Developing sun protection messages that resonate with adolescents

Australia has the highest incidence of skin cancer in the world, outnumbering all other forms of cancer by more than 3 to 1. Adolescents engage in fewer sun protective strategies than adults (Dobbinson and Hill, 2004); and sun protective behaviours among Australian adolescents are worsening (Livingstone and White, 2003; Beckmann and Conor, 2004). The decline begins in pre-adolescence, troughs around 15 to 17 years, and improves with the move into young adulthood (Coogan et al., 2001; Sjoberg et al., 2004; Schofield and Freeman, 2001).