Norwegian Citizens Research Articles

A qualitative study of the psychological effects of quarantine as an infection control measure in Norway

AbstractThis study explores the psychological reactions to being placed in quarantine during the early stage (March and April 2020) of the COVID-19 lockdown in Norway. We interviewed a sample of nineteen Norwegian citizens aged 21–64 years who were quarantined for 14 days in the early period of the pandemic before testing and vaccination were available to the general population. A semi-structured interview guide was used to conduct in-depth interviews about stress, coping, and adaptation to quarantine. A thematic analysis approach was used. Four main themes emerged in the interviews: (a) Being responsible, in terms of addressing the fear of being infected and infecting others, (b) The stress of the situation, in terms of highlighting worries, loss and loneliness, (c) Ways of coping, in terms of elaborating on cognitive, behavioral, and affective strategies to adapt to the quarantine, and (d) Social support and gratitude, in terms of appreciating interpersonal relations and the social context of the quarantine situation. The study contributes to our understanding of how differences in stress, appraisal, and coping may influence adaptation to a radically changed living condition in the early stage of the pandemic. These findings may inform health service providers and promote public health advise to support coping and resilient response in future health crises.

Variations in healthcare utilization for mental health problems prior to suicide by socioeconomic status: a Norwegian register-based population study

BackgroundSuicide poses a major public health challenge, claiming around 650 lives annually in Norway. There is limited understanding of mental healthcare utilization patterns preceding suicide, particularly relating to socioeconomic status (SES). This study analyzes mental health service use among Norwegian citizens aged 20–64 from 2009 to 2021, emphasizing disparities related to SES.MethodsThis is a population-wide registry-based study. We include mental health consultations with both primary and specialist healthcare services, and investigate patterns of service use regarding educational attainment, employment status and income and compare this to the population in general. All suicides in the period (N = 4731) are included in the study. The aim is to investigate potential discrepancies in service use the year and month preceding suicide, seeking to enhance targeted preventive interventions.ResultsOur results show significant variations in healthcare use for mental health problems the last year preceding suicide, according to the components of SES, for both men and women. Those with higher education utilize the mental healthcare services prior to suicide to a higher degree than men and women with high school education or less, whereas employed men and men with high income level have significantly lower mental healthcare usage prior to suicide both the last year and month compared to the non-employed men and men with low-income level. Employed women also had a lower mental healthcare usage, whereas the results regarding income are not significant for women.ConclusionMental healthcare use prior to suicide varies across the SES components. Notably, the SES groups exhibit heterogeneity, with gendered patterns. Targeted interventions for low consultation rates among employed men, and men with high income and lower education are needed, while women, and men in at-risk groups, such as the non-employed and those with low income, demonstrate higher mental healthcare utilization, warranting comprehensive suicide prevention measures.

Attitudes to gender quotas: Why and where to adjust gender imbalance in leadership

AbstractWhen individuals are confronted with information about why and where gender quotas should apply, does it affect their attitudes? A growing literature argues that information affects opinions on gender equality, but so far there is more consensus on who supports such policies than on what type of information convinces those on the fence. Using a survey experiment fielded among Norwegian citizens and elected representatives, we examine the potential of new rationales and different areas of application to find out what makes (some) people more supportive of gender quotas. Overall, we find that citizens are more affected by moral arguments than elected representatives. Among citizens, we find that emphasizing women's distinct insights boosts support among those with less fixed opinions, and that a talent framing hinting at women as an untapped resource might cause the opposite reaction. Representatives are affected by information about where gender quotas apply, as they are particularly sensitive to information on gender quotas in politics. Quite unexpectedly, we find that those on the right are more supportive of gender quotas in the leadership of religious institutions than elsewhere, and that this seems to be driven at least partly by scepticism against migrants.

Partisanship, blame avoidance behaviours and voter reactions to allegations of political misconduct

Politicians often engage in blame avoidance behaviours in order to evade electoral punishment following allegations of misconduct. A key question concerns the (in)effectiveness of such behaviours in mitigating voter opinions about the alleged misconduct and the appropriate punishment. In this article, we examine how this (in)effectiveness may be shaped by: (1) the characteristics of blame avoidance behaviours, and (2) voters' partisan (mis)alignment with the alleged offender. We address this question using a between-subject survey experiment among a sample of Norwegian citizens (N = 1996). Our main findings suggest that blame avoidance behaviours can be effective in mitigating voters' assessment of the alleged misconduct and of the punishment the politician should face. This is particularly true when it concerns politicians from respondents' most-preferred party, and among left-wing voters. These findings help explain when and why scandals may (fail to) affect politicians’ electoral fortunes.

