Norwegian Background Research Articles

Low level of alcohol drinking among two generations of non-Western immigrants in Oslo: a multi-ethnic comparison

BackgroundAlcohol drinking is a risk factor for harm and disease. A low level of drinking among non-Western immigrants may lead to less alcohol-related harm and disease. The first aim of this study was to describe frequency of drinking in two generations of immigrants in Oslo, contrasting the result to drinking frequency among ethnic Norwegians. The second aim was to study how frequency of drinking among adult immigrants was associated with social interaction with their own countrymen and ethnic Norwegians, acculturation, age, gender, socioeconomic factors and the Muslim faith.MethodThe Oslo Health Study (HUBRO) was conducted during the period 2000 to 2002 and consisted of three separate surveys: a youth study (15-16-year-olds, a total of 7343 respondents, response rate 88.3%); adult cohorts from 30 to 75 years old (18,770 respondents, response rate 46%); the five largest immigrant groups in Oslo (aged 20–60 years, a total of 3019 respondents, response rate 39.7%). Based on these three surveys, studies of frequency of drinking in the previous year (four categories) were conducted among 15-16-year-olds and their parents’ generation, 30-60-year-old Iranians, Pakistanis, Turks and ethnic Norwegians. A structural equation model with drinking frequency as outcome was established for the adult immigrants.ResultsAdults and youth of ethnic Norwegian background reported more frequent alcohol use than immigrants with backgrounds from Iran, Turkey and Pakistan. Iranians reported a higher drinking frequency than Turks and Pakistanis. In the structural equation model high drinking frequency was associated with high host culture competence and social interaction, while high own culture competence was associated with low drinking frequency. Adult first-generation immigrants with a longer stay in Norway, those of a higher age, and females drank alcohol less frequently, while those with a higher level of education and work participation drank more frequently. Muslim immigrants reported a significantly lower drinking frequency than non-Muslims, although this did not apply to Iranians.ConclusionsThe existence and growth in Western societies of immigrant groups with low-level alcohol consumption contributed to a lower level of consumption at the population level. This may imply reduced drinking and alcohol-related harm and disease even among ethnic Norwegians.

Relationships between organic matter, black carbon and persistent organic pollutants in European background soils: Implications for sources and environmental fate

Black carbon (BC) and total organic carbon (TOC) contents of UK and Norwegian background soils were determined and their relationships with persistent organic pollutants (HCB, PAHs, PCBs, co-planar PCBs, PBDEs and PCDD/Fs) investigated by correlation and regression analyses, to assess their roles in influencing compound partitioning/retention in soils. The 52 soils used were high in TOC (range 54-460 mg/g (mean 256)), while BC only constituted 0.24-1.8% (0.88%) of the TOC. TOC was strongly correlated (p<0.001) with HCB, PCBs, co-PCBs and PBDEs, but less so with PCDD/Fs (p<0.05) and PAHs. TOC explained variability in soil content, as follows: HCB, 80%; PCBs, 44%; co-PCBs, 40%; PBDEs, 27%. BC also gave statistically significant correlations with PBDEs (p<0.001), co-PCBs (p<0.01) and PCBs, HCB, PCDD/F (p<0.05); TOC and BC were correlated with each other (p<0.01). Inferences are made about possible combustion-derived sources, atmospheric transport and air-surface exchange processes for these compounds.

Atmospheric trace metal concentrations at Norwegian background sites during 25 years and its relation to European emissions

A comprehensive time trend analysis for a 25-years data set on trace metal concentrations from Norwegian monitoring stations have been carried out. At the Birkenes station, one of the stations with longest data record and located at a region in Southern Norway which is mostly affected by atmospheric long-range transport, the reductions have been 97%, 95% and 70% for, respectively, Pb, Cd and Zn in precipitation in the period 1980–2005. Changes in pollution levels are mainly due to changes in emission data and transboundary pollution. A comparison of the changes in monitoring data with changes in the anthropogenic emissions for Europe and Norway have therefore been carried out especially for Pb and Cd.

