Dafna Lemish

Media Health Literacy (MHL): development and measurement of the concept among adolescents

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.

Between Three Worlds: Host, Homeland, and Global Media in the Lives of Russian Immigrant Families in Israel and Germany

This study investigated various roles played by host, homeland, and global media in the lives of immigrant families from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS, former USSR) to Israel and Germany, as well as the place of different media in family conflicts, consolidation, and parenting strategies. The study was based on focus group interviews with 60 families of Russian-speaking immigrants in Israel and Germany and 73 semistructured, in-depth interviews with immigrant youngsters. The findings of this study demonstrate that the mass media fulfill diverse roles for immigrant families, assisting them face two main relocation challenges: integration “inward” (i.e., cultural transmission and family consolidation) and “outward” integration into their new surroundings.

“Can't Have it All”: Representations of Older Women in Popular Culture

Representations of older women in the media are defined by the double marginalization of age and gender. The analysis presented here illustrates four major stages in the development of such images: invisibility of older women, stereotypization, ghettoization, and integration. All of these forms continue to circulate simultaneously in popular media at the current time. The feminist critique of these representations suggests that they might be playing a significant role in how women interpret and experience aging. Thus, the authors argue that the complex dialogue between media representations of older women and the lived realities of these women may have meaningful implications for feminist therapy.

‘Can't talk about sex’: producers of children's television around the world speak out

As part of a larger study, this article discusses the views of 135 producers from 65 countries around the world regarding the presentation of sex on quality television for children. The article suggests that overall this topic is silenced because it is perceived as either inappropriate or culturally impossible to deal with in the context of a young audience. And thus, with the exception of some Nordic examples, quality television for children does not offer a healthy alternative to the fare available on commercial television.

Britney Spears Remained in Russia: Dynamics of Musical Preferences in the Integration of Immigrant Adolescents

This study examined the roles of popular music in the lives of immigrant adolescents from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS—former Soviet Union) in Israel. Based on 70 in-depth interviews with newly arrived adolescents aged 12–18, our research revealed that these adolescents musical preferences matched different stages of adaptation to their new country, with different music styles fulfilling different integration needs. During their first two years in Israel, interviewees enthusiastically explored local musical fare. This stage was also characterised by positive attitudes towards their new home and their anticipated integration. In dramatic contrast, the next three to five years were characterised by disappointment with the local culture, accompanied by growing social alienation. Many adolescents found consolation in late-1980s Russian rock music, as texts critical of the Soviet regime helped them express anger and frustration felt as they came of age in new, difficult and often hostile surroundings. It seems, therefore, that, for immigrant adolescents, different types of popular music not only serve as a marker of their evolving cultural identity but also as indicators of social and psychological adaptation.

Inhabiting two worlds The role of news in the lives of Jewish and Arab children and youth in Israel

This study investigated the role of the news media in the lives of Jewish and Arab children in Israel. A survey of 1657 children (ages 8–18), including analysis of open-ended questions, reveals that Jewish and Arab children in Israel live in two different worlds of news. They are exposed to different sources, stories, and interpretations; they take different messages from the news; and they hold to some degree different attitudes toward their roles in their lives. The news also seem to be more heavily integrated in the lives of the Jewish majority young people than it is in the lives of the Arab ones who treat it as more important to adults. If anything, it seems that the consumption of news serves mostly to contribute to separatism and further alienation of the minority Arab young people group from Israeli society.

“One Meets Through Clothing”: The Role of Fashion in the Identity Formation of Former Soviet Union Immigrant Youth in Israel

The study described in this chapter examines the role of fashion in the lives of immigrant children and adolescents from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) in Israel. It is part of a more extensive, ongoing research project concerned with the role of media in the lives of immigrant children and youth, as they explore their new environment and also look back at the life they have left behind (Elias and Lemish, 2008a; 2008b, 2008c). While fashion was not an original focus of this study, it emerged in the interviews as a site where immigrants are constructing hybrid identities, as well as re-affirming old ones, in the realms of gender, adolescence, Russianness and Israeliness. Accordingly, the aim of this chapter is to present a grounded analysis of these aspects of the interviews and to highlight the unique roles that fashion preferences serve as a facilitator of young immigrants’ search for collective and individual identities, as well as for communicative means of expressing them.

Women in Israeli journalism: forwards and backwards

Abstract This article presents findings from investigations of acclaimed gender employment changes in Israeli journalism, focusing on two main questions: Is the feminisation process of Israeli journalism continuing? Is it improving women’s employment and occupational status? Data were gathered from two international surveys that included Israel. The study found that while women are integrated in a variety of news areas, such as news presentation, and play a significant role in management, their roles and salaries are unequal to men. These findings shed light on gender (in)equality and identify some of the mechanisms that exclude Israeli women from the labour market.