http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/36649379#36649379
Whenver we think about college students and their addictive behaviors, what comes to mind is alcohol and drugs. Reeve (2009) states that addictive drugs, such as psychostimulants, are especially potent reinforcers because their repeated usage produces hypersensitivity to dopamine stimulation. This is what is being compared to the feeling people get after tanning. The behavioral approach system is related to the reward responsiveness feeling, which these tanners feel when they are just getting out of the booth.
Now, studies have shown an addictive behavior to tanning, especially around the season of prom, graduation, and spring break. Doctors have said that some people just have addictive behaviors and people who are addicted to tanning, are usually addicted to other things such as alcohol and drugs. In one study done on Northeast college students one third of them are shown to have a tanning addiction. People feel better after they just got done tanning and that they have some sort of anxiety which they think tanning eliviates.
Although people know that it causes skin cancer, college students feel that they can't get skin cancer that young. Experts think that tanning booths need to start screening tanners for an addictive behavior.
http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/11-9-2005-80961.asp
This article is about Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). It is a common disorder during winter when we're less active, and patients commonly complain of depression-like symptoms such as a lack of energy stemming from an unknown source. The article explains that a lack of light increases melatonin which causes us to be drowsy. However, melatonin also inhibits serotonin production.However, by increasing one's exposure to light, you could decrease melatonin and increase the serotonin - thus relieving the results of SAD.
To relate this back to your article, the shift in these levels of hormones can be why people are so addicted to tanning. Our body is chemically rewarding us for the behavior, and it's not illegal. While ethically I think the tanning booth should try to limit individual's tanning time to a standard level, saying this is a lot easier than doing it.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/8670/tanning_addictions_are_you_a_tanorexic.html
I found this article which I felt was extremely relevant to your post—it goes over how and why some people are addicted to tanning. This article goes over a study that was done—two tanning beds were used with the participants and only one had ultraviolet radiation. The other did not. When the 6 week study was over, they asked the participants to choose which bed they would like, and 95% chose the one with ultra violet radiation. They said the light made them feel more relaxed and less tense. Also—it was noted that in other studies it was shown that exposure to UV leads to release in endorphins.
According to Reeve (2009) p 63 endorphins are inhibitors of pain, anxiety, and fear by genereating good feelings to counter these negative feelings. Of course if this is true of tanning beds, people could become addicted to them. I myself do not tan (at least not anymore)—When I did, I found it extremely soothing and I remember doing it when I was stressed for a year or so in HS. I became smarter than that though, and now only use selfless tanning products, but I can see where these tan addicts are coming from!