Swedish Boys Research Articles

Social origin, schooling and individual change in intelligence during childhood influence long-term mortality: a 68-year follow-up study

Background Intelligence at a single time-point has been linked to health outcomes. An individual's IQ increases with longer schooling, but the validity of such increase is unclear. In this study, we assess the hypothesis that individual change in the performance on IQ tests between ages 10 and 20 years is associated with mortality later in life.Methods The analyses are based on a cohort of Swedish boys born in 1928 (n = 610) for whom social background data were collected in 1937, IQ tests were carried out in 1938 and 1948 and own education and mortality were recorded up to 2006. Structural equation models were used to estimate the extent to which two latent intelligence scores, at ages 10 and 20 years, manifested by results on the IQ tests, are related to paternal and own education, and how all these variables are linked to all-cause mortality.Results Intelligence at the age of 20 years was associated with lower mortality in adulthood, after controlling for intelligence at the age of 10 years. The increases in intelligence partly mediated the link between longer schooling and lower mortality. Social background differences in adult intelligence (and consequently in mortality) were partly explained by the tendency for sons of more educated fathers to receive longer schooling, even when initial intelligence levels had been accounted for.Conclusions The results are consistent with a causal link from change in intelligence to mortality, and further, that schooling-induced changes in IQ scores are true and bring about lasting changes in intelligence. In addition, if both these interpretations are correct, social differences in access to longer schooling have consequences for social differences in both adult intelligence and adult health.

On being victimized by peers in the advent of adolescence: Prospective relationships to objectified body consciousness

Previous research indicates that peer victimization is tied to children's negative appearance evaluations. The current study examines whether early peer victimization is also prospectively related to objectified body consciousness. Six-hundred-and-two Swedish boys and girls answered questionnaires at age 10, and again at age 18. Main findings showed that being the target of peer victimization at age 10 was related to more habitual appearance monitoring and body shame at age 18. Gender moderated the relations between victimization and body shame, with victimized girls experiencing stronger body shame than victimized boys. Additionally, whereas boys experienced less body shame than girls, they were equally likely to monitor their appearance. In sum, this study provides preliminary support to the notion that peer victimization is involved in the processes by which young adolescents’ self-objectify. Future studies are warranted to further validate these findings.

Family and School Psychosocial Environment (FSPE): Development of a brief questionnaire measuring perceived psychosocial environments in children/siblings

The aim of the study was to develop a short Swedish standardized, factor analyzed and cross-validated, family and school psychosocial environment questionnaire (FSPE). The study was based on 244 Swedish girls and boys, 10-19 years old, who filled in the FSPE. Maximum likelihood factor analysis, promax rotation, yielded six primary factors, based on absolute ratings. Since the factors were somewhat correlated, two broader secondary factors, with satisfactory reliabilities, were also included in the form, named Warmth, support and openness from parents, siblings and peers, and Family conflicts and school discipline, respectively. Means and standard deviations for girls and boys showed sex differences in most of the factors. Because the children participated anonymously they could report about spanking without negative consequences. Indeed, 8.1% of the children had been spanked by their parents. Based on relative ratings, two factors were identified, covering environmental questions about "more than, the same as or less than" a sibling. Only 6.6% of the children rated their environment exactly the same on the Family Psychosocial Environment (FPE) factors, compared to a sibling within the family. Thus the majority reported environmental differences. Further research is proposed to evaluate such differences and relations to personality, genotype-environment correlation and genetic mediation.

Medelklassens buspojkar: en maskulinitetsstudie i Erik Pallins Pojkarna på Klasro

In my article, “Young rascals of the middle-class–masculinities in Erik Pallins Pojkarna pa Klasro ”, I argue that Pojkarna pa Klasro (1922) in many regards is a typical boy's book, and a good starting-point for mapping out and studying the Swedish branch of the genre, a genre defined by gender. During the 1920s the Swedish author Erik Pallin (1878–1964) wrote five books about the three brothers Erik, Nisse and Anders, which all take place at the family's summerhouse Klasro during school holidays. The stories mainly revolve around typical boyhood adventures and outdoor activities, such as hiking, exploring, swimming, rowing, and fighting other gangs of boys, in this case, preferably boys of the lower classes. Not surprisingly, Pallin's text describes a patriarchal hierarchy, where the boys are adjusted to hegemonic masculinity and driven by homosocial desire, which leads to the excluding of girls; most female characters play subordinated (anonymous) parts and are bound up with the domestic sphere. In terms of power, an intersectional perspective shows that besides gender, age, physical abilities, geographical domicile (in this case Stockholm) and class are important factors when the boys establish their pecking order. An interesting aspect of the fact that the boys belong to the middle-class, is the lack of typical boy's discourse (slang, puns, oaths etc.), which otherwise is common in Swedish boy's books of this era. Keywords: Swedish boy's book, masculinity, Erik Pallin, boyhood

Prosody intervention: A single subject study of a Swedish boy with prosodic problems

Swedish has a complicated prosodic system, compared, for example, with English. A large proportion of Swedish children with language impairment (LI) have prosodic problems to some extent. There are few descriptions in the literature of prosody intervention, which means that clinicians must rely on their overall linguistic and therapeutic knowledge when designing intervention for prosodic problems. The aim of the present study is to design an intervention package for prosodic problems in children and to evaluate this intervention. The article reports a single subject multiple baselines case study. The participant was a boy (aged 4 years and 6 months) with prosodic problems, mainly on word level but also on phrase and discourse level. The intervention was devised to address his problems and focused on word level prosody. The intervention was carried out over 6 weeks, comprising six 60-minute sessions. Post-intervention assessments were carried out immediately after intervention and 9 weeks later. The participant improved his overall prosodic skills significantly, as assessed by a procedure designed to capture prosody at word, phrase and discourse level. An evaluation of a spontaneous speech sample was also made by a panel of three experienced listeners, and they found some improvement in the participant’s prosody in connected speech, although this was not significant.

