Effects of appearance-based
intervention on sun protection intentions and self-reported behaviors
Heike I. M. Mahler, James A.
Kulik, Frederick X. Gibbons, Meg Gerrard, Jody Harrell
(2003) Health Psychology,
22(2), 199-209.
Two appearance-based interventions
designed to increase sun protection intentions and behaviors were
evaluated. Sixty-eight college students
in Experiment 1 and 76 beachgoers in Experiment 2 were randomly assigned to
receive or not receive a photoaging (premature wrinkling and age spots)
information intervention and, separately, to receive or not receive a novel
ultraviolet (UV) photo intervention that makes the negative-appearance
consequences of UV exposure more salient.
Both experiments indicated that the UV photo intervention significantly
increased intentions to use sunscreen in the future. A follow-up conducted with the beach sample
indicated that UV photo information also produced greater protective behaviors
for incidental sun exposure and that the combination of UV photo and photoaging
information resulted in substantially lower reported sunbathing.