Why am I still surprised by this stuff?

A study published this week in the Journal of Cutaneous Medicine and Surgery found that people who know they have a higher risk of skin cancer (history of melanoma in family, burn easily, etc.) typically make no more effort to protect themselves than those who don't know about their risk factor. They even use a lower SPF protection sun block than others. And finally, the study found that this group usually waits until after they are diagnosed to protect themselves from the sun.

From Science Daily:

"It seems we are all teenagers inside, and believe we are invincible to the cumulative dangers of these activities."

"Malignant melanoma is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide," says Dr. Wang. "Prevention is the key to reducing deaths, as such it is vital that we continually assess and improve our education and awareness campaigns."
(Dr. Beatrice Wang a dermatologist at the McGill University Health Centre and assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at McGill)

Those considered high-risk exhibited similar sunbathing patterns, use of indoor tanning beds and frequency of sunscreen and protective clothing use. Incredibly, the high-risk group even used, on average, a lower factor sunscreen (11 SPF for the high-risk group, compared to 18 SPF overall).