A new study has identified a trend among young Asian Australians of engaging in risky sun-tanning behaviour.
Of the 140 people aged 18 to 26 who took part in a University of Adelaide study, nearly half the women and a third of men admitted to deliberately tanning.
Researcher Dr Ashley Day said sun safety campaigns needed to be improved.![http://audiomedia-sbs.akamaized.net/world-news_150302_395522.mp3 image]()
"A lot of the sun protection messages are targeted at a Caucasian audience," she told SBS.
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"Some of the sample actually said we believe that having Asian skin protects us from skin cancer, which is pretty concerning because that's just not true.
"The risk is lower, the incidence is lower but what we do know is that people of Asian heritage who do get skin cancer tend to be diagnosed at a later point and then the prognosis is worse."![http://audiomedia-sbs.akamaized.net/world-news_150120_386922.mp3 image]()
Yi-Lynn Tey said despite her high school promoting sun safety, she did actively pursue time in the sun.
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"I have a desire to get a suntan because I feel like being tanned is more desirable in teenage culture and I don’t want to feel left out," she told SBS.
"What we do know is that people of Asian heritage who do get skin cancer tend to be diagnosed at a later point and then the prognosis is worse."
"Personally I do think that having tanned skin looks better."
It's a marked shift from the attitudes of older generations of Asians, like Yi-Lynn's mum Tessa, who strived for a pale complexion.
"I actually use whitening products to make my pigmentation lighter," she said. "I prefer paler skin, fairer skin. Maybe as a Chinese person, we are brought up to think that a fair skinned lady looks prettier, and personally I feel that with fairer skin we look younger as well."
Yi-Lynn said since taking part in the university study, she was trying to be a little more careful with her sun habits.
"Mum constantly reminds me that if I don’t put enough sunscreen on I will have a higher chance of getting skin cancer – or bad skin – but I don’t tend to listen," she said. "But I've been putting on some sunscreen on my face as part of my makeup routine and I do try to take more precaution now."
Australia has one of the highest incidents of skin cancer in the world and current statistics show about two in three Australians will develop skin cancer before the age of 70.
"Mum constantly reminds me that if I don’t put enough sunscreen on I will have a higher chance of getting skin cancer – or bad skin – but I don’t tend to listen."
According to the Cancer Council’s Joanne Rayner, more than 750,000 skins cancers are treated in Australia each year, and about 2000 people lose their lives.
“Any tanning or any sunburn of any type of skin significantly increases that risk of skin cancer developing," she said.
"I think research like this that gives us more information about what people are doing, their sun protective behaviours – whether from different age groups or different cultural groups certainly helps us to develop better messaging around skin protection."
