Tanning Beds: A Case Study

They gathered 311 female participants from the University of South Florida. They state that females are chosen because they use tanning beds more often than males which may increase their risk of skin cancer. The participants completed questionnaires online at two different times. Time one included data on biopsychosocial variables and intentions to UV expose, and time two collected data on UV exposure six months later. They were able to measure perceived threat-skin cancer on a 6 point Likert response format. Perceived severity is measured with three items, each having its own 6 point Likert scale. They measured risk for skin cancer based on skin type and natural skin color. The results generally support a model in which intentions are a middle ground between appearance attitudes and tanning behaviors. Reasons to tan and intentions mediate the relationship between sociocultural influenced and tanning behaviors and

Then I would use similar questions the above studies did, such as focusing on self-esteem, tanning image beliefs, friends’ usage, and sociocultural attitudes toward appearance. To measure self-esteem I would use a 5 Likert-type scale with 5 point responses as Bagdasarov et al. (2008) did, also as they created a measure for tanning image belief containing a 6 Likert-type scales with 5 point responses which I would use. For friends usage, I would have them self-report how many of their friends tan, and indicate how often if they know. I would use the sociocultural attitudes toward appearance scale which included fourteen items on a 5 point scale, as did Yoo and Kim (2011). I would also measure perceived threat-skin cancer on a 6 point Likert response format, and measure perceived severity with the three items as Cafri et al. (2009) did. Lastly, measure risk for skin cancer based on skin type and natural skin