Norwegian Participants Research Articles

Behavioural and social correlates of sedentary time in young people

ObjectiveIn this study, behavioural and social correlates of objectively measured sedentary time in young people were identified.DesignCross-sectional analysis of data from the European Youth Heart Study (EYHS).SettingSchools in Denmark, Estonia,...

Feeling Good about Ourselves

The “better-than-average” effect, the tendency for people to view themselves as above average on positive characteristics but belowaverage on negative characteristics, is an important manifestation of the motive for self-enhancement. The present research examined whether the better-than-average effect occurred in Norway, a country with strong norms for modesty, and whether the same association between unrealistically positive self-appraisals and self-esteem would be observed in Norway and the United States. Seventy-six American and 102 Norwegian participants were asked to rate the favorability and self-descriptiveness of 42 personality traits, and these ratings were used to generate a self-enhancement index. Norwegians showed significantly less self-enhancement bias than did Americans, and Norwegians showed no association between self-esteem and self-enhancement bias.

In this issue

In this issue

Atopy in Norwegian and Russian adults: a population‐based study from the common border area

Several studies have concluded that atopy is more common in Western than in Eastern Europe. We aimed to study whether a similar difference exists between Norwegian and Russian adults living in geographically adjacent areas. A cross-sectional population-based study was performed in Sør- Varanger municipality (Norway) and in the cities of Nikel and Zapolyarny (Russia). The Russian cities are heavily polluted by sulfur dioxide from local nickel industry. In addition to questionnaire information, results on IgE sensitization (S-Phadiatop, Pharmacia & Upjohn, Uppsala, Sweden) were obtained from 3134 Norwegian and 709 Russian participants. A positive Phadiatop was found in 20.7% of the Norwegians (men 21.9%, women 19.7%) and in 27.5% of the Russians (men 35.7%, women 23.0%); the sex- and age-adjusted relative risk of testing positive in Russia being 1.49 (95% CI 1.23-1.81). The Norwegian participants reported more atopic dermatitis and hay fever, although this difference was statistically significant only for atopic dermatitis in women. IgE sensitization was more common in Russia than in Norway, unlike findings from other east-west European studies. The Russians did not, however, report more atopic diseases. This discrepancy might reflect different awareness of allergies in the two countries and demonstrates the need for objective markers of atopy when comparing prevalence in different populations.

Quality of life in 6497 Nordic patients with psoriasis.

Disease-specific psoriasis-related quality of life (QOL) measures have recently been developed and used in several hospital-based investigations. However, little is known about the impact of psoriasis on QOL in people with psoriasis who are not referred by dermatologists. The purpose of the study was to investigate psoriasis-related QOL in a large sample of members of the psoriasis associations from the Nordic countries, and to compare the results with those from psoriasis patients recruited from Nordic dermatologists or Nordic University clinics. A total of 5795 association members and 702 patients rated their psoriasis severity and completed the Psoriasis Disability Index and the Psoriasis Life Stress Index. Patients reported greater disease severity and greater impairment of QOL than members of associations, and Norwegian participants reported greater disease severity and greater impairment of QOL than participants from the remaining Nordic countries. Older and married participants reported less impairment of QOL than younger participants and those living alone. When controlling for the influence of these and other demographic and socio-economic factors, self-reported severity emerged as the most significant predictor of psoriasis-related QOL, explaining 32-26% of the variation in QOL scores, with the remaining factors only accounting for 4-5% of the variation. Although correlated with self-reported severity, Psoriasis Area and Severity Index scores were not a significant predictor of QOL in the patient sample. Though self-reported severity may be the most important predictor, further research is needed to determine factors explaining the remaining variance in psoriasis-related QOL.

Does contact with lesbians and gays lead to friendlier attitudes? a two year longitudinal study

AbstractAttitudes toward and contact with lesbian women and gay men were assessed through questionnaires in a 2‐year follow‐up study in a cohort of 511 Norwegian participants, 19 years of age at first data collection. A substantial proportion reported negative attitudes at baseline (between 39 and 63%) and two years later (between 32 and 59%), females being more positive than males. A majority reported having no contact with lesbian women or gay men either at 19 years of age (66–79%) or 2 years later (51–62%). Longitudinally, the measures were moderately stable (Pearson's r 0.43–0.73), and contact change was positively related to attitude change. Also, attitude change positively predicted contact change. The findings imply that efforts to reduce stigma associated with homosexuality are still needed among young people in Norway. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Motivation in college: Understanding Norwegian college students' performance on the LASSI Motivation Subscale and their beliefs about academic motivation

Norwegian college students have been found to score remarkably low on the Motivation subscale of the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI) in relation to American norms. In this study, we first administered the LASSI Motivation subscale to a sample of 15 Norwegian college students and then interviewed the students about their responses to the scale items and their beliefs about academic motivation. Only the students having the highest scores on the Motivation scale seemed to wholeheartedly value the activities described by the scale items and conceive of motivation in the self-discipline and duty-oriented way reflected by the scale. In contrast, the students having the lowest scores did not seem to value the activities described by the scale items and clearly defined academic motivation in terms of interest, enjoyment, and excitement. It is suggested that one important reason why so many Norwegian students score low on the LASSI Motivation scale might be that they have a strong sense of autonomy and are intrinsically rather than extrinsically motivated. In conclusion, possible contextual differences between American students and our Norwegian participants are also discussed.

