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Updated: Mar 7, 2026

Validation of a Psychosocial Intervention on Body Image in Older People: An Experimental Design
Published on: May 31, 2021
Friendly tanning: young adults' engagement with friends around indoor tanning
Vivian M Rodríguez1, Casey L Daniel2, Brooke Foucault Welles3
1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 641 Lexington Ave. 7th Floor, New York, NY, 10022, USA. vmrodrigu@gmail.com.
Abstract:
Indoor tanning (IT), particularly during early adulthood, increases risk for melanoma and is exceedingly common among youth. Social influence, including social norms, promotes IT but little is known about young adults' engagement with friends around tanning. We examined IT behaviors and tanning-related communication with friends at three universities. Of 837 participants, 261 (31%) reported ever tanning (90% female, 85% White). Of those, 113 (43%) were former tanners and 148 (57%) current tanners. Current tanners reported more social tanning and discussions with friends about tanning, more frequent outdoor tanning, high propensity to tan, and greater lifetime IT exposure than former tanners. Risks-to-benefits discussion ratios were greater for former tanners. In adjusted analyses, current tanners were more likely to make plans to tan and to talk about tanning benefits with friends. Findings confirm IT is a social experience. Future work should examine social tanning's role in the promotion and reduction of IT among youth.
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