Daniel Bergh

Parental monitoring, peer activities and alcohol use: A study based on data on Swedish adolescents

Aim: This study investigates the association between two types of social relations during leisure time (to parents and peers) and the frequency of alcohol use among Swedish adolescents, taking possible interaction effects into account. Methods: The data were collected during the 1995–2005 time period by using a questionnaire handed out in the class room. The study includes about 10,000 Swedish adolescents aged 15–16 years. Results: The results show that there are strong associations between the social relations adolescents have during leisure time (both to parents and peers) and the frequency of alcohol use. High levels of peer activity were associated with higher frequencies of alcohol use. Although the effects of relations with parents were modified by peer activity frequencies, high levels of parental monitoring were significantly associated with lower frequencies of alcohol use, regardless of the peer activity frequencies. Conclusions: Parental monitoring is an efficient way to prevent or reduce adolescents’ alcohol use, although its importance may vary due to peer activity frequency.

The Social Provisions Scale: psychometric properties of the SPS-10 among participants in nature-based services

Abstract Purpose: This article analyses the psychometric properties of the Social Provisions Scale 10-items version. Methods: The Social Provisions Scale was analysed by means of the polytomous Rasch model, applied to data on 93 young adults (16–30 years) out of school or work, participating in different nature-based services, due to mental or drug-related problems. Results: The psychometric analysis concludes that the original scale has difficulties related to targeting and construct validity. In order to improve the psychometric properties, the scale was modified to include eight items measuring functional support. The modification was based on theoretical and statistical considerations. Conclusion: After modifications the scale showed not only satisfying psychometric properties, but it also clarified uncertainties regarding construct validity of the measure. However, further analysis on larger samples are required. Implications for Rehabilitation Social support is important for a variety of rehabilitation outcomes and for different patient groups in the rehabilitation context, including people with mental health or drug-related problems. Social Provisions Scale may be used as a screening tool to assess social support of participants in rehabilitation, and the scale may also be an important instrument in rehabilitation research. There might be issues measuring structural support using a 10-items version of the Social Provisions Scale but it seemed to work well as an 8-item scale measuring functional support.

Smoking Motivation in the Face of Stigmatization: A Bourdieusian Analysis of Impressions.

Earlier research from Western countries has indicated that individuals with low socioeconomic status (SES) initiate tobacco smoking even though smoking is a stigmatized practice. We propose that theoretical developments of Bourdieu’s theories on capital can reveal a plausible mechanism that explains smoking motivation in the face of stigmatization, and we perform a double-blind randomized controlled experiment with the impressions of a smoking adolescent girl to test and elaborate on our proposition. The empirical data was collected through questionnaires distributed to 622 Swedish adolescents during the fall of 2015. Half the questionnaires included a picture of a smoking girl and half the questionnaires included an identical picture without the act of smoking. Binary logistic regressions indicate that the girl in the picture was perceived as significantly less likable, more popular, less kind, less compassionate, more deceitful, more conceited, and more liable to bully when she smoked a cigarette than when she did not smoke. The theoretical analysis implies that adolescents with low SES may seek to smoke in the face of stigmatization because of a motivating mechanism that functions in accordance with Bourdieu’s economic logic of action. The concluding section presents implications for tobacco-control policies.

Sample Size and Chi-Squared Test of Fit—A Comparison Between a Random Sample Approach and a Chi-Square Value Adjustment Method Using Swedish Adolescent Data

Background: Significance tests are commonly sensitive to sample size, and Chi-Squared statistics is not an exception. Nevertheless, Chi-Squared statistics are commonly used for test of fit of measu ...

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

AimsThe aim of this study was to analyse the link between psychosocial factors in the neighbourhood and work environments, and psychosomatic health problems.MethodsThe 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.ResultsThe 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.ConclusionThe 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.