Skin cancer attitudes: a cross-national comparison.
Br J Soc Psychol
; 34 ( Pt 1): 23-30, 1995 Mar.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-7735730
ABSTRACT
A questionnaire concerning attitudes towards skin cancer, sun exposure and general environmental issues was administered to 132 holiday-makers on a beach in south-west England and (in translation) to 142 visitors to another beach in north-west Italy. Following the Janis & Mann (1977) classification of strategies for coping with decision conflicts, subscales were derived measuring tendencies to 'avoid' thinking about environmental issues, to 'bolster' prior attitudes (by playing down the seriousness of the risk of skin cancer while attending to the pleasures of sunbathing), and to be 'vigilant' concerning risk information and the need for specific protective behaviour (e.g. sunscreen use). The British scored higher than the Italians, and women higher than men, on vigilance, but there were no gender or nationality differences on the other subscales considered as a whole. Responses were also related to the covariates of age and self-reported vulnerability to sunburn. Those who showed less concern with environmental issues also tended to play down the risks of skin cancer and be less vigilant with regard to self-protection. It is suggested that health promotion should address both cultural norms concerning exposure to the sun and people's intuitive notions about their relative personal vulnerability.
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Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Skin Neoplasms
/
Sunlight
/
Attitude to Health
/
Cross-Cultural Comparison
/
Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced
Type of study:
Etiology_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Qualitative_research
Aspects:
Determinantes_sociais_saude
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
En
Journal:
Br J Soc Psychol
Year:
1995
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Reino Unido