Knud Knudsen

Norwegians' Attitudes Toward New Immigrants*

During the 1980s Norway, together with Denmark and Sweden, experienced an influx of immigrants, refugees and asylum-seekers from the poorer nations of Asia. Africa and Latin America. The encounter forced Norwegians to confront their established values and attitudes. One of the most homogeneous and uniform countries in the world underwent a unique experiment: new groups and colors changed the traditional picture- and perhaps as a result the nations self-image. In this paper we analyze the attitudes of Norwegians toward the new immigrants. We explain why some are basically positive while others are not. The theoretical discussion draws on the concept of relative deprivation. The main idea is that the beliefs of individuals represent a relationship between their expectations and their achievement relative to others in the same boat as themselves. Negative attitudes are seen as a result of people feeling deprived in com parison with some standard, or with real or imagined conditions for other people. This empirical analysis is based on a national survey from 1988, which includes more than 2000 respondents. We use multiple regression to evaluate effects of various explanatory variables. The results indicate significant effects of education, age, gender and labor market position, together with mediating influences of social psychological and subjective factors. The strong impact of educational background and indicators of self-reliance are interpreted as supporting the general idea that groups that suffer relative deprivation more than others develop negative attitudes. The findings also suggest that education is essential more as a general resource in a competitive society than as a conveyor of an enlightened perspective.

Scandinavian Neighbours with Different Character? Attitudes Toward Immigrants and National Identity in Norway and Sweden

This article takes up a theme of growing importance in the European and Scandinavian context, namely national sentiments and reactions toward new immigrants. More specifically, I analyse possible links between aspects of national identity and fear of foreigners - or xenophobia - in Norway and Sweden. Such ideas involve hypotheses at different levels and imply a step-by-step approach, analytically and empirically. It is argued that the concept of national identity could be specified within at least two dimensions: national chauvinism and system legitimacy, and it is further hypothesized that these factors affect xenophobia in a nuanced manner. The empirical analyses build and test a proper measurement model for the three concepts (chauvinism, legitimacy and xenophobia), later developed into a complex causal model. These analyses rely on recent advances in structural equation modelling (SEM) for the treatment of ordinal data and the handling of different covariance as well as mean structures. Data for Norway and Sweden come from the new national identity module collected in 1995 by ISSP. Results from various LISREL analyses support the crucial notion of a common measurement model for the two samples, making comparisons within and between countries more meaningful than otherwise. Findings demonstrate similar attitude structures for Norwegians and Swedes. Furthermore, the extended causal analysis shows that chauvinism and legitimacy clearly affect xenophobia on the individual level, partly also explaining national differences. However, even when differences of such sentiments are taken into account Norwegians still stand out as the more xenophobic, thus pointing toward the need for supplementary interpretations.

Shared or separate? Money management and changing norms of gender equality among Norwegian couples

Over the last generation the male breadwinner/housewife family has gradually become outdated as the dominant normative model for family households. The new ideal has become the adult worker family model, where gender equality defined as economic independence and sharing of household work and childcare between spouses/partners is the norm. The Nordic countries are the frontrunners of this development, and the Nordic welfare model is assumed to be well adapted to this new ideal. However, this ideal does not hold clear norms of how money should be managed and shared in family households, and Nordic families have to establish their own systems. Norwegian survey data from the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) in 1994 and 2002 are used to analyse patterns of money management in family households. Our study indicates that, even if sharing of economic resources and responsibility remains the most common pattern, a greater number of families are choosing separate and independent systems of financial allocation. This increase in divided systems of money management may lead to new gender inequalities because of the lack of recognition of the value of domestic labour and family care as part of the common provision.

“Service user involvement in practice”: The evaluation of an intervention program for service providers and inpatients in Norwegian Community Mental Health Centers

Background: Modern mental health strategies emphasize the necessity of user participation, but only a few studies examine how user involvement can be promoted effectively. Aim: To study the possible effect of an intervention program designed to (1) increase attention to user involvement and (2) increase user involvement at the inpatient departmental level. Methods: The study has a quasi‐experimental design, involving inpatient departments in five Norwegian Community Mental Health Centers (CMHCs). Two CMHCs received the intervention, and were compared with three CMHCs that did not. The impact of the intervention was assessed with the Service User Involvement in Mental Health Scale (SUIM), a selection of items from the Consumer Participation Questionnaire (CPQ) and the Psychiatric Inpatient Experience Questionnaire (PIPEQ). One hundred and twenty‐three service providers, 51 in the intervention group and 72 in the comparison group, and 47 inpatients took part in the study. Results: Providers in the intervention group reported higher mean scores at follow‐up for the variables of organizational user involvement, patient collaboration, and carer involvement than the comparison group. The intervention program was not associated with inpatients reporting more satisfaction with care. Conclusion: An intervention program can be useful in increasing attention to service user involvement in inpatient mental health services.

