This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

Popular parenting magazines carried few sun-protection stories, ads

Articles and advertisements in two popular parenting magazines provided little attention to sun protection in their spring and summer issues, according to recent study results.

Researchers reviewed May, June, July and August issues of Parents and Parenting published between 2000 and 2010, which correlated with the months of peak ultraviolet radiation exposure. Fully intact copies of the magazines or complete versions of microfilm were used. Articles related to skin, skin care and health were identified and grouped as: “sun protection,” beauty-related” and “other” (moles and rashes). All ads were recorded, and special notation was made for ads relating to sunless tanning products, sun block and skin products, with and without sun protection factor (SPF).

Fifty-seven (2.2%) of 2,594 articles reviewed were related to skin, and 509 (19.6%) covered health. Twenty-four of the skin-related articles focused on sun protection, including avoidance of sun during peak hours, seeking shade, wearing protective clothing and eyewear and use of sun block.

There were 6,307 advertisements reviewed, with 538 (8.5%) focusing on skin products, including 440 without SPF. Sixty-four advertisements (about 1% of total ads) were for sun block, and 30 ads were for skin products with SPF that were not sun block.

The frequency of articles related to health and skin and the scope of advertising focused on skin cancer risk reduction were similar between magazines, the investigators wrote.

“The two magazines we reviewed reportedly have approximately 24 million readers, who in turn may influence far more children,” the researchers concluded. “These findings suggest that parenting magazines and companies advertising in the medium can do much more to assist parents in making informed decisions about preventing skin cancer risk among youth.”

Disclosure: The research was funded in part by a postdoctoral fellowship from the National Cancer Institute while Corey H. Basch, EdD, MPH, was employed at Columbia University.