The Role of Stress Experience and Demographic Factors for Satisfaction with Life in Norwegian Adolescents: Cross-Sectional Trends over a Ten-Year Period

BACKGROUND

The individual's perception of life satisfaction (LS) is regarded as a key indicator of one's overall experience of wellbeing, sensitive to the broad spectrum of functioning. Adolescence is particularly an important period for assessing LS and factors associating with LS. The present study investigated cross-sectional trends in adolescents' LS levels across three time points over a 10-year period, as well as the role of stress experience and socio-demographic differences in association with LS.

METHODS

The study used cross-sectional data from three time points: 2011 (n = 1239), 2016 (n = 1233), and 2022 (n =311), including adolescents from lower and upper secondary public schools, with an age range of 13-20 years.

RESULTS

There were relatively high and stable mean scores on LS across all time points; however, significant differences were found between 2011 and 2016. Results from the multivariate linear regression analysis showed that sex and age were moreover weakly associated with LS, where LS decreased slightly between the ages of 13 and 18 years and increased from 19 to 20 years. Of the stress domains, interpersonal and school-related stressors showed the strongest negative and significant association with LS; significant interaction effects of sex by stress domains were found, but not with sex by time.

CONCLUSION

This study supports the relatively high and stable level of LS in adolescents across the investigated time points. Demographic factors were moreover weakly associated with LS. The findings also contribute by showing the significant role of interpersonal and school-related stressors in association with LS.

Future directions for the concept of salutogenesis: a position article

Aaron Antonovsky advanced the concept of salutogenesis almost four decades ago (Antonovsky, Health, Stress and Coping. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA, 1979; Unravelling the Mystery of Health. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA, 1987). Salutogenesis posits that life experiences shape the sense of coherence (SOC) that helps to mobilize resources to cope with stressors and manage tension successfully (determining one's movement on the health Ease/Dis-ease continuum). Antonovsky considered the three-dimensional SOC (i.e. comprehensibility, manageability, meaningfulness) as the key answer to his question about the origin of health. The field of health promotion has adopted the concept of salutogenesis as reflected in the international Handbook of Salutogenesis (Mittelmark et al., The Handbook of Salutogenesis. Springer, New York, 2016). However, health promotion mostly builds on the more vague, general salutogenic orientation that implies the need to foster resources and capacities to promote health and wellbeing. To strengthen the knowledge base of salutogenesis, the Global Working Group on Salutogenesis (GWG-Sal) of the International Union of Health Promotion and Education produced the Handbook of Salutogenesis. During the creation of the handbook and the regular meetings of the GWG-Sal, the working group identified four key conceptual issues to be advanced: (i) the overall salutogenic model of health; (ii) the SOC concept; (iii) the design of salutogenic interventions and change processes in complex systems; (iv) the application of salutogenesis beyond health sector. For each of these areas, we first highlight Antonovsky's original contribution and then present suggestions for future development. These ideas will help guide GWG-Sal's work to strengthen salutogenesis as a theory base for health promotion.

Pulmonary rehabilitation reduces depression and enhances health-related quality of life in COPD patients--especially in patients with mild or moderate disease

The first objective of the study was to evaluate a 4-week inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation program on exercise capacity, health-related quality of life (HRQL) and psychological distress in patients with COPD. The second objective was to investigate the influence of gender, age, disease severity, co-morbidity, anxiety and depression on improved HRQL after rehabilitation. The study comprised 136 consecutive patients from baseline to follow-up with mild-to-severe COPD. Exercise capacity was measured by the 6-min walking distance test, disease severity by spirometric tests, HRQL by The St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire and psychological distress by the The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Variables on socio-demography and co-morbidity were self-reported. Exercise capacity was improved from baseline to follow-up with a score difference of +44 metres (p = 000). Except for the activity score, HRQL was significantly improved: a change of -3.5 for the symptom score (p = 014), -3.1 for the total score (p = 003) and a clinical significant change of - 4.0 for the impact score (p = 002). The anxiety score did not change significantly after rehabilitation (-0.1, p = 545), though there was a significant reduction of the depression score (-0.8, p = 002) and a 10.4% reduction in the prevalence of possible depression cases (p = 017). Patients with forced expiratory volume in 1 second ≥50% predicted were 4.2 times more likely to achieve a clinical significant improved HRQL after rehabilitation than patients with forced expiratory volume in 1 second <50% predicted (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.7-10.3, p = 002). A 4-week inpatient rehabilitation program improves HRQL and exercise capacity and reduces depression in COPD patients. Patients with mild or moderate disease are more likely to achieve an improved HRQL after rehabilitation than patients with severe or very severe disease.