A Mirror Image of Sigmund Skard? Paul Knaplund and the Role of the Historian between European and American Cultures

1. IntroductionPaul Knaplund (1885-1962), long -time Professor of History and Chair at the University of Wisconsin, was one of the great and famous scholars of the British Empire. Yet, a significant amount of his time and energy as a scholar was devoted to historical issues in Norway and to Scandinavian immigrant culture in the US Midwest. This article consider’s Knaplund’s Norwegian background and his role as cultural intermediary between Norway and the United States. Knaplund was not alone ...

Biochemical markers of bone turnover and their relation to forearm bone mineral density in persons of Pakistani and Norwegian background living in Oslo, Norway: The Oslo Health Study

To evaluate whether Pakistanis have increased bone turnover compared with ethnic Norwegians due to their high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and secondary hyperparathyroidism, and whether the relation between bone turnover and bone mineral density (BMD) differs between Pakistanis and ethnic Norwegians. A cross-sectional, population-based study conducted in the city of Oslo in 2000-2001. Random samples of 132 community-dwelling Pakistani men and women of ages 40, 45, and 59-60 years, and 580 community-dwelling Norwegian men and women of ages 45 and 59-60 years are included in this substudy. Venous serum samples were drawn for measurements of markers of the vitamin D endocrine system and the bone turnover markers osteocalcin (s-OC), bone alkaline phosphatase (s-bone ALP), and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (s-TRACP). BMD was measured at the forearm by single-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Pakistanis had higher s-bone ALP compared with Norwegians. Mean (95% CI) age-adjusted levels were 22.5 (21.0, 24.1) U/l in Pakistani men versus 19.3 (18.6, 20.1) U/l in Norwegian men, P < 0.0005, and 20.3 (18.4, 22.1) U/l in Pakistani women versus 16.7 (16.0, 17.4) U/l in Norwegian women, P = 0.001. There tended to be an inverse association between bone turnover and BMD in men and women of both ethnic groups, and it was strongest for s-bone ALP. Overall mean (95% CI) distal BMD decrease was -16 (-20, -11) mg/cm(2) per 1 s.d. increase in s-bone ALP (P < 0.0005) when adjusting for age, sex, and ethnicity. Except for somewhat higher s-bone ALP levels in Pakistanis, there were only minor ethnic differences in bone turnover, despite a strikingly different prevalence of secondary hyperparathyroidism. Bone turnover was inversely associated with forearm BMD in both ethnic groups.

Relationship between sick leave, unemployment, disability, and health-related quality of life in patients with inflammatory bowel disease

The goal of this study was to determine the rate of work disability, unemployment, and sick leave in an unselected inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) cohort and to measure the effect of working status and disability on the patient's health-related quality of life (HRQOL). All eligible patients were clinically examined and interviewed at the 5-year follow-up visit. In addition, they completed the 2 HRQOL questionnaires, the Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36) and the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire validated for use in Norway (N-IBDQ). Data regarding sick leave, unemployment, and disability pension (DP) also were collected. All together, 495 patients were or had been in the workforce during the 5-year follow-up period since diagnosis. Forty-two patients (8.5%) were on DP compared with 8.8% in the background population. Women with Crohn's disease (CD) had the highest probability of receiving DP (24.6%). A total of 58 patients (11.7%) reported they were unemployed at 5 years. This was equally distributed between men and women but was more frequent in patients with ulcerative colitis. Sick leave for all causes was reported in 47% with ulcerative colitis and 53% with CD, whereas IBD-related sick leave was reported in 18% and 23%, respectively. A majority (75%) had been sick <4 weeks, and a relatively small number of patients (25%) contributed to a large number of the total sick leave days. Both unemployment and DP reduced HRQOL scores, but the most pronounced effect on HRQOL was found in patients reporting IBD-related sick leave, measured with SF-36 and N-IBDQ. The observed differences also were highly clinically significant. Multiple regression analysis confirmed that IBD-related sick leave was the independent variable with the strongest association to the observed reduction in HRQOL scores. Unemployment or sick leave is more common in IBD patients than in the Norwegian background population. The number of patients receiving DP is significantly increased in women with CD but not in the other patient groups. Unemployment, sick leave, and DP are related to the patient's HRQOL in a negative way, but this effect is most pronounced in patients reporting IBD-related sick leave.

