Influence of Media
Media Health Literacy (MHL): development and measurement of the concept among adolescents Diane Levin-Zamir 1 ,2 , *, Dafna Lemish3 and Rosa Gofin 4 ,5
Author Affiliations
* ↵ Correspondence to: D. Levin-Zamir. E-mail: diamos@zahav.net.il Received March 13, 2010.
Accepted February 3, 2011.
Abstract
Increasing media use among adolescents and its significant influence on health behavior warrants in-depth understanding of their response to media content. This study developed the concept and tested a model of Media Health Literacy (MHL), examined its association with personal/socio-demographic determinants and reported sources of health information, while analyzing its role in promoting empowerment and health behavior (cigarette/water-pipe smoking, nutritional/dieting habits, physical/sedentary activity, safety/injury behaviors and sexual behavior). The school-based study included a representative sample of 1316 Israeli adolescents, grades 7, 9 and 11, using qualitative and quantitative instruments to develop the new measure.
The results showed that the MHL measure is highly scalable
(0.80) includes four sequenced categories: identification/ recognition, critical evaluation of health content in media, perceived influence on adolescents and intended action/ reaction. Multivariate analysis showed that MHL was significantly higher among girls (β = 1.25, P < 0.001), adolescents whose mothers had higher education (β = 0.16, P
= 0.04), who report more adult/interpersonal sources of health information (β = 0.23, P < 0.01) and was positively associated with health empowerment (β = 0.36, P < 0.0005) and health behavior (β = 0.03, P = 0.05). The findings suggest that as a determinant of adolescent health behavior, MHL identifies groups at risk and may provide a basis for health promotion among youth.
Introduction
Adolescents are spending increasingly more time with media, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) Health
Behavior of School Children (HBSC) study, conducted
Author Affiliations
* ↵ Correspondence to: D. Levin-Zamir. E-mail: diamos@zahav.net.il Received March 13, 2010.
Accepted February 3, 2011.
Abstract
Increasing media use among adolescents and its significant influence on health behavior warrants in-depth understanding of their response to media content. This study developed the concept and tested a model of Media Health Literacy (MHL), examined its association with personal/socio-demographic determinants and reported sources of health information, while analyzing its role in promoting empowerment and health behavior (cigarette/water-pipe smoking, nutritional/dieting habits, physical/sedentary activity, safety/injury behaviors and sexual behavior). The school-based study included a representative sample of 1316 Israeli adolescents, grades 7, 9 and 11, using qualitative and quantitative instruments to develop the new measure.
The results showed that the MHL measure is highly scalable
(0.80) includes four sequenced categories: identification/ recognition, critical evaluation of health content in media, perceived influence on adolescents and intended action/ reaction. Multivariate analysis showed that MHL was significantly higher among girls (β = 1.25, P < 0.001), adolescents whose mothers had higher education (β = 0.16, P
= 0.04), who report more adult/interpersonal sources of health information (β = 0.23, P < 0.01) and was positively associated with health empowerment (β = 0.36, P < 0.0005) and health behavior (β = 0.03, P = 0.05). The findings suggest that as a determinant of adolescent health behavior, MHL identifies groups at risk and may provide a basis for health promotion among youth.
Introduction
Adolescents are spending increasingly more time with media, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) Health
Behavior of School Children (HBSC) study, conducted