted multivariable logistic regression models assessed correlates of supporting an indoor tanning ban for youth aged <18 years. Data collection and analysis occurred in 2016. Results Almost two thirds (65%) of parents agreed with indoor tanning bans for youth, with smaller proportions having no opinion (23%) or disagreeing (12%). Support for bans increased with greater perceived harms of indoor tanning for adolescents (OR=2.66, 95% CI=1.97, 3.59) and decreased with greater perceived benefits (OR=0.49, 95% CI=0.36, 0.67). Compared with support for bans, support for parental permission requirements was somewhat higher, with 79% of parents agreeing with the policy. Most parents (60%) agreed with both policies; only 4% disagreed with both. Conclusions Age-based indoor tanning restrictions, including bans, engender broad-based support among parents. Communicating the harms of indoor tanning may facilitate the implementation of these policies.

Exploring variation in parental worries about HPV vaccination: a latent-class analysis

“…Data for our study came from the Adolescent Cancer Prevention Communication Survey, which was a national survey of parents of adolescents ages 11-17; the survey included items for the present study, as well as items for a series of other studies related to HPV vaccination and skin cancer prevention. [29][30][31] Participants were members of GfK's KnowledgePanel, a probability-based, online panel designed to be representative of adults living in US households. 32 This standing online panel is constructed via random digit dialing and probabilistic, address-based sampling to cover households with and without landline telephones.…”

“…33 Additional details about the overall survey have been reported previously. [29][30][31] In this study, eligible respondents were parents who reported never having talked to their child's healthcare provider about HPV vaccination. We focused on these parents to understand the perspectives that providers are most likely to encounter when they first broach the topic of HPV vaccination.…”