Extreme heterogeneity in CARD15 and DLG5 Crohn disease-associated polymorphisms between German and Norwegian populations

The first gene associated with Crohn disease (CD) has been identified as CARD15 (16q12). Three variants, R702W, G908R and 1007fsinsC are strongly and independently associated with the disease. A second gene, conveying a smaller risk for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), has been identified as DLG5 (10q23). We assess the frequency of the CARD15 SNPs and of the R30Q mutation in DLG5 and their contribution to the development of CD in a cohort of unrelated IBD patients (151 CD, 325 ulcerative colitis (UC)) and healthy controls (236) from South-east Norway (IBSEN cohort). Genotype-based tests of population differentiation using 23 SNPs across CARD15, together with estimates of F(ST), indicated that the German and Norwegian background populations could be differentiated at the CARD15 locus. The Norwegian and German CD samples exhibited particularly strong differentiation at the three predisposing loci and those marking their background haplotype. There were significantly lower frequencies of the CARD15 SNPs and no significant association with CD in the Norwegian samples. Only a marginal association was observed for the subphenotypes ileitis and ileocolitis vs colitis (P=0.048). The population attributable risk percentage (PAR%) for CARD15 variants in the Norwegian cohort is the lowest reported for a European population (1.88%), except Iceland. Similarly, the DLG5 variant showed no association with CD or IBD, however, there was a negative correlation with stricture (P=0.035). The present results are consistent with an emerging pattern of a low frequency of the CARD15 variants in Northern countries where the prevalence of IBD is greatest.

Drinking pattern among adolescents with immigrant and Norwegian backgrounds: A two‐way influence?

To assess the association between drinking behaviour among adolescents with both immigrant and native backgrounds with aspects of acculturation. Cross-sectional school survey among 15-16 year olds. All students, a total of 8361, in 10th grade during spring 2000 and 2001 in Oslo, Norway with response rate 88.3%. The sample consisted of 1213 students with an immigrant background and 4627 students with a Norwegian background. Indicators of the length of the acculturation process were assessed as first versus second generation and in terms of length of stay in Norway. The proportion of Muslim students in school was an indicator of social environment 'dryness'. Drinking behaviour was assessed as drinking alcohol ever, drinking frequency and intoxication frequency. A smaller proportion of immigrant students were current drinkers, frequent drinkers and drank to intoxication compared with adolescents with a Norwegian background. Adjusted two-level analyses showed that alcohol drinking was less common among immigrant students with a short stay in Norway and with a large proportion of Muslim students in school. In those with a Norwegian background there was a larger proportion of abstainers, and those who drank did so less frequently and were less frequently intoxicated the larger the proportion of Muslim students there was in their school. Drinking behaviour among adolescents in a multicultural and heterogeneous society seems to reflect a bi-directional acculturation process where the majority population tend to adapt to the behaviours of the immigrant population which in turn, to a varying degree, tends to adapt to the behaviour of the majority population.

Vitamin D deficiency and secondary hyperparathyroidism and the association with bone mineral density in persons with Pakistani and Norwegian background living in Oslo, Norway: The Oslo Health Study

We studied the prevalence of poor vitamin D status and the association with bone density in men and women born in Norway (quoted as Norwegians, n = 869) and Pakistan (quoted as Pakistanis, n = 177) in the population-based Oslo Health Study, 2000–2001. We measured 25-hydroxyvitamin D, iPTH and ionized calcium in serum and bone mineral density at the forearm site with single energy X-ray absorptiometry. Mean 25-hydroxyvitamin D was 74.8 ± 23.7 nmol/l in the Norwegians and 25.0 ± 13.6 nmol/l in the Pakistanis ( P = 0.000). The prevalence of secondary hyperparathyroidism (iPTH ≥ 8.5 pmol/l, 25-hydroxyvitamin D < 50 nmol/l and Ca 2+ ≤ 1.35 mmol/l) was four times higher in Pakistani compared to Norwegian women. Also in Pakistani men, serious vitamin D deficiency defined as secondary hyperparathyroidism was prevalent, and five times as frequent as in Norwegian men. However, whereas BMD was significantly lower in Norwegian women with, compared to Norwegian women without, secondary hyperparathyroidism, there was no difference in BMD between Pakistani women with and without secondary hyperparathyroidism. In conclusion, vitamin D deficiency was prevalent among Pakistani immigrants, and in great contrast to the vitamin D replete Norwegians. Serious vitamin D deficiency was interestingly not associated with reduced forearm bone density among Pakistani women.

