Background/objectives: Skin cancer incidence has been increasing in U.S. Hispanics over several decades and the postdiagnosis outcomes are worse for Hispanics than for non-Hispanic whites. Parents are influential in children's health preventive behaviors, but little is known about parental factors associated with children's skin cancer-related behaviors in the U.S. Hispanic population. The present study examined parental and child correlates of skin cancer-related behaviors (sunburns, sunbathing, sun-protective clothing use, and sunscreen use) of children of Hispanic parents.
Methods: This survey study included a population-based sample of 360 U.S. Hispanic parents (44.8% male) who had a child 14 years of age or younger. Measures included parental reports of parent and child demographic characteristics, parent skin cancer knowledge and linguistic acculturation, and parent and child skin cancer-related behaviors.
Results: Approximately 28% of children and 31.9% of parents experienced at least one sunburn in the past year and approximately 29% of children and 36.7% of parents were reported to sunbathe. Moderate use of sun-protective clothing and sunscreen was reported for parents and their children. Child sun-protective clothing use and sunscreen use, sunburns, and sunbathing were associated with the corresponding behaviors of their parents.
Conclusions: Future research should consider the role of acculturation and perceived risk in the sun protection behaviors of U.S. Hispanic children, particularly in those who report a fair skin type. Hispanic parents should be included in interventions targeting their children's skin cancer-related behaviors, and it is suggested that such interventions could also encourage parents to improve their own behaviors.
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