Young people in 'drinking' societies? Norwegian, Scottish and Swedish adolescents' perceptions of alcohol use

The paper studies young people's reported drinking behaviors and their views on various social aspects of alcohol, utilizing a sample of over 4000 rural adolescents aged 11.8-16.5 years in Norway, Scotland and Sweden. The methodology employed includes a common questionnaire and a range of varying qualitative approaches (essays and focus group interviews). The various venues and drinking contexts used by young people, their motives for drinking, and their 'learning' experiences with alcohol are described. Beyond nationality, the most powerful predictors of 'high' drinking are 'involvement with friends' and 'participation in commercial leisure'. The predictors for 'low' drinking are 'involvement in activities with parents' and 'parental concerns about drinking'. Results show that Scottish teenagers drink most, Norwegians least and no differences in the predictor variables are found that can explain this. Results are discussed in relation to social and cultural differences, and illustrated by quotations from rural young people in Scotland and Sweden.

The Type A/B behaviour pattern in samples of urban and rural men

The present study assessed the prevalence of the Type A behaviour pattern in a rural and an urban sample of men in Norway. The study was carried through on data collected for other purposes, reported earlier in 1998 and 1999, to evaluate whether there were differences in Type A behaviour pattern between the two environmental settings. The Type A behaviour pattern was assessed in both studies using the Jenkins Activity Survey. Analysis of the data on the Global Type A scale indicated that, on average, participants in both environments reported as Type Bs as opposed to Type As. However, the distribution of scores on the subscales of the Jenkins Activity Survey showed that mean scores on the Type A behaviour attributes were higher in the urban sample than those in the rural sample. The results concerning the expression of the Global Type A from these samples supported expectations about differences in challenges of a competitive environment such as an urban setting, expressed in the literature.

Associations among behavior, personality, and traditional risk factors for coronary heart disease: a study at a primary health care center in mid-Norway

The continuing presence of different negative emotions has been suggested as an important factor in the development of coronary heart disease (CHD). The present study was carried out at a medical center to investigate the presence of negative emotions and Type A behavior in a group of 40-yr.-old men and women. The National Institute of Public Health in Norway carried out the data-collection as a part of their CHD risk factor screenings. The correlation between hostility and total cholesterol is negative as is that between systolic blood pressures and the feeling of guilt for women. There was no further support for earlier findings of relationships between either Type A behavior pattern and negative emotions or Type A and elevated cholesterol values. A number of possible explanations are offered. In the study, assessment of hostility was questioned; there was possible support for poor assessment of hostility on the Karolinska Scales of Personality employed in the study.

The type 2 construct and its relation to coronary heart disease

The main aim of this study was to scrutinize the link postulated in 1988 between the Type 2 construct of Grossarth-Maticek, Eysenck, and Vetter and the incidence of coronary heart disease. Self-report data were collected from 58 men who had suffered an infarct, had been hospitalised, and had later enrolled at a physical outpatient clinic as well as from a randomly assigned control group of 70 men. Analysis showed that the Type 2 scores in the infarct group did not differ significantly from those of the control group or from measures taken immediately after an acute myocardial infarction and measures taken 3 months later. The results do not support the hypothesis of a strong association between coronary heart disease and Type 2 scores.

Social networks--the metaphor that became a research approach--a research approach in the field of nursing?

This article discusses whether the concept of social networks can be an effective approach for use in nursing research in Norway and Scandinavia. It also describes areas which may be especially well suited for this approach. The article does not answer the question as to whether nursing research should make use of social network studies, but it is concluded that this is one of the approaches which must be considered closely in connection with nursing research.