School pressure and psychosomatic complaints among Swedish adolescents: does physical activity play a buffering role?

BackgroundSchool pressure is a significant stressor in the lives of adolescents, recognised to be associated with psychosomatic complaints. Therefore, the exploration of potential buffering factors is a relevant task. This study aimed to examine the association between school pressure and psychosomatic complaints and the potentially moderating role of physical activity in a Swedish national sample of adolescents.MethodsData were derived from the 2017/2018 Swedish Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey, involving 3,745 participants aged 11–15 years. School pressure and physical activity were measured using single items. Psychosomatic complaints were assessed through an additive index based on the frequency of eight complaints. Covariates included gender, grade, and family affluence.ResultsLinear regression analyses demonstrated a positive graded association between school pressure and psychosomatic complaints, while an inversely graded association was observed between physical activity and psychosomatic complaints. Physical activity did, however, not moderate the link between school pressure and psychosomatic complaints.ConclusionEven though physical activity did not serve as a buffer, the direct effects of school pressure and physical activity on psychosomatic complaints suggest that supporting young people in managing school demands and promoting their engagement in physical activities could be effective measures in alleviating psychosomatic complaints

Psychosocial School Conditions and Mental Wellbeing Among Mid-adolescents: Findings From the 2017/18 Swedish HBSC Study

Objectives: To investigate mid-adolescent boys’ and girls’ experiences of school demands, teacher support, and classmate support, and explore the associations of these factors with mental wellbeing.Methods: Data were derived from the Swedish Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study of 2017/18, with information collected among 1,418 students in grade 9 (∼15–16 years). School demands, teacher support, and classmate support were measured by indices based on three items each. Mental wellbeing was measured by the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (SWEMWBS). Linear regression analyses were performed.Results: Higher demands were associated with lower mental wellbeing. Conversely, mental wellbeing increased with greater teacher support and classmate support. Interactions between demands and the support variables showed that at the lowest levels of teacher and of classmate support, mental wellbeing was low and not associated with school demands. With increasing levels of teacher and classmate support, the overall level of mental wellbeing increased and revealed an inverse association between school demands and mental wellbeing.Conclusion: The study contributes with knowledge about how psychosocial conditions in school may hinder or enhance wellbeing among students

Children's Living Conditions : Studies on Health, Family and School

The present dissertation includes four empirical studies, each of which focuses on specific aspects of children’s living conditions. Study I analyses the association between young people’s social relations and health complaints using Swedish nationally representative survey data on 10- to 18-year-olds. Both relations with parents and with peers are associated with health complaints. Relational content is more strongly associated with health complaints than is relational structure. With regard to relational content, strained relations are more strongly associated with health complaints than are supportive relations. Study II investigates how effort and reward in school are associated with pupils’ subjective health using data from the Stockholm School Survey. Both effort and reward are shown to be positively associated with subjective health, and in particular pupils who report to put in high effort in school have high levels of subjective health. Contextual variation in health is found for girls but not for boys. Study III is based on Swedish register data and analyses the association between family type and choice of programme in upper secondary school. Children in single-mother households less often choose the natural science/technology (NT) programme compared with children who live with two original parents. Having a resident or a non-resident parent with NT skills is positively associated with choice of the NT programme. Study IV analyses the association between family type and social support, health, and material resources in 24 countries. The data are derived from the international Health Behaviour of School-aged Children (HBSC) survey. In a majority of the countries studied, children in single-mother households report smaller resources compared with children living with two original parents. No clear pattern is found with regard to differences between countries.At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Submitted. Paper 4: Accepted

Children's Living Conditions : Studies on Health, Family and School

The present dissertation includes four empirical studies, each of which focuses on specific aspects of children’s living conditions. Study I analyses the association between young people’s social relations and health complaints using Swedish nationally representative survey data on 10- to 18-year-olds. Both relations with parents and with peers are associated with health complaints. Relational content is more strongly associated with health complaints than is relational structure. With regard to relational content, strained relations are more strongly associated with health complaints than are supportive relations. Study II investigates how effort and reward in school are associated with pupils’ subjective health using data from the Stockholm School Survey. Both effort and reward are shown to be positively associated with subjective health, and in particular pupils who report to put in high effort in school have high levels of subjective health. Contextual variation in health is found for girls but not for boys. Study III is based on Swedish register data and analyses the association between family type and choice of programme in upper secondary school. Children in single-mother households less often choose the natural science/technology (NT) programme compared with children who live with two original parents. Having a resident or a non-resident parent with NT skills is positively associated with choice of the NT programme. Study IV analyses the association between family type and social support, health, and material resources in 24 countries. The data are derived from the international Health Behaviour of School-aged Children (HBSC) survey. In a majority of the countries studied, children in single-mother households report smaller resources compared with children living with two original parents. No clear pattern is found with regard to differences between countries.At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Submitted. Paper 4: Accepted

