Kenisha Russell Jonsson

Background: In Sweden, schoolwork pressure and adolescent overweight/obesity prevalence have increased in recent decades. This study investigates the relationship between schoolwork pressure and weight status, considering the moderating role of socioeconomic background. Methods: We analysed pooled cross‐sectional data from 12 154 adolescents in the nationally representative Swedish Health Behaviour in School‐aged Children surveys (2013/14, 2017/18, 2021/22). Logistic regression models examined the association between schoolwork pressure and self‐reported overweight/obesity status (standardised by IOTF cut‐offs) across socioeconomic backgrounds assessed by the Family Affluence Scale (FAS) and perceived family wealth (PFW). We calculated population attributable fractions to quantify schoolwork pressure's contribution to overweight/obesity. Results: 37% of students reported high schoolwork pressure, and 14% had overweight or obesity. High schoolwork pressure was associated with increased odds of overweight/obesity (OR 1.17, 95% CI 1.03–1.32). Adolescents experiencing high pressure from low socioeconomic backgrounds FAS (OR 2.10, 95% CI 1.60–2.76) or PFW (OR 1.82, 95% CI 1.22–2.71) had the highest odds of overweight/obesity. Approximately 5% of overweight/obesity cases were attributable to high schoolwork pressure. Conclusions: High schoolwork pressure increases the likelihood of adolescent overweight/obesity, particularly for disadvantaged socioeconomic groups. Implementing policies to reduce academic stress and providing targeted support are essential for promoting healthier outcomes.

Emotional support from family members may have an important effect on adolescent health outcomes, and has been identified as a target for policy to protect against the impacts of poverty and other early life adversities. However, few studies have assessed the extent to which poverty and adversity themselves influence the nature of emotional support that parents can provide to adolescents. We, therefore, aimed to investigate the impact of trajectories of income poverty and family adversities, including parental mental ill health, alcohol misuse and domestic violence across childhood developmental stages on young people’s relationships with their families and perceived emotional support received. We analysed longitudinal data on 10,976 children from the nationally representative UK Millennium Cohort study. Exposure trajectories of poverty and family adversities were characterised using group-based multi-trajectory models (age 9 months–14 years). The outcomes were perceived emotional support and quality of family relationships, measured by the three-item Short Social Provisions Scale (SPS-3) and levels of parent–adolescent closeness and conflict, measured at age 14. ORs and 95% CIs were estimated using multivariable logistic regression models, adjusting for potential confounding factors. At age 14, the overall prevalence of low perceived emotional support was 13% (95% CI: 12, 14). Children of mothers with lower socioeconomic status (SES) were more likely to report low emotional support, with a clear social gradient (education—degree plus: 10.3% vs. no qualifications: 15.4%). Compared with children exposed to low levels of poverty and adversity, children in the persistent adversity trajectory groups experienced higher odds of low emotional support and low-quality parent–adolescent relationship; those exposed to both persistent poverty and poor parental mental health were particularly at increased risk of experiencing poor family relationships and low perceived emotional support (adjusted odds ratio 2·2; 95% CI 1·7–2·9). Low perceived emotional support and poor family relationships in adolescence are more prevalent among socially disadvantaged children and adolescents and those experiencing social adversity. Policies to improve levels of family support for UK adolescents should focus on improving modifiable determinants such as child poverty and family mental health.

Background: Public health mitigation policies aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19 led to an increase in mental health problems (MHPs). This study examines the association between multiple pre-pandemic health behaviours and MHPs prior to, and during, the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We...

