Establishing priorities for diabetes action goals according to key opinion leaders and health professionals.

Background: The ever-increasing burden of diabetes and the limited resources highlight the need for prioritization of national action goals for diabetes management. The Israeli National Diabetes Council (INDC) initiated a prioritization process aiming to set a top list of diabetes related goals, as suggested by decision makers and health professionals.

Methods: A 2-step prioritization process, including a small (n = 32) circle of key opinion leaders of the INDC and a larger (n = 195) nationwide circle of diabetes health professionals consisting of physicians, nurses, and dieticians working in diabetes care centers, hospitals and family practice clinics, was established.

Associations between socioeconomic and family determinants and weight-control behaviours among adolescents.

Objectives: Family factors may play a role in adolescents' weight-control behaviours (WCB), and economic determinants strongly affect adolescents' health in terms of unhealthy weight-control behaviours (UWCB). This study examines the nexus of socioeconomic status, perceived family wealth, and number of employed parents and Israeli adolescents' WCB and asks whether family-related variables mediate WCB.

Methods: Data from the 2014 Israeli Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children study are analysed using structural equation modelling.

Youth injury and parents' unemployment-the importance of socio-economic status and ethnicity context.

Background: Youth whose parents are unemployed have poorer health and well-being, including more injuries that result in hospitalization. The current study examined the possibility of an association of parents' employment status with youth injury and the interaction of this status with other socio-economic factors and ethnicity.

Methods: We distributed to adolescents aged 11-15 years, in class, the Israel Health Behavior in School-Aged Children Survey.

Trends in Tobacco Use among Children and Adolescents in Israel, 1998-2015.

Objectives: This study aims to measure trends in cigarette smoking among children and adolescents in Israel, focusing on school grade, sex, and ethnicity. We hypothesized that smoking would be higher among boys and Arab-Israelis, rates would grow with age, and there would be a decline over time.

Methods: Data were derived from the Health Behavior in School-aged Children study between 1998 and 2015 in Israel.

What Is it About Perceived Discrimination That Can Lead Immigrant Adolescents to Alcohol Use and Delinquency? The Mediating Role of Feelings of Alienation.

Background: Despite research examining the relationship between discrimination and alcohol use and delinquency among adolescents, little is understood about the mechanism behind the relationship.

Objectives: On the basis of Strain Theory, the current study examined a new theoretical model in which feelings of alienation (from the self, peers, and Israeli society) mediate the relationship between discrimination and alcohol use and delinquency.

Methods: A one-year follow-up study was conducted with 146 at-risk youth from the Former Soviet Union and Ethiopia in Israel (63% male), from disadvantaged low socioeconomic neighborhoods.

Social Capital as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Perceived Discrimination and Alcohol and Cannabis Use Among Immigrant and Non-immigrant Adolescents in Israel.

Literature highlights the relationship between perceived discrimination and frequency and severity of alcohol and cannabis use. One mechanism for explaining this is the nature of perceived discrimination as a potentially traumatic interpersonal stressor, which can lead to the depletion of social and personal resources. Within a Recovery Capital (RC) framework, the current study explores whether the existence of social capital in the form of parental monitoring, friend and teacher support can buffer the relationship between perceived discrimination and alcohol and cannabis use among immigrant and non-immigrant adolescents, by replenishing the depleted resources.

The role of identity and psychosomatic symptoms as mediating the relationship between discrimination and risk behaviors among first and second generation immigrant adolescents.

The study examines psychosomatic symptoms, and host and heritage identities as mediators of the relationship between discrimination and aggressive behavior and substance use. Israeli data from the 2013-14 Health Behaviors of School-aged Children study included a representative sample of 1503 first- and second-generation immigrant adolescents aged 11-17 years (45.2% male) from the Former Soviet Union and Ethiopia in Israel.

Investigating cannabis use normalization by distinguishing between experimental and regular use: a multilevel study in 31 countries.

Objective: This research examined whether national population-level cannabis frequency rates moderate the strength of the relationship between individual-level psychosocial and behavioral risk factors (poor parental communication, bullying, fighting, etc.) and different levels of adolescent cannabis use (abstinence, experimental use, and regular use).

Method: Data from the 2009/2010 Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children survey (N = 62,009, age = 15 years) from 31 countries were analyzed using multinomial hierarchical linear modeling.

Exploring substance use normalization among adolescents: a multilevel study in 35 countries.

The substance use normalization thesis predicts that adolescent substance users are less likely to report substance use risk factors in high than in low prevalence countries. This study tests whether national population-level alcohol, cigarette and cannabis prevalence rates moderate the strength of the relationship between individual level social and behavioral risk factors and individual level alcohol, cigarette and cannabis use. Data from 2009/2010 Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children Study (N = 68,045, age = 15) from 35 countries was analyzed using logistic Hierarchical Linear Modeling.

Attention to the media and worry over becoming infected: the case of the Swine Flu (H1N1) Epidemic of 2009.

This paper examines the relationship between attention to the mass media and concern about becoming infected with H1N1 in two nationwide random samples interviewed during the flu epidemic of 2009. The first sample (N = 1004) was taken at the end of the first wave of the outbreak in the US and the second sample (N = 1006) was taken as the second wave was accelerating. The data were gathered by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.