The Association between Implicit Theories of Personality and the Attributional Process

The influence of implicit theories of personality (entity vs. incremental theorists; see Dweck, Chiu and Hong, 1995) on the stages of the Sequential Operations Model of attribution (Gilbert, Pelham, and Krull, 1988) was investigated. Two hundred eighty Norwegian participants were given a Norwegian translation of the implicit personality theories measure. Participants then read two essays, one advocating the pro-life position and the other advocating the pro-choice position on the abortion issue. The essay positions were ostensibly assigned rather than freely chosen by the author. After each essay, participants were asked to rate the essay position and the true attitude of the author. Entity and incremental theorists showed no differences in their ratings of the essay position; however, entity theorists made significantly stronger correspondent inferences about the author's attitude than did incremental theorists. These results support the contention that entity theorists engage in less attributional correction than incremental theorists.

The relationship between motivational climate, perceived ability and sources of distress among elite athletes

Situational factors as well as individual differences are assumed to play an important role in perceptions of stress. One factor that may affect an elite athlete's perception of stress may be his or her perceived motivational climate. To examine the relative importance of dispositional and situational factors on the perceptions of distress (i.e. negative stress), we assessed goal orientations, perception of motivational climate and sources of distress among Norwegian participants at the 1994 Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer. Perception of a performance climate was associated with cognitive sources of distress, the coach, and team aspects as a source of distress. Furthermore, a performance climate was a signi cant predictor of high total distress. The athletes with lower perceptions of ability perceived the coach to be more a source of distress than athletes with a high perception of ability. A perception of a mastery climate was negatively associated with the coach as a source of distress. These findings indicate that, to reduce the perception of distress, the coach should focus on creating a mastery climate for elite athletes.

Comparison of distal and neutral craniofacial pattern in untreated subjects in terms of skeletal harmony and growth

Using conventional comparisons of means and multivariate analyses, the aim of this study was to establish skeletal proportions and their growth-dependent development in untreated subjects with class II/1 malocclusion and compare them with a longitudinally-examined, untreated group with neutral occlusion. 138 untreated children from Nittedal/Norway with an Angle-class II/1 malocclusion were examined longitudinally using radiocephalometry at 2 points in time: average ages of 9.1 and 12.1 years. These class II/1 children were compared to a group of 80 untreated children with class I occlusion (also from Nittedal, similar age group). In addition to the Norwegian participants, untreated children with class II/1 malocclusion from Sweden and Germany were longitudinally analyzed. Besides a comparison of the mean values of the measured basal variables, a multivariate analysis was conducted with the help of graphically converted regression equations (harmony box). In comparison to the class-I children with neutral craniofacial pattern, the mandibles in children with class II/1 malocclusion showed a significant posterior shift at both points in time. According to evaluation with the harmony box, the craniofacial dimensions were harmonious in class I occlusion. In all class II/1 groups, the maxilla was located slightly disharmoniously to the anterior at both time points. The average basal alterations were relatively minor. If not only individual mean values are compared with one another, but also multivariate relations of the viscerocranium are considered, a maxillary anterior shift is more frequently diagnosed in subjects with a class II/1 malocclusion than is possible with a comparison of mean values.

Ideology and Identity: A National Outlook

Hopes for an international order and global peace seem shattered as we face the 21st century. The nation-state supported by the national outlook is not withering away. On the contrary, in the identity vacuum which followed the system collapse of Stalinism, new virulent forms of mini nationalisms and ethnic chauvinisms are observed. Clearly, peace research must devote more attention to the understanding of the ideological and identity components of the national outlook. The current studies contribute a step toward outlining the components of the national outlook. Phase 1 focused on components and structure of the US national outlook. 1867 US, international students, and domestic group respondents participated in the 60-item check-off survey. Few differences were found between groups, supporting the presence of a common national outlook with shared content and structure. In phase 2, 755 social science students from the USA, Bulgaria, Hungary and Norway responded to each of the 60 items on a five-point response category varying from completely meaningful (5) to completely meaningless (1). Differences in ratings by the samples were determined, and varimax rotated factor analyses were completed. The greatest overall differences were found, as predicted, between US and Bulgarian respondents, and the greatest similarities between US and Norwegian participants. Finally, the relationship of the national outlook to peace is discussed.