Tuberculin responses after BCG vaccination predict amyotrophic lateral sclerosis risk

BackgroundT cell infiltration around dying motor neurons is a hallmark of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). It is not known if this immune response represents a cause or a consequence of the disease. We aimed to establish whether individual variation in regulation of a T cell driven immune response is associated with long-term ALS risk. MethodsTuberculin skin test (TST) following BCG vaccination represents a standardized measure of a secondary T cell driven immune response. During a Norwegian tuberculosis screening program (1963–1975) Norwegian citizens born from 1910 to 1955 underwent TST. In those previously BCG vaccinated (median 7 years prior to TST), we related tuberculin skin tests to later ALS disease identified through validated Norwegian health registers. We fitted Cox proportional hazard models to investigate the association between tuberculin reactivity and ALS risk. ResultsAmong 324,629 participants (52 % women) with median age 22 (IQR 10) years at tuberculosis screening, 496 (50 % women) later developed ALS. Hazard ratio for ALS was 0.74 (95% CI 0.57–0.95) for those who remained TST negative compared to those who mounted a positive TST. The association was strongest when time between BCG immunization and TST was short. The associations observed persisted for more than four decades after TST measurement. ConclusionsNegative TST responses after BCG vaccination is associated with decreased long-term risk for ALS development, supporting a primary role for adaptive immunity in ALS development.

The Biopolitics of Parental Access: Cross-Readings of Transnational Adoption and Surrogacy in Denmark and Norway

Abstract This article introduces the notion of the “biopolitics of parental access” as an analytical lens to examine how different forms of reproductive governance support and enable parental access. Through a cross-reading of political and administrative documents relating to the regulation of, respectively, transnational adoption in Denmark and transnational surrogacy in Norway, we examine the logics and techniques that inform the reproductive governance of parental access. Drawing attention to the racialized entanglement of pro- and anti-natalism, the analysis shows how access to parenthood for Danish and Norwegian citizens is continued and secured through the annihilation of the parenthood of surrogate mothers and families losing children to adoption. While the concrete logics and techniques of reproductive governance differ in the two cases, the result—access to parenthood—is similar.

Drivers of News Sharing: How Context, Content, and User Features Shape Sharing Decisions on Facebook

What makes people share political news on Facebook? Prior studies have identified how different features predict audiences’ likelihood to share news on social media – the so-called shareworthiness of news. However, we still know very little about the relative contributions of these different features for predicting why people decide to share news. We extend the literature by using an experimental design that can compare the relative importance of several key features that contribute to shaping citizens’ sharing decisions: a conjoint experimental design. We use an identical layout to Facebook and a probability sample of Norwegian citizens. We find that particularly content characteristics are important, and that popularity cues and message congruence is conditional on some user characteristics such as age.

Identifying opposition against increased carbon tax and reduced red meat consumption

Identifying the individual characteristics that predict climate policy support can inform strategies to increase support for climate policies. This study examines how individual characteristics predict support for two policies that are central to the Norwegian Climate Plan, namely increasing the carbon tax and reducing red meat consumption. The study relies on survey data collected from a representative sample of Norwegian citizens (N=2001). The findings show that several individual characteristics negatively predict both carbon tax support and willingness to eat less red meat: 1) being less concerned about climate change, 2) having right-wing political orientation, 3) having lower trust in politicians, 4) living in rural areas, 5) having lower education, and 6) being male. Strategies to increase support for carbon tax and meat reduction should pay particular attention to these groups. Future research should address how to make climate policies more attractive among these segments of the population.

Norwegian Rural Vigilantism during COVID-19: Self-Protection against a Perceived Urban Threat

When private citizens mobilise to protect their local community against threats, the rationale is that the local government is unable or unwilling to do so, due to legal restrictions, a lack of organisational resources and capacity – or indifference and discrimination. While these practises are commonly theorised as vigilantism, this conceptual approach draws in large part on studies of urban parts of the United States, Latin/South America, and the Commonwealth countries. This corresponds to a parallel knowledge gap in rural criminology, where there is little knowledge of so-called peripheral areas in the global north as well as a dearth of theoretical conceptualisation about rural vigilantism, and few studies cover areas outside the Anglo-American context. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork in 2020, this paper contributes to knowledge of vigilantism in the Nordics by providing a study on how Norwegian citizens mobilised to protect local communities from an urban pandemic threat, constituting a new form of rural vigilantism.

