Children's sun exposure and sun protection: prevalence in Australia and related parental factors.

Abstract

Reducing childhood exposure to ultraviolet radiation is important to minimize lifetime skin cancer risk. We sought to describe the prevalence of children's sun-related behaviors and associated parental and other factors. In weekly cross-sectional telephone interviews during summer, 1140 parents/guardians of children aged 0 to 11 years were recruited. Parents provided proxy reports for one of their children. Key questions related to weekend sun protection and sunburn, parent's sun-related attitudes, and demographic characteristics. Potential predictors of children's sun protection and sunburn were analyzed adjusting for covariates including weather conditions on the previous weekend. On summer weekends, 73% of children spent longer than 15 minutes outdoors in peak ultraviolet radiation periods. Of these, 64% were protected by a hat and 58% by sun-protection factor 15 or higher sunscreen, 32% stayed under shade, and 18% wore three-quarter or long-sleeved tops. Overall, 8% of children had sunburn. Parental attitudes were typically supportive of children's sun protection. Parental use of hats (odds ratio [OR] 3.1; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.6-6.2), shade (OR 9.6; 95% CI 4.4-20.8), sunscreen (OR 12.6; 95% CI 5.2-30.4), longer leg cover (OR 10.3; 95% CI 4.4-24.0), and two or more protective behaviors (OR 5.7; 95% CI 2.8-11.9) increased the odds of their children practicing these behaviors, as did some parental attitudes. We relied on cross-sectional parent reports. Although children's sun protection was favorable, there was room for improvement. Health promotion to improve sun-protection practices in adults may benefit children's sun-safe behaviors.