Abstract
Despite the importance of sun protection during childhood, many parents fail to adequately protect their children from the sun. The current study assessed sun-related knowledge, stage of change, and psychosocial characteristics of parents of young children. We examined how knowledge and psychosocial characteristics differed by stage of change, and tested a model of the relationship among demographics, knowledge, psychosocial variables, and child sun protection. Surveys were completed by 391 parents of preschool-aged children. Parent knowledge about skin cancer was relatively high and did not vary by stage of change. Parents in earlier stages of change perceived more barriers to child sun protection, had more positive beliefs about children’s sun exposure, perceived their child to be less susceptible to sun damage, and had lower self-efficacy for child sun protection than did parents in later stages of change. In a path model, the strongest predictors of child sun protection were parents’ own sun protection habits, perceived barriers, and self-efficacy. Results highlight the importance of parent psychosocial characteristics in predicting child sun protection.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
American Cancer Society (2000). Facts and Figures, American Cancer Society, New York.
Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavior change. Psychol. Rev. 84: 191–215.
Bandura, A. (1986). Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive Theory, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice-Hall.
Becker, M. H. (1974). The health belief model and personal health behavior. Health Educ. Monogr. 2: 342–508.
Bennetts, K., Borland, R., and Serissen, H. (1991). Sun protection behaviour of children and their parents at the beach. Psychol. Health 5: 279–287.
Buller, D. B., and Borland, R. (1999). Skin cancer prevention for children: A critical review. Health Educ. Behav. 26: 317–343.
Buller, D. B., Callister, M. A., and Reichert, T. (1995). Skin cancer prevention by parents of young children: Health information sources, skin cancer knowledge, and sun-protection practices. Oncol. Nurs. Forum 22: 1559–1566.
Fitzpatrick, T. B. (1988). The validity and practicality of sun reactive skin types I through IV. Arch. Dermatol. 120: 869–871.
Fitzpatrick, T. B., Eisen, A. Z., Wolff, K., Freedberg, I. M., and Austen, K. F. (1993). Dermatology in General Medicine, 3rd ed., McGraw-Hill, New York.
Fowler, F. J. Jr. (2002). Survey Research Methods, 3rd ed., Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA.
Gerbing, D. W., and Anderson, J. C. (1992). Monte carlo evaluations of goodness of fit indices for structural equation modeling. Sociol. Methods Res. 21: 132–160.
Glanz, K., Geller, A. C., Shigaki, D., Maddock, J. E., and Isnec, M. R. (2002). A randomized trial of skin cancer prevention in aquatics settings: The Pool Cool program. Health Psychol. 21: 579–587.
Glanz, K., Lew, R. A., Song, V., and Cook, V. A. (1999). Factors associated with skin cancer prevention practices in a multiethnic population. Health Educ. Behav. 26: 344–359.
Green, A., Siskind, V., and Alexander, J. (1985). Sunburn and malignant melanoma. Br. J. Cancer 51: 3939–3397.
Grin, C. M., Pennoyer, J. W., Lehrich, D. A., and Grant-Kels, J. M. (1994). Sun exposure of young children while at day care. Pediatr. Dermatol. 11: 304–309.
Grob, J. J., Guglielmina, C., Gouvernet, J., Zarour, H., Noe, C., and Bonerandi, J. J. (1993). Study of sunbathing habits in children and adolescents—Application to the prevention of melanoma. Dermatology 186: 94–98.
Herrick, A. B., Stone, W. J., and Mettler, M. M. (1997). Stages of change, decisional balance, and self-efficacy across four health behaviors in a worksite environment. Am. J. Health Promotion 12(1): 49–56.
Hu, L.-T., and Bentler, P. M. (1998). Fit indices in covariance structure modeling: Sensitivity to underparameterized model misspecification. Psychol. Methods 3: 424–453.
Hu, L.-T., and Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Struct. Equation Model. 6: 1–55.
Hu, L.-T., Bentler, P. M., and Kano, Y. (1992). Can test statistics in covariance structure analysis be trusted? Psychol. Bull. 112: 351–362.
Hurwitz, S. (1988). The sun and sunscreen protection: Recommendations for children. J. Dermatol. Surg. Oncol. 14: 657–660.
King, T. K., Marcus, B. H., Pinto, B. M., and Emmons, K. M. (1996). Cognitive-behavioral mediators of changing multiple behaviors: Smoking and a sedentary lifestyle. Prevent. Med. 16: 684–691.
Kirscht, J. P. (1988). The health belief model and predictions of health actions. In Gochman, D. S. (Ed.), Health Behavior: Emerging Research Perspectives, Plenum Press, New York, pp. 27–42.
Lescano, C. M., and Rodrigue, J. R. (1997). Skin cancer prevention behaviors among parents of young children. Child. Health Care 26: 107–114.
Lew, R. A., Sober, A. J., Cook, N., Marvell, R., and Fitzpatrick, T. B. (1983). Sun exposure habits in patients with cutaneous melanoma: A case control study. J. Dermatol. Surg. Oncol. 9: 981–986.