Background Knowledge of the distribution, prevalence, and clustering of multiple health and lifestyle related behaviours (HLBs) among adolescents can inform the development of more effective health-promoting policies and interventions. We therefore assessed the clustering of multiple HLBs among 11, 13 and 15-year-old Swedish adolescents and examined the socioeconomic and demographic correlates of each cluster. Methods We used data from the 2017/2018 Swedish Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study to conduct sex and age-stratified latent class analysis (LCA). The LCA was based on five HLBs: eating behaviour and habits (EBH), physical activity (PA), tobacco usage (TU), alcohol consumption (AC) and sleeping habits and patterns (SHPs). Multinomial logistic regression models were used to assess the associations between the identified clusters and the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of adolescents and their parents. Results Health behaviours varied by age and sex. Four distinct clusters were identified based on sex: cluster 1 (Mixed eating behaviours and habits, physical activity and low alcohol consumption), cluster 2 Healthy lifestyle behaviours), cluster 3 (Unhealthy lifestyle behaviours), and cluster 4 (Breakfast, low alcohol consumption and tobacco usage). In the age-stratified analyses, three clusters were identified: cluster 1 (Unhealthy lifestyle behaviours), cluster 2 (Moderately healthy lifestyle behaviours) and cluster 3 (Healthy lifestyle behaviours). The multinomial analysis showed that sex, age, family situation and perceived family wealth were strong predictors of health behaviours. In particular, unhealthy behaviours showed the most frequent associations with socioeconomic disadvantage, having a migrant background and living in reconstructed families or single parent households. Conclusions Health behaviours vary significantly based on socioeconomic and demographic factors. Targeted policy and interventions programmes can effectively improve HLBs among vulnerable and at-risk adolescents.

Examining the mechanisms influencing mental health and life satisfaction simultaneously allows for a better understanding of adolescents psychological well-being. Six indicators of neighbourhood social capital (NSC), neighbourhood socioeconomic deprivation (SecD) and their association with psychological well-being among young adolescents aged 10-15 from England and Wales were investigated. Using a random sample of 5201 adolescents (7253 observations) from the UK Household Longitudinal Study merged to aggregated local area census measures, we fitted a series of multilevel models. The findings showed that not being worried about crime and friendship networks mitigated the negative effects of deprivation on adolescent’s psychological well-being. These findings suggest that some forms of NSC may have a buffering and protective function, with the strongest effects in deprived neighbourhoods. We further found that psychological well-being of adolescents is dependent on both individual vulnerabilities and neighbourhood context. However caution is required if, and when public health policies are formulated to address this issue, given significant variations (27-36%) in the inter- and intra-individual psychological well-being were found among this group over time. Thus, policies designed to improve psychological well-being among adolescents should take into account the role of social processes in transmitting deprivation’s effects, as well as the various forms of social capital.

Daly and Wilson (1994, 2008) reported that rates of fatal assaults of young children by stepfathers are over 100 times those by genetic fathers, and they explain the difference in evolutionary terms. Their study was replicated by comparing updated homicide data and population data from 3 surveys. This indicated that the risk to young stepchildren was approximately 16 times that to genetic children, and stepfathers were twice as likely to kill by beating. However, when we controlled for father's age, the risk from cohabiting stepfathers was approximately 6 times greater. Above the age of 4 years, stepchildren were at no greater risk than genetic children. Children are at risk from fathers primarily when both are young and they do not live together; stepfathers' apparent overrepresentation results largely from their relative youth and from many nonresidential perpetrators being labeled stepfathers. Other factors are also influential, but if these include stepparenthood, its impact is considerably less than previous researchers have claimed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Psychosocial factors shape the health of older adults through complex inter-relating pathways. Besides socioeconomic factors, time use activities may explain gender inequality in self-reported health. This study investigated the role of work-related and social time use activities as determinants of health in old age. Specifically, we analysed whether the impact of stress in terms of time pressure on health mediated the relationship between work-related time use activities (i.e. housework and paid work) on self-reported health. We applied structural equation models and a maximum-likelihood function to estimate the direct and indirect effects of psychosocial factors on health using pooled data from the Multinational Time Use Study on 11,168 men and 14,295 women aged 65+ from Italy, Spain, UK, France and the Netherlands. The fit indices for the conceptual model indicated an acceptable fit for both men and women. The results showed that socioeconomic status (SES), demographic factors, stress and work-related time use activities after retirement had a significant direct influence on self-reported health among the elderly, but the magnitude of the effects varied by gender. Social activities had a positive impact on self-reported health but had no significant impact on stress among older men and women. The indirect standardized effects of work-related activities on self-reported health was statistically significant for housework (β = − 0.006; P < 0.001 among men and β = − 0.008; P < 0.001 among women) and paid work (β = 0.012; P < 0.01 among men and β = 0.000; P > 0.05 among women), which implied that the paths from paid work and housework on self-reported health via stress (mediator) was very weak because their indirect effects were close to zero. Our findings suggest that although stress in terms of time pressure has a direct negative effect on health, it does not indirectly influence the positive effects of work-related time use activities on self-reported health among elderly men and women. The results support the time availability hypothesis that the elderly may not have the same time pressure as younger adults after retirement.