The Influence of Ethnicity, Gender, and Fitzpatrick Skin Type on High School Students' Ultraviolet Light Risk Awareness and Behavior

Ultraviolet light (UVL) exposure is believed to play a major role in a wide array of skin diseases that have an enormous functional, psychological, and cosmetic impact. A cross-sectional survey of 303 high school students from an ethnically diverse school district was used to evaluate the roles of ethnicity, gender, and Fitzpatrick skin type (FST) on UVL risk awareness and behavior. Although ethnicity and FST were significantly associated (P<.0001 and caucasian students with fsts i ii were more likely to experience sunburn during the summer than from other ethnic groups fst was not predictive of recall by hispanic female had less weekend sun exposure males used sunscreen but paradoxically reported sunburns ethnicity gender are all important variables for understanding addressing uvl risk awareness behavior in high school students.>