Adolescent Alcohol-use and Economic Conditions: A Multilevel Analysis of Data from a Period with Big Economic Changes

This paper examines how the unemployment rate is related to adolescent alcohol use during a time period characterized by big societal changes using repeated cross-sectional adolescent survey data from a Swedish region, collected in 1988, 1991, 1995, 1998, 2002 and 2005. Individual level alcohol use is connected to local level unemployment rate to estimate the relationship using multilevel modeling. The results show that the unemployment rate is negatively associated with adolescents alcohol use. When the unemployment rate increases, more adolescents, mainly girls, do not drink at all. Regular drinking (2/month or more) is, on the other hand, unrelated to the unemployment rate. This implies that we may se decreases in adolescent alcohol use in the now expected real economic crisis with increasing unemployment.alcohol use; unemployment rate; multilevel methods; Sweden.

ADOLESCENT ALCOHOL- AND ILLICIT DRUG-USE IN FIRST AND SECOND GENERATION IMMIGRANTS IN SWEDEN

In this paper adolescent alcohol- and illicit drug-use among 1st and 2nd generation immigrants from Nordic, non-Nordic European and non-European countries were compared with the Swedish majority population. Multilevel logistic regression analysis was performed based on survey data from three different Swedish regions including 24 municipalities sampled in 2005 including 13,070 adolescents. Immigrants from Nordic countries were more likely to use alcohol (OR: 1.10-1.37) while immigrants from non- European countries were less likely to use alcohol (OR: 0.52-0.81), mainly explained by the relatively low use by girls from non-European countries. All immigrant groups were more likely to use illicit-drugs compared to the majority population. Highest drug-use were found among first generation Nordic Immigrants (OR: 3.15-4.17) and non-European immigrants (OR: 2.92-3.13). Consumption patterns among second generation immigrants were more similar to the Swedish majority population, implying more alcohol-use and less illicit drug-use.alcohol; drug use; ethnicity; immigrants; adolescents

Child-perceived parental support and knowledge in shared physical custody and other living arrangements for children

Objective: The aim of this paper is to develop an understanding of how child-perceived parental support and knowledge among children in Sweden differ across ten forms of residential arrangement. Background: Shared physical custody has become an increasingly common arrangement for children in separated families in many European countries. In an international comparison, Sweden has a high rate of parental union dissolution but also the highest prevalence of shared physical custody arrangements following divorce or separation. Over a third of all children with divorced or separated parents spend an equal amount of time living in both parental households. Method: We used data from the Swedish HBSC survey from 2013/14, which are focused on children in grades 5, 7 and 9 in the Swedish comprehensive school system (n=7360) and used perceived parental support and perceived parental knowledge scales as dependent variables in multiple ordered logistic regressions conducted separately by the sex of the parent. Results: The results show that children in shared physical custody report higher levels of parental support and knowledge than children in sole physical custody and equally high as those who live in a two-parent family. Children living in non-symmetrical physical custody arrangements report lower levels of paternal support and knowledge than children whose parents share physical custody equally. Maternal support and knowledge does not differ between children living in symmetrical and non-symmetrical shared physical custody arrangements, whereas paternal support and knowledge is lower in families where the child lives in an unequal residential sharing arrangement with the mother as the main co-residential parent. Conclusion: Post-divorce living arrangements are clearly associated with the relationship between parents and children, with children in shared physical custody reporting stronger relationships than children in sole physical custody. The cross-sectional nature of the data prevents us from drawing conclusions on causality, however.Fragestellung: Ziel dieses Beitrags ist es, ein Verständnis dafür zu entwickeln, wie sich im schwedischen Kontext die elterliche Unterstützung und Wissen aus der Perspektive der Kinder in zehn verschiedenen Wohnformen unterscheiden. Hintergrund: Gemeinsames physisches Sorgerecht ist in vielen europäischen Ländern eine gewöhnliche Regelung für Kinder in getrennten Familien geworden. Im internationalen Vergleich hat Schweden eine hohe Scheidungs- und Trennungsrate, sowie das höchste Vorkommen an gemeinsamen Sorgerechtsregelungen nach einer Scheidung oder Trennung. Mehr als ein Drittel aller Kinder mit geschiedenen oder getrennten Eltern leben gleich viel in den Haushalten beider Elternteile. Methode: Wir verwendeten Daten aus der schwedischen HBSC-Erhebung von 2013/14, die sich auf Kinder der Klassenstufen 5, 7 und 9 im schwedischen Grundschulsystem konzentrieren (n=7360). Zudem bedienten wir uns Skalen zur wahrgenommenen elterlichen Unterstützung und zum wahrgenommenen elterlichen Wissen als abhängige Variablen in mehrfach geordneten logistischen Regressionen, die getrennt nach dem Geschlecht der Eltern durchgeführt wurden. Ergebnisse: Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Kinder, die das gemeinsame physische Sorgerecht haben, ein höheres Maß an elterlicher Unterstützung und elterlichem Wissen angeben als Kinder, die das alleinige physische Sorgerecht haben, und ein ebenso hohes Maß wie Kinder, die in einer Zwei-Eltern-Familie leben. Kinder, die in nicht-symmetrischen Sorgerechtsverhältnissen leben, berichten über ein geringeres Maß an väterlicher Unterstützung und Wissen als Kinder, deren Eltern sich das Sorgerecht gleichermaßen teilen. Mütterliche Unterstützung und Wissen unterscheiden sich nicht zwischen Kindern, die in symmetrischen und nicht-symmetrischen physisches Sorgerechtsvereinbarungen leben, wohingegen väterliche Unterstützung und Wissen in Familien geringer sind, in denen das Kind hauptsächlich bei der Mutter wohnt. Schlussfolgerung: Die Wohnform nach der Scheidung hängt eindeutig mit der Beziehung zwischen Eltern und Kindern zusammen, wobei Kinder, die das gemeinsame physische Sorgerecht haben, über stärkere Beziehungen berichten als Kinder, die das alleinige physische Sorgerecht haben. Aufgrund des Querschnittscharakters der Daten ist es jedoch nicht möglich, kausale Schlussfolgerungen zu ziehen