Inpatient service providers’ perspectives on service user involvement in Norwegian community mental health centres

Background: For two decades, mental health services in Norway have focused on service user involvement. Despite this, there is little knowledge about how inpatient mental health services have promoted user involvement. Aim: To examine service providers’ reports of service user involvement at the individual and departmental levels in Norwegian community mental health centres (CMHCs). Methods: One hundred and eighty six (186) inpatient service providers in five CMHCs filled out a questionnaire. Results: Confirmatory factor analysis showed that service provider perceptions and awareness of service user involvement can be measured by three subscales: organizational user involvement; patient collaboration; and assisted patient involvement. Little user involvement was reported at the departmental level. Providers more often reported user involvement at the individual level. Providers in two of the CMHCs reported a somewhat higher degree of departmental-level user involvement. There were no significant differences across gender, age, leader position, profession and job tenure, though evening/night shift workers reported a lesser degree of user involvement. Conclusion: The results suggest that user involvement at the departmental level needs to be addressed in future efforts to promote user involvement in CMHCs.

European grandparents' solicitude: Why older men can be relatively good grandfathers

The mechanisms linking grandparental gender and involvement with grandchildren are probably more complex than previously understood. Grandmothers are likely to benefit from their central role as kin-keepers in their provision of care, while grandfathers in their older years benefit more from having a partner at their side. A basic argument here is that this indirect advantage for grandfathers dampens the general age-related reduction in their capacity for caring, making them better grandfathers than they otherwise would. Our reasoning rests primarily on normative explanations emphasizing the relevance of social roles and institutionalized expectations. However, rational choice theory represents an alternative theoretical strand that incorporates partly overlapping empirical implications. We provide a simple theoretical framework for exploring mechanisms behind grandmothers’ and grandfathers’ solicitude, and for assessing the credibility of the two main alternative arguments, while keeping an eye on evolutionary theory. We use data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), Release 2.3.0, waves 1 and 2. The empirical results are to a certain extent in line with predictions from normative explanations as well as rational choice theory. However, in regard to predicted consequences from living/not living with a partner, the main findings are consistent with the former but at odds with the latter. Having a partner in one’s older years increases individual capacity for involvement with grandchildren – most notably in the case of grandfathers. On a more general sociological level, the empirical pattern thus supports the idea that (older) men benefit more from the marriage institution or similar partnership arrangement than women do.

Class Identification in Norway: Explanatory Factors and Life-cycle Differences

This research note examines class identification in the Norwegian population. A simple causal framework is presented where subjective class is seen as the result of expenences in origin family, the educational system and current family. It is argued that direct effects of family background and family earnings on class identification should interact with life-cycle period To test expectations we use a Norwegian national survey from 1982 (N = 1376) Parameters are estimated by ordinary least squares regression The overall analysis shows clear and significant effects of origin familys social standing. respondents education, current familys social standing and earnings. Life- cycle analyses support our expectations concerning interactions: effects of family background gradually fade as people get older, while family earnings have an effect only in the mid-penod No other variable, however, seems to be as important as education for explaining class identification.

A two-wave cross-lagged study of business travel, work–family conflict, emotional exhaustion, and psychological health complaints

ABSTRACT By using a two-wave panel design, the present study aimed at studying longitudinally the relation between business travel and work–family conflict (WFC) as well as the reciprocal relationships among WFC, emotional exhaustion, and psychological health complaints. The study was conducted in a large Norwegian oil and gas company (n = 1702), and the company’s business travel database was utilized to examine business travel. The results showed a positive cross-lagged relation between business travel and WFC. In addition, WFC predicted emotional exhaustion over time, whereas emotional exhaustion predicted psychological health complaints over time. Reversed influences also existed, supporting our hypotheses on reciprocal relations. The longitudinal design of the current study makes an important contribution to the research on business travel and employees’ psychological health.

Good Grandfathers Have a Partner

The study reported here shows that having a partner in one’s older years increases individual capacity for involvement with grandchildren, for grandfathers as well as grandmothers. Nevertheless, the relative advantage is most notable for grandfathers, and in this way they appear more dependent on having a partner at their side. However, since they often have a living spouse, they are typically still doing well. On a more general sociological level, the empirical pattern thus supports the idea that (older) men benefit more from the marriage institution or similar partnership arrangements than women do. In short: good grandfathers have a partner.

Accident Risk in Middle Age Years and in Old Age

In this paper a sociological role theory for the explanation of variations in accident rates is presented. Accident Risk is seen as a combined result of a persons exposure to dangerous situations, here labeled Role Strain, and his ability to avoid and survive potential accidents which is called Individual Capacity. Married women, married men, single (never married) women and single (never married) men are examined with respect to Role Strain and Individual Capacity in middle age years and in old age, and empirical con sequences in terms of Accident Risk are derived. Theoretical arguments are tested against Norwegian data from the 1961-69 period and against Ame rican data from 1950 and 1960. Thus, tests across national populations as well as over different time periods are carried out. Results from the three data sets support the sociological role theory.