'Tanorexia': College students' latest addiction!

Washington, Sept 3 : More than 25 percent students of a large university are addicted to tanning, a new study has found.

All the students having symptoms of tanning dependence also suffer symptoms similar to alcohol and drug-addicted individuals.

The study by researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center also found those with a tanning dependence tend to be more likely to be thin and smoke cigarettes than others.

For the study, the researchers set out to understand what proportion of college students report problems with tanning dependence and whether there are shared behaviours among those considered to be tanning dependent and those with other forms of addiction.

"Adolescents and young adults tend to put themselves at risk for later skin cancer by exposing themselves to high levels of ultraviolet radiation, so by understanding some possible reasons why, we hope to develop innovative interventions to help prevent these risky behaviors," explainedCarolyn Heckman, Ph.D., an associate member at Fox Chase Cancer Center.

They recruited 400 students and other volunteers at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia during the spring semester of 2006. Participants took part in an online survey utilizing items adapted from questionnaires used to measure traditional substance abuse and dependence.

The measures assess tolerance to tanning (the need to tan increasingly frequently), withdrawal from tanning (discomfort when not having tanned recently), and difficulty controlling the behaviour despite awareness of its negative impact such as freckles, wrinkles, pre-cancerous lesions, etc.

The survey included questions such as "Do you think you need to spend more and more time in the sun to maintain your perfect tan?", "Do you continue tanning so your tan will not fade?" and "Does this [your belief that tanning can cause skin cancer] keep you from spending time in the sun or going to tanning beds?"

Participants were queried about their level of intentional and incidental sun exposure, tanning booth use, and chemical sunless tanner use. The survey also asked about health-related behaviors such as body mass index, smoking, and exercise.

"The media and lay public may know tanning dependence as 'tanorexia,' alluding to similarities to both substance addictions and body image disorders like anorexia. There is some evidence that UV tanning dependence may have biological underpinnings like other addictions such as the production of endorphins as in the 'runner's high," said Heckman.

Heckman added: "We were surprised to find that 27 percent of those we surveyed were classified as tanning dependent. The finding that almost 40 percent of those surveyed had used tanning booths and that the mean age when tanning booths were first used was 17 is also alarming."

It was revealed that sun tanning was more closely related to tanning dependence than indoor tanning, though use of indoor tanning during warm weather also signalled tanning dependence.

Finally, the researchers said that those addicted to tanning were more likely to be thin and smoke cigarettes than others, suggesting meaningful avenues for further research into possible links among risky behaviours.

"Our ultimate goal is to find out more about the motivations for tanning so that we can develop interventions that would reduce tanning and hopefully skin cancer," concluded Heckman.

The study is published in the September/October issue of the American Journal of Health Behaviour.

ANI