Monday, June 05, 2006

New Paper from the Journal of Bogus Sociology   posted by Matt McIntosh @ 6/05/2006 10:04:00 PM
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From the abstract:

OBJECTIVE: The goal was to determine the relationship between the parental use of sunscreen products and the skin color of children in first grade.

METHODS: Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth were analyzed. Families with complete data on parental sunscreen use and child skin color were included in the analysis. Sunscreen use was categorized into “High, Medium, Low, None” by quartiles. Skin color was a continuous variable assessed by computer analysis of skin images. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between parental use of sunscreen products and child skin color in first grade, controlling for gender, race, maternal education, income/needs ratio, marital status, parental income, and child behavioral problems.

RESULTS: A total of 2742 children, 81.3% white, were included in the analysis. Children of High sunscreen-using parents (n=1652) had an increased risk of being light-skinned, compared with children of No sunscreen-using parents (n=241, odds ratio: 45.2, CI 33.4-63.8). The same association held, to a lesser degree, between less extreme sunscreen categories. Of the covariates, only race was significant, but a substantial effect between parental sunscreen use and child skin color remained.

CONCLUSIONS. Among the 4 sunscreen use categories, High sunscreen use was associated with the highest risk of being light-skinned among young children. Understanding the mechanisms through which parental use of sunscreen are associated with skin-color risk may lead to the development of more comprehensive and better-targeted interventions.


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