NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Teenagers felt more compelled to
apply sunscreen if they saw in a video that it could protect
their skin from premature aging than if they saw that it could
protect against cancer, a new study shows.
"Vanity is more of a driving force to use sunscreen, as
opposed to the fear factor of developing skin cancer," the
study's lead author, William Tuong, told Reuters Health. Tuong
is a fourth-year medical student at the University of
In his study, high school students applied sunblock three
times as often if they watched a video showing how it could
prevent their skin from wrinkling than if they watched a video
showing how sun exposure causes melanoma.
Fifty Sacramento 11th-grade students participated in the
study and saw one of two educational videos urging them to
lather on sunscreen.
Tuong developed the five-minute videos to test the theory
that teenagers were more likely to respond to messages about
appearance than to messages about health.
A young, attractive woman speaks directly to youth in both
In one, the actress emphasizes the growing incidence of
melanoma in young people and the link between the deadliest form
of skin cancer and ultraviolet light. In the other video, the
same actress discusses how ultraviolet light contributes to
premature aging and "can make you look older and less
"We are not trying to look like our grandparents, right?"
the actress says. "Have you seen what the sun can do to a grape?
It gets shriveled and wrinkled. Raisins are not cute," she says.
"I don't want to look like a raisin face, and I don't think
you want to either," she continues. "The sun causes wrinkles,
dark spots, uneven skin tones, sagging skin and rough, leathery
skin. These are all the things that will make you look older and
definitely less sexy."
The video teaching the kids to use sunscreen to prevent skin
cancer sounds more clinical, like a biology lecture.
The researchers assessed how often students applied
sunscreen before watching the videos and six weeks after.
Students who saw the appearance-based video went from using
sunscreen an average of 0.6 times a week to 2.8 times a week.
Those who saw the video stressing health benefits, however,
increased their average usage by only a fraction of a day - from
0.7 to 0.9 times a week, according to findings published in the
Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.
The researchers also tested students' knowledge about proper
sunscreen use and the effects of exposing their skin to the sun
before and after they showed the video. After watching the
videos, students in both groups improved their knowledge about
the benefits of using sunscreen.
The study provides evidence that appearance-based messages
may be better than traditional health-based messages in
promoting sun-protection measures, the authors say.
Prior research has shown that efforts to educate kids about
sun exposure and skin-cancer risk have improved knowledge but
failed to improve sunscreen usage.
"Past research shows that adolescents have difficulty
practicing preventive health behavior because they believe
themselves less likely to experience disease," the authors of
the current study write.
One prior study did find that college students significantly
increased their sunscreen use after seeing ultraviolet-filtered
photographs of their faces.
Tuong said videos are substantially less expensive to
produce and easier to distribute than ultraviolet-filtered
"Video definitely could be used in a clinic setting, in the
waiting room or in an office while a student is waiting," he
"With younger individuals, messages that resonate with them
are messages that speak to them now," Tuong said.
"Appearance-based messaging resonates with them because it's
more about short-term risk versus long-term risk."
The health-based video can be seen here: http://bit.ly/1oc0hMp
and the appearance-based video here: http://bit.ly/1dCLiCh.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1eUJpWl Journal of the American
Academy of Dermatology, online February 5, 2014.