Infant death and consanguineous marriage

EDITOR, - Perinatal mortality and infant mortality are important indicators of community health Consanguineous marriage increases the risk of having children with autosomal recessive disorders and may be a cause of perinatal and infant death that cannot be prevented.1,2 We recently compared perinatal and infant mortality in children with a Norwegian background and …

Time-trends of sulfate and nitrate in precipitation in Norway (1972–1982)

A time-trend analysis of excess-sulfate (excSO 4 2−) and nitrate (NO 3 −) in precipitation at three Norwegian background stations over the period 1972–1982 is shown. Parameterized corrections for transport direction, precipitation amount and seasonal cycle are applied and a “split-half” method is used to estimate the uncertainty of the trend analysis. Despite a large decrease (3.4% a −1) in the emission rates in the U.K. no corresponding negative excSO 4 2− trend is found from this transport direction. In airmasses from remote areas, like the Atlantic and Norwegian seas, a marked negative excSO 4 2− trend is found, in accordance with reduced emission rates in middle Europe and North America. Further, increased emission rates of nitrogen compounds are reflected in a positive NO 3 − trend in southern Norway. The most northerly station indicates, however, a decrease in NO 3 −.

Ibsen in Seattle

by SVERRE ARESTAD 7 Ibsen in Seattle The ground purpose for the of interest this article shown is in to Ibsen present by some Norwegian background for the interest shown in Ibsen by Norwegian Americans and others in Seattle, to record as accurately as available sources permit the statistical data on performances of his plays, to assess Ibsen's impact on theater-goers, to evaluate in general the presentation of his dramas, to discuss in detail the Seattle Repertory Playhouse production of Peer Gynt , and, finally, to give some indication of the continuing interest in Ibsen in the area. i Some statistics concerning the performances of Ibsen's plays in Seattle will be given later, but let us begin with three Peer Gynt productions during the period 1931-1965. In the 1930's, the Seattle Repertory Playhouse, under the direction of Florence Bean and Burton James, gave 92 presentations of Peer Gynt before more than 29,000 spectators. The University of Washington Showboat Theatre, under the direction of Drama Professor Donald Harrington, staged the play 33 times for audiences totaling 6,600 in the spring of 1951. In June, 1965, the late John Rustad, associate professor of humanistic-social studies at the University of Washington, assisted by Ralph Rosinbum, associate professor of music, directed and acted the leading role in a spectacular staging of the drama. Four per167 Sverre Atestad formances attracted 12,000 spectators to the outdoor Aqua Theatre. Thus in three decades there have been 129 performances of Peer Gynt before more than 48,000 people. How does one account for this popularity? Many factors contributed to the initial reception accorded Peer Gynt in Seattle. One might suggest that the deep depression of the 1930's, and the ugly unrest in many areas of the world during the same period - not least of all in Europe may well have helped to create a climate receptive to the charms of this play. These specific factors, however, would not have been operative in 1951 or in 1965, although other external circumstances, equally valid, could be advanced to account for its success in later years. No doubt the intrinsic appeal of Peer Gynt , as good theater, to widely disparate audiences and the local orientation toward Ibsen, which I shall develop below, really account for the play's overwhelmingly favorable reception. I shall concentrate, as far as theater performances are concerned , on the production by the Seattle Repertory Playhouse (hereafter referred to as the Playhouse) . I do not thereby disparage the fine presentation of Peer Gynt by the Showboat Theatre or its enthusiastic acceptance by the large Aqua Theatre audiences. Nor do I slight the numerous other successful performances of Ibsen's plays both in commercial and noncommercial Seattle theaters. A detailed consideration of other notable showings of the great playwright's works would be repetitive and beyond the scope of this article. Founded in 1929 by Florence Bean and Burton James, who had been members of the drama faculty at the University of Washington, the Playhouse contributed substantially for more than a decade to the theater and the general cultural life of the city. To my knowledge, no theater outside Norway had performed Peer Gynt as often as the Playhouse. Although a number of years have passed since this achievement, it is worthwhile to record it as an unusual contribution to the Ibsen tradition. 168 IBSEN IN SEATTLE After the thirty-ninth presentation of Peer Gynt , Mrs. Florence Bean James remarked to Washington-Posten (now Western Viking ) , Seattle Norwegian-language weekly, that the Norwegians in Seattle and on the Pacific coast had contributed substantially to the success of the play through attendance and in other ways. Her statement may well contain an element of truth - 12,000 people had attended the 39 performances - but Peer Gynt was revived by the Playhouse and shown before an additional 17,000 spectators. The total figure of 29,000 far exceeds the number of Norwegians in the area. It follows, therefore, that not only members of this ethnic group, but others as well - indeed, in larger numbers - supported the ambitious undertaking. It can be assumed that Peer Gynt was familiar to most Norwegians in the...

