Alli Klapp

The study aimed to investigate how students’ social well-being and mental health developed from the age of 12 to 19. Reports from Swedish authorities and research have shown that students’ self-reported well-being has decreased during the last decade, but few studies have examined longitudinal changes during primary and upper secondary school. Longitudinal questionnaire data from the Swedish project Evaluation Through Follow-up was analysed with growth modelling within the structural equation modelling environment. The sample was drawn from the cohort of students born in 2004 ( N = 9,437). By using data from three time-points (Grades 6, 9, and 12), the development in well-being within individuals over time could be investigated. Besides, grade point average (GPA) from sixth grade, parental education, and gender were included as covariates. Social well-being at school declined over time, while emotional distress and psychosomatic symptoms increased, including sadness, irritation, stomach aches, headaches, and sleeping difficulties. Girls reported lower social contentment than boys and consistently experienced more emotional and physical health problems, with some differences widening over time. Students from families with lower parental education also reported higher levels of emotional distress and psychosomatic ill-being than those from more highly educated families. Overall, girls and students from lower-education backgrounds appear especially vulnerable to declining well-being.

Background: Socioeconomic status (SES) is an important predictor of achievement, yet the classroom processes through which it may be associated remain debated. This study examines whether student-perceived instructional clarity and classroom management are associated with eighth-grade mathematics achievement in Sweden, and whether these dimensions of instructional quality are associated with SES differences in achievement at the student and classroom levels. Methods: Using nationally representative TIMSS 2019 data (Grade 8), we estimated two-level structural equation models in Mplus, incorporating student weights and the plausible-value methodology. We modeled student-perceived instructional clarity and classroom management as latent constructs at within- and between-classroom levels. We tested the direct associations with achievement, indirect pathways between SES and achievement, and a random-slope model for the within-class SES effect, followed by cross-level interactions. Results: Instructional clarity was positively related to achievement within classrooms, whereas classroom management showed a stronger association between classrooms; SES remained a robust predictor at both levels. Evidence for indirect associations was limited, as within-class indirect effects via clarity or management were negligible. A small between-class indirect path via classroom management was marginal only. The random-slope variance for the SES-achievement relationship was not statistically significant, indicating little cross-class heterogeneity. Accordingly, cross-level interactions with class-mean SES, clarity, and management were also nonsignificant. Class-mean SES and classroom management showed positive associations with mean achievement at the between-level. Conclusions: Findings suggest instructional clarity was more strongly associated with individual-level achievement, while classroom management was more strongly associated with classroom-level achievement. However, these features were not strongly associated with SES-related disparities. Higher levels of instructional quality with higher overall achievement, but closing SES gaps requires combining classroom improvement with broader, equity-oriented policies.

Purpose: The Swedish Evaluation Through Follow-up study of Learning Later in Life (UGU-LIFE) was established to study the factors that shape lifelong learning and advance evidence-based means to facilitate learning in older age. Participants: UGU-LIFE builds on the Evaluation Through Follow-up ( Utvärdering Genom Uppföljning , UGU, in Swedish) study, which consists of nationally representative samples of Swedish birth cohorts. The two oldest cohorts, born 1948 ( N = 11,945) and 1953 ( N = 9,927), were assessed at age 13 years and invited for follow-up assessments as part of UGU-LIFE in 2025 (age 72/77 years; N = 5,738). Findings to date: Data collection in childhood included a survey (on school and family conditions), cognitive tests, and school administrative data. The follow-up assessment in late adulthood included a survey (on personal and contextual factors), cognitive tests, learning tasks, and saliva sampling for DNA extraction. In addition, registry data was collected from Statistics Sweden (census), the National Board of Health and Welfare (medical records), and the Swedish National Archives (military conscription). Analysis of selectivity at follow-up showed higher retention rate among individuals with higher education and better cognitive ability in childhood, which was only partially explained by selectivity in survival. Future plans: Data collected in UGU-LIFE will be used to describe the predictors of lifelong learning, the factors that influence learning gains and engagement in learning in older age, and the mechanistic pathways through which these factors affect learning in older age. Work to add birth records and geocoding to the data is ongoing. A subsample of participants will be invited to take part in an in-depth data collection of learning an ecologically relevant task over several days. The findings will be used to design and test interventions aiming to facilitate learning in older age. Strengths and limitations of this study: UGU-LIFE includes population representative samples of individuals born in 1948 and 1953 ( N = 21,872). Participants were followed over six decades to assess how factors in childhood predict learning in older age. Cognitive testing in both childhood and late adulthood offers unique insights into lifespan changes in cognitive functioning. DNA sampling allows for analysis of gene-environment interactions across the lifespan. Comprehensive registry data on health and socioeconomic conditions enable characterization of selective attrition, revealing both mortality-associated and experimental sources of selectivity at follow-up.

