Research Note: Television,Cultural Identity and Youth Lifestyles in Cyprus

Abstract

This article, based on research that the author conducted between 1997 and 2000, examines the relationship between Cypriot television programmes and the lifestyles of 13- to 18-year-old Greek-Cypriot teenagers. Cognitive and affective lifestyle values are identified in relation to television content, whether in local Cypriot productions, or in programmes imported from Greece or from the US. Further combinations of cognitive/affective lifestyle values are also traced in the relationship between television programmes and lifestyle reported by respondents in the research. In the light of Cyprus's expectations for accession to the European Union in the near future, the predicament of young people's attitudes, value systems and modes of behaviour, in relation to television content, is interesting to trace and place within a more general public discussion that tries to examine identities in the European community, in a global setting. The conclusions seem to point to globalizing tendencies, with strong local resonances.

Keywords

affective lifestyle values cognitive lifestyle values Cyprus Greek-Cypriot teenagers leisure television

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