Sun protection and exposure behaviors among Hispanic adults in the United States: differences according to acculturation and among Hispanic subgroups

Table 1 Frequencies of study variables

	Sample %
Nativity/length of time in the U.S.
Born in U.S.	46.0
< 10 years in U.S.	11.3
10–14 years in U.S.	8.8
≥ 15 years in U.S.	33.9
Language used when speaking
Mostly/only Spanish	35.5
Spanish/English equally	23.9
Mostly/only English	40.6
Hispanic origin
Mexico	62.7
Central/South America	15.3
Puerto Rico	10.9
Cuba	4.3
Other	6.8
Region of U.S. residence
Northeast	11.6
Midwest	7.2
South	31.8
West	49.4
Female gender	54.3
Age (years)
18-29	28.9
30-39	24.5
40-49	21.9
50-64	17.2
≥ 65	7.4
Education level
≤ Some high school	30.9
High school graduate	26.3
Some college	27.4
College graduate	15.5
Health insurance
Private	45.6
Public	19.7
None	34.8
Family history of skin cancer	1.8
Skin reaction after 1 hour in the sun
Mild sunburn	49.7
Moderate sunburn	40.2
Severe sunburn	10.1
Risk for occupational sun exposure
Low	88.0
High	12.0
Use of sunscreen
Never	36.7
Rarely	10.4
Sometimes	20.6
Most of the time	14.2
Always	18.1
Stay in the shade
Never	6.3
Rarely	10.5
Sometimes	29.6
Most of the time	32.3
Always	21.4
Use of sun protective clothing^a
Never	24.1
Rarely	36.2
Sometimes	21.7
Most of the time	14.6
Always	3.5
Sunburn in the past year	43.1

Note. N = 1676 Hispanic adults drawn from the 2010 National Health Interview Survey. All percentages are weighted. Data Source: National Center for Health Statistics, 2010 National Health Interview Survey [23]. ^aFor ease of presentation, participants’ scores were rounded to the nearest whole number (from 1 = never to 5 = always).

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