Lower cognitive ability measured in childhood or late adolescence has been consistently associated with higher mortality risk across adulthood. However, this evidence largely relies on single assessments, leaving it unclear to what extent mortality risk reflects cognitive differences established early in life versus developmental divergence during adolescence—a period of substantial neurocognitive plasticity. Using two nationally representative Swedish cohorts comprising 9,412 males born in 1948 and 1953, we linked cognitive ability assessed in primary school at age 13 years and military conscription at age 18 years to all-cause and cause-specific mortality recorded in nationwide registers through 2025. We decomposed late-adolescent cognitive ability into childhood cognitive level and adolescent cognitive change and evaluated their independent associations with mortality. Childhood cognitive level (HR = 0.81; 95% CI, 0.78–0.85) and adolescent cognitive change (HR = 0.84; 95% CI, 0.79–0.89) independently predicted lower mortality risk, also after adjustment for parental education. Childhood cognitive level and adolescent cognitive change showed partially distinct cause-specific patterns. Childhood cognitive level was most strongly associated with mortality from intrinsic causes, whereas adolescent cognitive change showed relatively stronger associations with external causes, particularly accidental deaths. Although adolescent cognitive change was associated with psychosocial factors including education and psychiatric diagnosis at conscription, its association with mortality persisted after adjustment for these factors. These findings suggest that cognitive development during adolescence carries independent prognostic information regarding long-term survival beyond cognitive level established by late childhood, highlighting adolescence as a consequential period for lifelong health.

Background: Higher cognitive ability in late adolescence and young adulthood associate with reduced risk of dementia, but such assessments are influenced by educational selection. Whether specific cognitive abilities earlier in childhood associate with later dementia risk, independent of known associations with cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes, remains unclear. Methods: We studied a Swedish population-representative birth cohort with cognitive testing at age 13 (n =10,539 born in 1948). Dementia and somatic morbidity were ascertained from nationwide inpatient and cause-of-death registers through November 2025 (>6 decades). Cox models estimated associations between childhood inductive reasoning, verbal and spatial ability scores and dementia, somatic morbidity, CVD and diabetes, each modelled as outcomes and as time-varying covariates in dementia models. Results: During follow-up, 287 individuals (2.7%) developed dementia. Higher childhood inductive reasoning associated with lower risk of dementia (HR per SD = 0.84, 95% CI 0.72-0.98), somatic morbidity, CVD (HR 0.88, 95% CI 0.83-0.92), and diabetes (HR 0.74, 95% CI 0.64-0.86). Verbal and spatial abilities were not independently associated with dementia. Somatic morbidity, CVD, and diabetes associated with dementia risk (HRs ~1.63-2.74), but only modestly attenuated the inductive reasoning-dementia association (HRs ~0.84-0.85). Findings replicated in an expanded cohort including individuals born in 1953 (total n = 19,919) and were robust to adjustment for parental and midlife education. Conclusions: Higher childhood inductive reasoning was associated with lower dementia risk across six decades, and this relationship was not substantially attenuated by adjustment for education or clinically manifest cardiovascular or cardiometabolic disease. These findings are consistent with a life-course perspective in which early neurodevelopmental characteristics contribute to dementia risk alongside major vascular and metabolic risk factors.

