title: The impact of indoor tanning legislation: newspaper coverage of the risks of indoor tanning before and after the California indoor tanning ban for minors.
abstract: On June 1, 2011, the California Senate passed a bill banning minors from indoor tanning. We aimed to determine whether the bill's passage was associated with longer-term media coverage regarding skin protection and the risks associated with indoor tanning. Articles from 31 English-language California newspapers between June 2010-May 2011 (PRE) and June 2011-May 2012 (POST) were searched using terms related to skin protection. Ninety articles were found for in-depth coding and analysis. There were more skin protection articles in the POST period than in the PRE period (57 vs 33; p < .05). In addition, there were more POST articles mentioning the risks of indoor tanning (33 vs 10; p < .001), and a POST article was more likely to mention the risks (58 vs 30%; p < .05). The higher number of POST articles mentioning the risks persisted throughout all quarters. Therefore, the California indoor tanning ban was associated with increased longer-term news coverage of skin protection and the risks associated with indoor tanning. This finding has potential influence on the many states that are considering comparable legislation.
authors.affiliation: Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, USA, jem361@mail.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Jonathan E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Mayer
authors.forename: Susan M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Swetter
authors.forename: Samantha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guild
authors.forename: Alan C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Geller
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D001505:Beauty Culture / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D003357:Cosmetic Techniques / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000523:psychology; D005161:Facility Regulation and Control / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D009524:Newspapers as Topic; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012867:Skin / Q000528:radiation effects; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D055108:Sunbathing / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000523:psychology; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays / Q000009:adverse effects*