Little, R. A., and Rubin, D. B. (2002). Statistical Analysis with Missing Data, 2nd ed., Wiley, Hoboken, NJ.
MacCallum, R. C. (1995). Procedures, strategies, and related issues. In Hoyle, R. H. (Ed.), Structural Equation Modeling: Concepts, Issues, and Applications, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp. 16–36.
Maddux, J. E., and Rogers, R. W. (1983). Protection motivation and self-efficacy: A revised theory of fear appeals and attitude change. J. Exp. Social Psychol. 19: 469–479.
Maducdoc, L. R., Wagner, R. F., and Wagner, K. D. (1992). Parents’ use of sunscreen on beach-going children: The burnt child dreads the fire. Arch. Dermatol. 128: 626–629.
Mermelstein, R. J., and Riesenberg, L. A. (1992). Changing knowledge and attitudes about skin cancer risk factors in adolescents. Health Psychol. 11: 371–376.
Nigg, C. R., Burbank, P. M., Paudla, C., Dufresne, R., Rossi, J. S., Velicer, W. F., Laforge, R. G., and Prochaska, J. O. (1999). Stages of change across ten health risk behaviors for older adults. Gerontologist 39(4): 473–482.
Preston, D. S., and Stern, R. S. (1992). Nonmelanoma cancers of the skin. New Engl. J. Med. 327: 1649–1662.
Prochaska, J. O., and DiClemente, C. C. (1983). Stages and processes of self-change of smoking: Toward an integrative model of change. J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 51: 390–395.
Prochaska, J. O., DiClemente, C. C., and Norcross, J. C. (1992). In search of how people change: Applications to addictive behavior. Am. Psychol. 47: 1102–1115.
Robinson, J. K., Rigel, D. S., and Amonette, R. A. (1998). Sun protection behaviors used by adults for their children—United States, 1997. J. Am. Med. Assoc. 280: 317–318.
Rodrigue, J. R. (1996). Promoting healthier behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs toward sun exposure in parents of young children. J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 64: 1431–1436.
Rosenstock, I. M. (1974). The health belief model and preventive health behavior. Health Educ. Monogr. 2: 354–386.
Sallis, J. F., and Nader, P. R. (1988). Family determinants of health behaviors. In Gochman, D. S. (Ed.), Health Behavior: Emerging Research Perspectives, Plenum Press, New York, pp. 23–50.
Schunk, D. H., and Carbonari, J. P. (1984). Self-efficacy models. In Matarazzo, J. D., and Weiss, S. M., et al. (Eds.), Behavioral Health: A Handbook of Health Enhancement and Disease Prevention, Wiley, New York, pp. 230–247.
Stern, R. S., Weinstein, M. C., and Baker, S. G. (1986). Risk reduction for nonmelanoma skin cancer with childhood sunscreen use. Arch. Dermatol. 122: 537–545.
Tinsley, B. J. (1992). Multiple influences on the acquisition and socialization of children’s health attitudes and behavior: An integrative review. Child Dev. 63: 1043–1069.
Turrisi, R., Hillhouse, J., Gebert, C., and Grimes, J. (1999). Examination of cognitive variables relevant to sunscreen use. J. Behav. Med. 22: 493–509.
VanOss Marin, B., Gomez, C. A., Tschann, J. M., and Gregorich, S. E. (1997). Condom use in unmarried Latino men: A test of cultural constructs. Health Psychol. 16: 458–467.
Velicer, W. F., Prochaska, J. O., DiClemente, C. C., and Brandenburg, N. (1985). Decisional balance measure for assessing and predicting smoking status. J. Personality Social Psychol. 48: 1279–1289.
Velicer, W. F., Prochaska, J. O., Fava, J. L., Rossi, J. S., Redding, C. A., Laforge, R. G., and Robbins, M. L. (2000). Using the transtheoretical model for population-based approaches to health promotion and disease prevention. Homeostasis Health Disease 40: 174–195.
Weinstock, M. A., Colditz, G. A., Willett, W. C., Stampfer, M. J., Bronstein, B. R., Mihm, M. C., and Speizer, F. E. (1989). Nonfamilial cutaneous melanoma incidence in women associated with sun exposure before 20 years of age. Pediatrics 84: 199–204.
Weinstock, M. A., Rossi, J. S., Redding, C. A., and Maddock, J. E. (2002). Randomized controlled community trial of the efficacy of a multicomponent stage-matched intervention to increase sun protection among beachgoers. Prevent. Med. 35(6): 584–592.
West, S. G., Finch, J. F., and Curran, P. J. (1995). Structural equation models with nonnormal variables: Problems and remedies. In Hoyle, R. H. (Ed.), Structural Equation Modeling: Concepts, Issues, and Applications, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp. 56–75.
Wulfert, E., and Wan, C. K. (1993). Condom use: A self-efficacy model. Health Psychol. 12: 346–353.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Turner, L.R., Mermelstein, R.J. Psychosocial Characteristics Associated with Sun Protection Practices Among Parents of Young Children. J Behav Med 28, 77–90 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-005-2565-9
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-005-2565-9