Students’ socioeconomic background is a strong predictor of academic achievement. Likewise, teaching quality is considered an important prerequisite influencing students’ educational opportunities and their academic achievement and affective outcomes. Empirically, there is still a need for research on these presumed relations. Especially on the associations between younger students’ perceptions of teaching quality and students’ mathematics achievement and mathematics confidence. Drawing theoretically on educational effectiveness research, this study investigated relationships between aspects of teaching quality (classroom management and instructional clarity) and mathematics achievement and mathematics confidence. These relationships were explored in a secondary analysis of students’ perceptions of their teacher’s activities and instructions as indicators of teaching quality. The rationale is that students experience and perceive the teacher’s actions in the classroom, and they may be influenced differently. Aggregating students’ perceptions at the classroom level will decrease the bias of individual ratings. The sample comprised grade four data from the Swedish 2019 cycle of the IEA Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) ( N = 3,965). Multilevel structural equation modelling was used to keep classroom variation separate from individual variation when exploring associations between classroom management and instructional clarity and mathematics achievement, and mathematics confidence. Results showed that at the classroom level, mathematics achievement is strongly related to aggregated classroom management. At the individual level, classroom management was associated significantly with mathematics achievement, and instructional clarity with mathematics confidence. Additionally, teaching quality could be beneficial for students with lower SES backgrounds, as findings indicated an achievement gap between classrooms in Sweden. Limitations and implications are discussed.

While the strong correlation between school achievement and future success is well-documented, there is limited research on how this relationship has evolved over time for different groups of individuals. Specifically, it remains unclear whether and how the life chances of low-achieving students have changed over the years. This study explores the consequences of low academic achievement on labor market outcomes in Sweden from 1994 to 2019, a period marked by educational reforms. Utilizing longitudinal Swedish data from a comprehensive register database, we analyze employment rates and income levels using descriptive statistics and regression analysis. The findings reveal significant income disparities between low and high achievers, with the former facing persistently lower income levels. For younger birth cohorts, these differences are more pronounced, highlighting the increased importance of schooling. Further, it has become increasingly difficult for individuals who have experienced school failure, such as not completing compulsory school, to obtain or retain employment. For 40-year-olds, employment has decreased by 10 percentage points between older (early 1970s) and younger (late 1980s) birth cohorts. Furthermore, while substantial, the income disparities between males and females, as well as among groups with different social backgrounds, have remained relatively stable across birth cohorts.

Background: Teaching quality is assumed to be an essential prerequisite for student learning outcomes such as mathematics confidence and mathematics achievement. Notwithstanding its significance, empirical research examining the relations between teaching quality and learning outcomes is still limited, particularly among primary school students. Addressing this gap is important for understanding how to support student learning outcomes. This study aims to examine the relationships between student-perceived teaching quality and student outcomes and differences between classrooms. Methods: Utilizing Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) data 2019 from fourth graders in mathematics classrooms in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden), the present study examines the relationships between student-perceived teaching quality (classroom management and instructional clarity) and the two student outcomes mathematics confidence and mathematics achievement in Grade 4 at both student and classroom levels. To identify latent constructs of aspects of teaching quality (classroom management and instructional clarity) and mathematics confidence, multilevel confirmatory factor analysis (MCFA) is used in the modelling process. To capture the hierarchical structure of the data, multilevel structural equation modelling (MSEM) is used as it keeps individual and classroom variation separate when investigating relations between teaching quality, mathematics confidence and mathematics achievement. Results: This study shows how student-perceived instructional clarity relates substantially to mathematics confidence at both the student- and the classroom levels in the Nordic countries. Student-perceived classroom management relates, at the student-level, significantly and positively to mathematics achievement in all countries but Denmark. At the classroom-level, classroom management relates positively to classroom mathematics achievement in Sweden and Denmark. The relationships between the student background factors and mathematics achievement were higher at both levels compared to the relationships to mathematics confidence. The findings suggest there are differences between classrooms’ mathematics achievement related to the average SES of the classroom. Conclusions: The findings highlight the importance of teachers’ generic pedagogical skills for high-quality teaching. The implications from these findings emphasize the importance of teacher education to ascertain teachers’ ability to manage the classroom well to provide students with the opportunity to learn.