Indoor Tanning: Gateway to Substance Abuse?

By now, you’ve likely seen the latest anti-tanning campaign to hit the media: Tanning is an addictive behavior linked to substance abuse and anxiety. If you haven’t looked closely at the parameters of the 2006 dermatology study behind this press, prepare to be flabbergasted.

First off, the study was done on a group of college undergrads, aged 18-25, at a campus of approximately 18,000 students in the Northeast. I could pretty much stop there, since a good number of young adults in that age bracket and venue experiment with alcohol and drugs, let alone learning to navigate (some better than others), the natural anxiety that accompanies that stage of life.

But I’ll go on. Of the 421 poll participants, about half had used a tanning bed. Of that group of kids, 70 met the criteria of the CAGE (Cut down, Annoyed, Guilty, Eye-opener) Questionnaire, which is used to screen for alcoholism, but was modified toward tanning addiction. Ninety of the students met the modified criteria for tanning addiction based on the substance-related disorder component of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fourth Edition, Text Revision) (DSM-IV-TR).

This cross-section of young adults also allegedly disclosed more drug and alcohol use, as well as anxiety symptoms, than the 200 or so students who were not tanners.

How can that data – from a handful of kids at one school, conducted on a population already prone to the metrics being analyzed, and based on two surveys that were not designed to assess tanning addiction – make front-page headlines alleging any connection between tanning and substance abuse? I’ll bet high numbers of the study participants would also report enjoying excessive amounts of chocolate, fried foods, cigarettes, soda, sexual activity and cutting class.

And get this, the study’s facilitators also made another startling discovery: “Repeated exposure to UV light” can bring about some of the same pleasurable results reported by those who use drugs and alcohol. These include a better disposition, more social interaction and relaxation! I’ve met plenty of substance abusers and let me tell you, I’d rather experience the positive byproducts of my tanning friends than those who were using.

I suppose the good news for the industry is that the study affirms you can get positive results from safe and moderate exposure to UV light – without having to abuse substances, some illegal, to reap the same benefits.

If your customers ask you about this research, give them the real story behind it. This was a biased, flawed study on a minuscule test group. The only real conclusion that can be drawn is that there are no limits to how low the anti-tanning community – and the media – will stoop.

–Karen

Source:

Archives of Dermatology: Addiction to Indoor Tanning