Adolescent women whose mothers use tanning beds are more likely to be indoor tanners themselves, according to a survey by the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD).
The AAD survey targeted white, non-Hispanic females aged 14-22, and was conducted online from late December to mid-January. After selecting out for the target population, the survey encompassed responses from some 3,800 women.
Overall, a third said they had used a tanning bed in the past year, with one-quarter going to a tanning salon at least weekly. Eighty percent had tanned outdoors.
Indoor tanners were more than twice as likely to have a family member who used a tanning bed, compared with non-tanning bed users. And, indoor tanners were four times as likely (42%) to indicate that their mothers used tanning beds, compared with those who were not indoor tanners (10%).
Parents knew their daughter was using a tanning bed, said 94% of indoor tanners.
"The survey shows how influential mothers can be on their daughters' behavior, and that is why it's critical for mothers to set a good example by not tanning," said Dr. Ellen S. Marmur, associate professor of dermatology at The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, in an AAD statement.
Peer pressure is another factor: tanning bed users were nearly twice as likely to say they felt pressure to be tan (49%), compared with non-users (28%).
Finally, although the majority said that tanning beds could cause skin cancer, a quarter to a third of younger tanners said they thought indoor tanning was safer than the sun and did not cause cancer. Younger tanners (aged 14-17) were also less likely to report they planned to stop using tanning beds.