Solidarity in the neighbourhood, social support at work and psychosomatic health problems

Aims: The aim of this study was to analyse the link between psychosocial factors in the neighbourhood and work environments, and psychosomatic health problems. Methods: The data were collected in the survey 'Life and Health', which was conducted in 2000 in six Swedish county councils. A total of 71,580 questionnaires were distributed to randomly selected individuals aged 18-79. A total of 46,636 respondents completed the questionnaire. This gives a response rate of around 65%. For the purpose of this study only gainfully employed individuals aged 18-64 are included, which gives a total of 22,164 individuals: 11,247 (50.7%) women and 10,917 (49.3%) men. Two scales were used to measure the psychosocial environments in the neighbourhood and at work. The link between these scales and psychosomatic health problems was analysed by using multinomial logistic regression. Results: The results show that both 'Psychosocial Neighbourhood Environment' (PNE) and 'Psychosocial Working Environment' (PWE), independently, are related to psychosomatic health problems. Hence, the health effects of social relations in the neighbourhood were not modified by the quality of social relations at work, or vice versa. The levels of psychosomatic health problems are highest for people experiencing a low degree of social solidarity in the neighbourhood and for those experiencing low degrees of supportive work relationships. Conclusion: The strong, but independent, effects of social factors related to the neighbourhood and to the workplace on psychosomatic health problems point to the importance of simultaneously considering social relations in different arenas in order to increase the knowledge of the connection between social relations and health

Electronic media use and symptoms of depression among adolescents in Norway

Background The purpose of this study was to examine the association between electronic media use, including use of social media and gaming, and symptoms of depression, and whether gender or having friends moderated these associations. Methods This study was based on self-reported cross-sectional data from the Ungdata survey, conducted in 2018 by the Norwegian Social Research (NOVA) Institute in cooperation with seven regional drug and alcohol competence centres. The target group comprised 12,353 15–16 years old adolescents. Binominal logistic regression was used to analyse the association between electronic media use and symptoms of depression. Results The odds of having symptoms of depression were higher for those who used social media more than 3 hours per day (OR: 1.60, 95% CI: 1.43–1.80), compared to those who used social media 3 hours or less per day. Additionally, the odds of having symptoms of depression was higher for those who used more than 3 hours on gaming per day (OR: 1.57, 95% CI: 1.36–1.80), compared to those who used 3 hours and less on gaming per day after adjustment for potential confounders. There were no interaction effects between social media and gaming use with symptoms of depression. Neither were the associations between social media use and gaming with symptoms of depression moderated by gender or having friends. Conclusions The odds of having symptoms of depression were significantly higher for adolescents with a more frequent use of electronic media.publishedVersionpublishedVersio