From asylum seekers to kin: the making and effects of kinship between Norwegian citizens and migrants

ABSTRACT Citizen humanitarianism in Europe has been contrasted and compared to professional aid through attributes like cultivating affectionate and intimate relationships with migrants. Bringing this literature into conversation with anthropological theory, this article explores the building of kinship between Norwegian citizens and asylum seekers from the Middle East. Drawing on long-term fieldwork, digital observations, and interviews with Norwegian citizens, we discuss the selective formation of these relationships and some of the personal and political effects and tensions they generated. We show that the ‘conversion’ of asylum seekers to kin challenged established hierarchies of vulnerability and deservingness while reinforcing other logics, including the primacy of psychological trauma and affinity. Moreover, ‘kinning’ instigated obligations to support migrants and facilitated cultural exchange and political engagement. While sometimes causing pain and tensions with Norwegian authorities or other family members, caring for migrants as kin was considered meaningful and redemptive by our informants, whose motivations were both personal and future-oriented. Ultimately, we argue that kinship relations and care between Norwegian citizens and asylum seekers both challenge and reinforce conventional models and imaginations of humanitarianism. We also reflect on the transformative potential of these relationships and suggest avenues for further research.

How Rally-Round-the-Flag Effects Shape Trust in the News Media: Evidence from Panel Waves before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis

ABSTRACT In this study, we extend the literature on the rally ‘round the flag phenomenon, that is, that international crises tend to cause an increase in citizens’ approval of political institutions. We advance this literature and highlight its relevance for political communication research in three ways: 1) by theorizing and empirically testing two arguments for why rally effects should extend to trust in the news media on the institutional level, 2) by providing empirical evidence on how rally effects on trust in the media develop over time during an international crisis, and 3) by theorizing and testing the conditions under which rally effects on media trust are more likely to occur by studying heterogeneous effects. Through a panel design with a pre-crisis baseline of Norwegian citizens’ trust in news media, we find evidence to suggest that the compound effect of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis caused a long-lasting increase in trust in the news media in Norway, and that the degree of increase varied by citizens’ education and whether they belonged to a “high-risk” group. We also provide evidence to suggest that rally effects on news media trust are contingent on how important the news media is as a source of information about the crisis and the “trust nexus” between media trust and political trust. These insights extend our current understanding of how times of crisis affect trust in the news media.

Life-Course Trajectories of Physical Activity and Melanoma Risk in a Large Cohort of Norwegian Women.

Physical activity (PA) is a cornerstone in disease prevention and varies throughout life. A pooled analysis of cohort studies and a meta-analysis of cohort studies found positive associations between PA and melanoma risk. However, previous studies focused on PA at specific ages and often lacked information on ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure. Using the population-based Norwegian Women and Cancer (NOWAC) cohort, including information on PA and UVR exposure, we estimated life-course PA trajectories from adolescence to adulthood and their associations with melanoma. Total PA across different domains (recreation, occupation, transport, household) was reported for ages 14 and 30 years, and when responding to the questionnaire (31-76 years) using a 10-point scale, validated to rank PA levels in Norwegian females. We estimated life-course PA trajectories using a latent class mixed model in 152,248 women divided into three subcohorts depending on age at questionnaire completion: 31-39 (n = 27,098), 40-49 (n = 52,515) and ≥50 years (n = 72,635). The unique 11-digit identity number of Norwegian citizens was used to link NOWAC to the Cancer Registry of Norway for information on cancer diagnoses, emigration and death. Associations between PA trajectories and melanoma risk were estimated in each subcohort using multivariable Cox regression. Five classes of individual life-course PA trajectories were identified in subcohort 31-39 years (low, moderate, high, decreasing, increasing PA) and four in subcohorts 40-49 and ≥50 years (low, moderate, high, decreasing PA). No significant association was found between life-course PA trajectories and melanoma risk in any subcohort. Hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) for the high versus moderate trajectory were 0.92 (0.66-1.29), 1.15 (0.97-1.37) and 0.90 (0.78-1.05) for subcohorts 31-39, 40-49 and ≥50 years, respectively. Our results do not support a positive association between PA and melanoma risk found in previous studies, which is important for public health guidelines promoting regular PA.

