From 2005 through 2007, CITY100 researchers collected data in 116 large U.S. cities. Data were collected using 5 procedures:

• A phone survey of over 6,000 teens (ages 14 to 17 years) and one parent of each teen to measure use of indoor tanning, characteristics of the participants, and attitudes about tanning. This took place in the 100 most populous cities. Read about the sampling and survey procedures or see the actual survey questions for the parent or teen surveys.
• A systematic count of the number of indoor tanning facilities/salons in each of the 100 largest cities. Because the most populous cities represented only 34 states plus Washington, D.C., we also counted tanning salons in the largest city in each of the remaining 16 states, for a total of 116 cities. That way, all 50 states could be represented. If you would like to know more, read about the counting procedures or read a news article that discusses the study’s findings.
• Analysis of existing state indoor tanning laws, including whether the law limited access by youth. Read about how we determined the strictness of each law or see the rating scale we developed.
• A phone interview of knowledgeable persons in each state with an indoor tanning law to evaluate the level of enforcement of the law. Read about how we determined the level of enforcement or see the interview questions.
• An evaluation of the practices of tanning salons. For example, do salons require teens to get parental consent? Do salons allow teens to tan too frequently? Read about our study procedures* or view our survey.

Using state-of-the-art statistical procedures, we then examined the associations between whether the teen had used commercial indoor tanning in the past 12 months and each of the factors mentioned above.

*Full text will be posted when available.