Encouraging greater empowerment for adolescents in consent procedures in social science research and policy projects

The CO-CREATE project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 774210.The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child emphasizes the importance of allowing children and adolescents to influence decisions that are important to them following their age and maturity. This paper explores the principles, practices, and implications around using parental versus child/adolescent consent when participating in social science research and policy development. Experiences from two studies are presented: The Confronting Obesity: Co-creating policy with youth (CO-CREATE) and the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study, a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborative Cross-National study. Although parental consent may be an important gatekeeper for protecting children and adolescents from potentially harmful research participation, it may also be considered an obstacle to the empowerment of children and adolescents in case they want to share their views and experiences directly. This paper argues that evaluation of possible harm should be left to ethics committees and that, if no harm related to the research participation processes is identified and the project has a clear perspective on collaborating with the target group, adolescents from the age of 12 years should be granted the legal capacity to give consent to participate in the research project. Collaboration with adolescents in the development of the research project is encouraged.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Reliability, construct and criterion validity of the KIDSCREEN-10 score: a short measure for children and adolescents’ well-being and health-related quality of life

Background To assess the criterion and construct validity of the KIDSCREEN-10 well-being and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) score, a short version of the KIDSCREEN-52 and KIDSCREEN-27 instruments. Methods The child self-report and parent report versions of the KIDSCREEN-10 were tested in a sample of 22,830 European children and adolescents aged 8–18 and their parents (n = 16,237). Correlation with the KIDSCREEN-52 and associations with other generic HRQoL measures, physical and mental health, and socioeconomic status were examined. Score differences by age, gender, and country were investigated. Results Correlations between the 10-item KIDSCREEN score and KIDSCREEN-52 scales ranged from r = 0.24 to 0.72 (r = 0.27–0.72) for the self-report version (proxy-report version). Coefficients below r = 0.5 were observed for the KIDSCREEN-52 dimensions Financial Resources and Being Bullied only. Cronbach alpha was 0.82 (0.78), test–retest reliability was ICC = 0.70 (0.67) for the self- (proxy-)report version. Correlations between other children self-completed HRQoL questionnaires and KIDSCREEN-10 ranged from r = 0.43 to r = 0.63 for the KIDSCREEN children self-report and r = 0.22–0.40 for the KIDSCREEN parent proxy report. Known group differences in HRQoL between physically/mentally healthy and ill children were observed in the KIDSCREEN-10 self and proxy scores. Associations with self-reported psychosomatic complaints were r = −0.52 (−0.36) for the KIDSCREEN-10 self-report (proxy-report). Statistically significant differences in KIDSCREEN-10 self and proxy scores were found by socioeconomic status, age, and gender. Conclusions Our results indicate that the KIDSCREEN-10 provides a valid measure of a general HRQoL factor in children and adolescents, but the instrument does not represent well most of the single dimensions of the original KIDSCREEN-52. Test–retest reliability was slightly below a priori defined thresholds

Ökar den psykiska ohälsan bland ungdomar i Sverige?

Analyser av tre olika dataset visar att den självskattade psykiska hälsan bland äldre ungdomar i Sverige som helhet var väsentligt sämre under det senaste decenniet än under 1980-talet. Ökningen bland 15-16 åringar har dock planat ut under senare år och vänts i nedgång. Trenderna för pojkar och flickor följer delvis skilda mönster. Dataunderlaget för yngre ungdomar är mer begränsat och trenderna är mindre entydiga. Självmordstalet bland 16-24 åringar har fluktuerat från år till år men har sett över tid som helhet varken ökat eller minskat. Många frågetecken finns att räta ut om barns och ungdomars psykiska hälsa i Sverige, framförallt avseende förskolebarn och barn i låg- och mellanstadieåldern. Tidstrender liksom den psykiska hälsans determinanter bland barn och ungdomar bör uppmärksammas