Fueling opposition? Yellow vests, urban elites, and fuel taxation

ABSTRACT The yellow vest movement in France was triggered by a fuel tax increase. The increase was designed to reduce petrol consumption and hence emissions. However, the costs of this policy were unequally distributed among citizens. The yellow vests illustrate that abstract support for public action against climate change is not enough to secure support for concrete policies. These policies run the risk of being opposed by citizens when their costs are unevenly spread across society. Through a survey experiment on Norwegian citizens, we analyse how different policy characteristics generate ‘support gaps’ within society. Particularly, we contrast two stylized profiles: ‘urban élites’ (high-educated urbanites) and ‘yellow vests’ (low-educated ruralites). We find that opposition rises with the individual cost of the policy but in a non-linear way. Environmental earmarking and invoking personal responsibility widen the gap between yellow vests, urban élites, and the rest of society. Redistribution to low-income households and invoking international commitments help to bridge such gaps. We argue that, instead of focusing on aggregate levels of support, both policymakers and academics should rather pay attention to the polarizing effects of certain policy attributes.

Don't Tell Me What I Don't Want to Hear! Politicization and Ideological Conflict Explain Why Citizens Have Lower Trust in Climate Scientists and Economists Than in Other Natural Scientists

Studies suggest that citizens have higher trust in some groups of scientists than in others. However, we still know little about the causes of these trust gaps. The current study fills this knowledge gap by examining Norwegian citizens' trust in climate scientists, economists, and so‐called “less politicized natural scientists.” I argue that trust in climate scientists and economists is lower than trust in less politicized natural scientists because the former fields are politicized, while the latter are not. Politicization strengthens ideological conflicts between citizens' ideology and research produced by climate scientists and economists, which leads to lower trust in these groups of scientists. I test this argument by running regression analyses on data from a representative survey of the Norwegian population. The results support the argument: Citizens have significantly higher trust in less politicized natural scientists than in both climate scientists and economists, and these differences can be explained by ideological biases in trust. Citizens with a proeconomic growth ideology have significantly lower trust in climate scientists than in less politicized natural scientists, and citizens with a left‐wing economic ideology have significantly lower trust in economists than in less politicized natural scientists.

How negative out-party affect influenced public attitudes about the coronavirus crisis in Norway

Research on affective polarization and negative partisanship toward disliked out-parties has increased significantly in recent years. However, there are surprisingly few studies that actually examine its political consequences, especially outside of the US. This study relies on two survey experiments to examine how dislike toward out-parties affected how Norwegian citizens evaluated the country's response to the coronavirus crisis. The first experiment follows the example of previous research on the US case and tests how out-party dislike measured before the coronavirus outbreak affected subsequent attitudes about how Norway and the conservative government had managed the crisis. The second experiment then randomly assigns party cues to a policy proposal included in the country's economic rescue package and tests whether like-dislike party evaluations moderate the effect of receiving the party cues. Overall, the results show that out-party dislike predicted attitudes to the government's response, but, contrary to studies focusing on the US case, this effect was either nonexistent or weaker for those who rated the country's response. Additionally, while out-party cues polarized opinions to the proposal, the moderating effect of out-party dislike was only more consistently found for those who received party cues from the populist-right party.

Tap water quality: in the eye of the beholder.

The quality of tap water is important. We consider whether objective measures of water quality factor into satisfaction with tap water among a large sample of Norwegian citizens. Our data include over 40,000 observations from the last decade and constitute an unprecedented empirical basis for investigating the link between water quality and user satisfaction. Objective measures of water quality include tests on Escherichia coli, intestinal enterococci, pH, and color. Only color has a significant impact on citizens' satisfaction with tap water. However, individual characteristics can to some degree predict tap water satisfaction. For example, the general level of satisfaction with public services and society, age, education, income, and gender are relevant characteristics. Our data are rich enough to allow for the use of fixed effects to control for unique municipal factors, such as geography and access to water sources, as well as time trends. Thus, we provide rather solid evidence that satisfaction with tap water is unrelated to several objective measures of quality, but that satisfaction is related to several individual characteristics.