Girls with highly educated parents have less somatic complaints

In Sweden, as in Western countries generally, somatic complaints are common in adolescents. These complaints are clearly connected with gender while the evidence of socioeconomic inequalities is less conclusive. The aim of this study is to analyse the combined relevance of gender and parental education for adolescents’ somatic complaints, using national data with direct information from adolescents and their parents (n=7,393). Among girls, but not among boys, a graded association was found demonstrating less somatic complaints with higher parental education. Stress and coping are discussed as potentially important mechanisms.Sociologisk Forsknings digitala arkiv</p

Teacher-Rated School Leadership and Adolescent Gambling: A Study of Upper Secondary Schools in Stockholm, Sweden

So-called “effective schools” are characterised by properties such as a strong and purposeful school leadership and a favourable school ethos. In a previous study we showed that a school’s degree of teacher-rated ethos was inversely associated with student gambling and risk gambling. Building on these findings, the current study aims to examine the associations that teachers’ ratings of the school leadership share with gambling and risk gambling among students in the second grade of upper secondary school in Stockholm (age 17–18 years). Data were drawn from the Stockholm School Survey and the Stockholm Teacher Survey with information from 5191 students and 1061 teachers in 46 upper secondary schools. School-level information from administrative registers was also linked to the data. The statistical method was two-level binary logistic regression analysis. Teachers’ average ratings of the school leadership were inversely associated with both gambling (OR 0.96, 95% CI 0.93–0.998, p = 0.039) and risk gambling (OR 0.94, 95% CI 0.89–0.99, p = 0.031) among upper secondary students, whilst adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics at the student and the school level. The findings lend further support to the hypothesis that characteristics of effective schools may reduce students’ inclination to engage in gambling and risk gambling behaviours

School Collective Efficacy and Bullying Behaviour: A Multilevel Study

As with other forms of violent behaviour, bullying is the result of multiple influences acting on different societal levels. Yet the majority of studies on bullying focus primarily on the characteristics of individual bullies and bullied. Fewer studies have explored how the characteristics of central contexts in young people’s lives are related to bullying behaviour over and above the influence of individual-level characteristics. This study explores how teacher-rated school collective efficacy is related to student-reported bullying behaviour (traditional and cyberbullying victimization and perpetration). A central focus is to explore if school collective efficacy is related similarly to both traditional bullying and cyberbullying. Analyses are based on combined information from two independent data collections conducted in 2016 among 11th grade students (n = 6067) and teachers (n = 1251) in 58 upper secondary schools in Stockholm. The statistical method used is multilevel modelling, estimating two-level binary logistic regression models. The results demonstrate statistically significant between-school differences in all outcomes, except traditional bullying perpetration. Strong school collective efficacy is related to less traditional bullying perpetration and less cyberbullying victimization and perpetration, indicating that collective norm regulation and school social cohesion may contribute to reducing the occurrence of bullying

Problematic familial alcohol use and adolescents’ heavy drinking: can conditions in school compensate for the increased risk of heavy drinking among adolescents from families with problematic alcohol use?

The aim of the present study is to assess the association between problematic alcohol consumption in the family and youth alcohol consumption and to explore the extent to which this association is moderated by conditions in school in terms of schools’ degree of student focus. We use data from the Stockholm School Survey performed among 10,757 ninth grade students and the Stockholm Teacher Survey performed among 2,304 teachers in the same schools. Multilevel logistic regressions were performed. The results showed that problematic alcohol consumption in the family was associated with a higher likelihood of heavy drinking among adolescents. The association was weaker in schools with a strong student focus, indicating a compensatory effect of conditions in school

Poor family relationships in adolescence as a risk factor of in-patient somatic care across the life course : Findings from a 1953 cohort

Background: Prior research has shown that poor family relations during upbringing have long-term detrimental effects on mental health. Few previous studies have, however, focused on somatic health outcomes and studies rarely cover the life span until retirement age. The aims of the current study were, firstly, to examine the association between poor family relationships in adolescence and in-patient somatic care across the life course whilst adjusting for confounders at baseline and concurrent psychiatric in-patient care; and secondly, to compare the risks of somatic and psychiatric in-patient care across the life course. Methods: Prospective data from the Stockholm Birth Cohort study were used, with 2636 participants born in 1953 who were followed up until 2016. Information on family relationships was collected from the participants' mothers in 1968. Annual information on in-patient somatic and psychiatric care was retrieved from official register data from 1969 to 2016. Results: Poisson regressions showed that poor family relationships in adolescence were associated with an increased risk of in-patient somatic care in mid- and especially in late adulthood (ages 44-53 and 54-63 years), even when controlling for the co-occurrence of psychiatric illness and a range of childhood conditions. No statistically significant association was observed in early adulthood (ages 16-43 years), when controlling for confounders. These findings are in sharp contrast to the analyses of inpatient psychiatric care, according to which the association with poor family relations was strongest in early adulthood and thereafter attenuated across the life course. Conclusion: Poor family relationships in adolescence are associated with an increased risk of severe consequences for somatic health lasting to late adulthood even when controlling for confounders including in-patient psychiatric care, emphasising the potentially important role of early interventions