A review of media health literacy in children and young people and its associated factors

Abstract

Media and health literacy are important dimensions that shape health and social behaviors among children and young people. Understanding the factors associated with media health literacy (MHL) is imperative to effectively promote healthy behaviors. This study performed a review, with systematic search, to determine the influential factors associated with MHL among children and young people. The authors searched Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed and Thai Journal Online database for English and Thai language articles, from inception until December, 2020. Of 1,479 articles identified, 1,297 were screened by title and abstract, and 209 full-texts were screened for inclusion criteria of the review. Eight articles, which reported associated factors with MHL for a target population of persons under age 25 years, were included in the analysis. The results show that children and young peoples’ MHL was associated with individual factors, e.g., gender, age, education, stress, communication skill, media use, and healthy lifestyle factors, whilst the associated environmental factors are parental attributes and key informants of health information. Factors associated with MHL identified in this study may assist policymakers in appropriately creating interventions for promoting children and youth’s MHL and, thus, healthy behaviors and future risk reduction.