A Norwegian Soul in a Chinese Body? Ethnic Identity and Chinese Adoptees in Norway

The ethnic identity of international adoptees has been a transdisciplinary field of inquiry over the past decades. Taking China-born adopted Norwegian citizens as research subjects, this study uses a mixed-method approach to explore how they perceive their ethnic identity and origin in the host society of Norway. We find that Chinese adoptees mainly identify as racially Chinese but culturally Norwegian, and their Chineseness lies primarily in their appearance. They generally feel secure about their ethnic background despite the challenges and paradoxes caused by their Chinese looks. Most adoptees have no attachment to their birth country, and their interests in China and Chinese culture are usually instrumental and individual-based. Three main socio-cultural factors shape the ethnic identity of China-born adopted children: (1) the negligible impact of their pre-adoptive history upon them, (2) a supportive family environment acknowledging their differences, and (3) an inclusive socio-cultural environment that respects ethnic diversities. No clear tendency towards constructing or enacting double identities among the adoptees was found. Finally, our respondents reported fewer racist experiences than suggested by recent literature on migrants and international adoptees in current literature. This aspect needs further research, also in reference to other cohorts of adoptees.

Worlds apart. On class structuration of citizens’ political and public attention and engagement in an egalitarian society

ABSTRACT This article draws on Pierre Bourdieu's political sociology for a statistical study of the complex interrelationship between Norwegian citizens’ attention and engagement in the world of politics and broader public debate, and how such public lifestyles align with social structures. Using multiple factor analysis the article provides a broad mapping of citizens’ use of media and culture, participation in civil society and politics, and attitudes to news and politics. It identifies a principal divide by citizens’ attention to and familiarity with the worlds and discourses of social elites and a secondary divide by their forms and areas of engagement. Both divides are structured by class position and, in the case of the second, generational divides. The article argues for the value of class approaches and a broad focus on people's relationship with the worlds of social elites for understanding public engagement.

The Sustainable Development Goals—Sensible Initiative or Just Nonsense? An Investigation of Norwegian Citizens’ Knowledge and Attitudes

We explore what associations Norwegian citizens have with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through an analysis of their knowledge of and attitudes towards these goals. To achieve this, we combine three methodological approaches: (1) structural topic modelling (STM) providing topic prevalence, (2) manual content analysis including exploration of attitudes, and (3) analysis of how individuals’ background characteristics relate to expressions of negative or positive sentiments towards SDGs. The data consist of 4046 answers to an open-ended question, formulated as follows: What comes to mind when you read or hear the expression ‘UN Sustainability Development Goals?’, fielded during the autumn of 2020, through a survey at the Norwegian Citizen Panel/DIGSSCORE. Major findings: The most prevalent topics associated with the SDGs are poverty, climate/environment, resources, future generations and consumption. The analysis indicates that the Norwegian awareness-raising campaigns have been relatively successful. However, the manual analysis shows that the SDG is an unknown concept for 12% of the respondents, and that 10% hold a negative view. Nine percent of the respondents hold a positive view of the goals. In addition, their attitudes differ clearly according to various background variables (gender, age, political preference). The findings are important for further efforts to spread knowledge of, and raise interest in, the SDGs, at different levels (government, regional and local contexts).

Educational attainment and mortality in schizophrenia.

BackgroundIndividuals suffering from schizophrenia have a reduced life expectancy with cardiovascular disease (CVD) as a major contributor. Low educational attainment is associated with schizophrenia, as well as with all‐cause and CVD mortality. However, it is unknown to what extent low educational attainment can explain the increased mortality in individuals with schizophrenia.AimHere, we quantify associations between educational attainment and all‐cause and CVD mortality in individuals with schizophrenia, and compare them with the corresponding associations in the general population.MethodAll Norwegian citizens born between January 1, 1925, and December 31, 1959, were followed up from January 1, 1990, to December 31, 2014. The total sample included 1,852,113 individuals, of which 6548 were registered with schizophrenia. We estimated hazard ratios (HR) for all‐cause and CVD mortality with Cox models, in addition to life years lost. Educational attainment for index persons and their parents were included in the models.ResultsIn the general population individuals with low educational attainment had higher risk of all‐cause (HR: 1.48 [95% CI: 1.47–1.49]) and CVD (HR: 1.59 [95% CI: 1.57–1.61]) mortality. In individuals with schizophrenia these estimates were substantially lower (all‐cause: HR: 1.13 [95% CI: 1.05–1.21] and CVD: HR: 1.12 [95% CI: 0.98–1.27]). Low educational attainment accounted for 3.28 (3.21–3.35) life years lost in males and 2.48 (2.42–2.55) years in females in the general population, but was not significantly associated with life years lost in individuals with schizophrenia. Results were similar for parental educational attainment.ConclusionsOur results indicate that while individuals with schizophrenia in general have lower educational attainment and higher mortality rates compared with the general population, the association between educational attainment and mortality is smaller in schizophrenia subjects than in the general population.