THORSTEIN VEBLEN AND ST. OLAF COLLEGE: A GROUP OF LETTERS BY THORBJ�RN N. MOHN

THORSTEIN VEBLEN AND ST. OLAF COLLEGE: A GROUP OF LETTERS BY THORBJ0RN N. MOHN EDITED BY KENNETH BJORK In the summer of 1890 Thorstein B. Vehlen was seriously considered for a position as teacher of science on the faculty of St. Olaf College, in Northfield, Minnesota. We are briefly informed of this fact by his biographer, Joseph Dorfman , who adds, "The administration personally liked him, but his religious views prevented his appointment."1 To one at all familiar with Veblen's later writings - which have been variously ignored, damned, and acclaimed - it is somewhat surprising that this independent and progressive social philosopher should have sought employment at a clerically controlled pioneer institution of the type that St. Olaf College represented in the nineteenth century; and his admirers may be tempted to consider the inevitable refusal as just another evidence of the bigotry endemic in the church college. A review of Veblen's early life and of the historical background of the school, however, reveals nothing unusual or unjust either in the application or in its rejection. In his infancy and youth, Vehlen was surrounded by the attitudes and principles that are associated with the Norwegian-American academies and colleges of the Middle West. Seven years after his birth on a Wisconsin farm in 1857, he moved with his family to Rice County, Minnesota. In a milieu at once conservative and pious, he knew the rural life of the Norwegian immigrants and the part played in it by religion; furthermore his biographer states that there is no evidence, in his early years, of opposition to the Lutheran church. When he left home at the age of seventeen to attend Carleton College he was actually considered as a 1 Thorstein Vehlen and His Amerìca , 78 (New York, 1934). 122 VEBLEN AND ST. OLAF COLLEGE 123 candidate for the ministry. Carleton - which like St. Olaf is located in Northfield - was then strongly imbued with the puritanism of the Congregational Church, and its faculty was composed very largely of ministers. Though Thorstein gained the reputation of being something of a cynic during these college days and began early to read scientific and sociological literature frowned upon by the theologians, he accepted a position after his graduation as a teacher at Monona Academy, a school that had been operated since 1876 by the Norwegian Synod at Madison, Wisconsin. His first year of teaching, 1880-81, was the last in the history of the academy, but it sufficed to acquaint the young instructor with the ideals and policies of the Norwegian church school. In one other respect the year was important: Veblen, who had begun the study of Old Norse somewhat earlier with his brother Andrew, was brought into a stimulating relationship in Madison with Rasmus B. Anderson, professor of Scandinavian at the University of Wisconsin. Anderson apparently quickened the younger man's interest in the cultural ramifications of his Norwegian background. Veblen next studied philosophy and economics at Johns Hopkins, and then for a doctorate in philosophy at Yale, mainly under the Reverend Noah Porter. It is evident that during the time he was at Yale, Veblen was a skeptic, though perhaps a mild one as he had been at Carleton; and his ideas in the field of religion were as yet a bit vague. In religious as in social and economic matters he was groping toward a philosophy that actually required years in which to mature. What is really significant is the fact that then, as later, his entire approach to the problems of society was traditionally philosophical and that it bore the clear imprint of theological influence. In 1884 he received the doctoral degree, after submitting a dissertation, interestingly, on "The Ethical Grounds of a Doctrine of Retribution." Although he was armed with a set of excellent recommendations, he was 124 KENNETH BJORK nevertheless unable to obtain a college teaching position either because of a native lack of aggressiveness, or the the fact that he was a "Norskie" of a not too highly polished type, or the tendency of colleges to rely upon divinity schools to supply their teaching staffs, or because of a combination of these reasons. All that we know...