title: Children's sun exposure and sun protection: prevalence in Australia and related parental factors.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Reducing childhood exposure to ultraviolet radiation is important to minimize lifetime skin cancer risk.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We sought to describe the prevalence of children's sun-related behaviors and associated parental and other factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  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.
  
  
  RESULTS
  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.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We relied on cross-sectional parent reports.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  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.
authors: Cancer Council Victoria, Melbourne, Australia. Suzanne.Dobbinson@cancervic.org.au
authors: Suzanne
authors: S
authors: Dobbinson
authors: Melanie
authors: M
authors: Wakefield
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Hill
authors: Afaf
authors: A
authors: Girgis
authors: Joanne F
authors: JF
authors: Aitken
authors: Kerri
authors: K
authors: Beckmann
authors: Anthony I
authors: AI
authors: Reeder
authors: Natalie
authors: N
authors: Herd
authors: Matthew J
authors: MJ
authors: Spittal
authors: Andrew
authors: A
authors: Fairthorne
authors: Kelly-Ann
authors: KA
authors: Bowles
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013471:Sunburn / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013472:Sunlight