A gender perspective on adolescents' perceived safety and security when moving outdoors

Adolescents in Sweden can move relatively independently in public space. Girls are, however, in general more limited than boys, for instance due to perceived insecurity in the environment. This study...

Age and the social meaning of wearing a bicycle helmet among Swedish teenagers

The aim of this study is to understand the social meaning of wearing a bicycle helmet among teenagers, in relation to their constructions of age. In Sweden, using a helmet...

Physical, Sociocultural, and Behavioral Factors Associated with Body-Esteem in 16-Year-Old Swedish Boys and Girls

Body Mass Index (BMI), weight loss attempts, pubertal timing, body ideal internalization, and peer appearance teasing were examined in relation to three dimensions of body-esteem; weight-based body-esteem (Weight), appearance-based body-esteem (Appearance), and beliefs about how others view one’s body and appearance (Attribution). Participants were 758 Swedish 16-year-olds. Results showed that the factors examined varied in importance depending on gender and body-esteem dimension. Whereas a majority of the factors examined were related to the Weight dimension, fewer were related to the Appearance dimension, and almost none were related to the Attribution dimension. Furthermore, the factors examined were generally able to explain a much greater amount of variance in girls’ body-esteem than boys’.

What characterizes early adolescents with a positive body image? A qualitative investigation of Swedish girls and boys

The aim of the present study was to investigate positive body image during adolescence. Semi-structured interviews, centring on three body image domains (satisfaction with own appearance, views on exercise, and influence from family and friends) were conducted with 30 early adolescent Swedish girls and boys who at age 10 and 13 had shown the highest level of body satisfaction in a large longitudinal sample. The data were analyzed thematically. Results revealed that the adolescents’ satisfaction with their own appearance was characterized by a functional view of the body and an acceptance of the bodily imperfections that they perceived that they had. The vast majority of the adolescents were physically active and found exercise joyful and health-promoting. Finally, although some of the adolescents had received negative comments about their appearance from family and friends, such comments were not given any importance.

Cultural, contextual, and gender differences in peer talk: A comparative study

The study focused on cultural, contextual, and gender differences in children's peer talk. Same-sex dyads of Estonian (n = 38), Finnish (n = 38), and Swedish (n = 34) preschool age children were videotaped during unstructured and structured play settings. We found only one gender difference in children's talkativeness and in the use of regulatory speech: during free play, Swedish boys used more imperatives per directives than Swedish girls. At the same time there were significant cultural and contextual differences. Estonian children were most directive and Swedish children were least directive. Finnish children were less directive than Estonian children but more directive than Swedish children. It was concluded that cultural and contextual factors strongly influence the likelihood, extent, and nature of gender differences in peer talk.

The clock gene PER2 and sleep problems: Association with alcohol consumption among Swedish adolescents

Background. Alcohol abuse is associated with sleep problems, which are often linked to circadian rhythm disturbances. Previous studies have separately examined the effects of mutations in the clock gene PER2 on alcohol consumption and sleep problems. Here we hypothesized that an allelic variation in the PER2 gene is associated with alcohol consumption in interaction with sleep problems among adolescents.Methods. The Survey of Adolescent Life and Health in Västmanland 2006, a Swedish county, including 1254 students 17–18 years old, was used as a population-representative sample of adolescents. We investigated the PER2 Single Nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) 10870 (A/G) in the cohort together with an assessment of alcohol consumption according to the AUDIT-C questionnaire, and sleep problems using a survey consisting of 18 items. Furthermore, we carried out an exploratory analysis on the PER2 Single Nucleotide Polymorphism 10870 polymorphism in a group of severely alcoholic females.Results. We found a significant association of the SNP 10870 in adolescent boys, where the genotype AA, in the presence of several and frequent sleep problems, was associated with increased alcohol consumption. Among adolescent girls, only sleep problems were related to alcohol consumption. A non-significant trend was observed among the severely alcoholic females, with the G allele being over-represented in the severely alcoholic females group in comparision to the control females.Conclusion. These results indicate that PER2 gene variation is associated with alcohol consumption in interaction with sleep problems among Swedish adolescent boys.

Exposure to dioxin-like pollutants via different food commodities in Swedish children and young adults

The dietary intake of polychlorinated dibenzo- p-dioxins (PCDDs), dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and biphenyls (PCBs) in terms of toxic equivalents (TEQs) was investigated in Swedish children and young adults. Exposure was estimated from concentration data of six groups of individual food commodities (meat, fish, dairy products, egg, edible fats and other foodstuff) combined with food intake data from a 7-day record book obtained from 670 individuals aged 1–24 years. The results showed that Swedish boys and girls, up to the age of ten, had a median TEQ intake that exceeded the tolerable daily intake (TDI) of 2 pg TEQ/kg body weight. Children exceeding the TDI varied from almost all individuals among the youngest children to about 20% among young men and women. Dairy and fish products were the main sources of exposure for the average child, accounting for 59% of the total TEQ intake. The individuals most highly exposed were, on the other hand, characterized by a high consumption of fish. Since children constitute a vulnerable group, results obtained from the present study show that it is essential to perform age specific dietary intake assessments of pollutants and more carefully consider sensitive and/or highly exposed groups in the population in the risk management processes.

Differences in prevalence of overweight and stunting in 11-year olds across Europe: The Pro Children Study

To assess country differences in prevalence of overweight, obesity, underweight and stunting in the Pro Children Survey. A cross-sectional study conducted in a random sample of schools in nine European countries in 2003. The subjects were 8317 11-year-old children from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Iceland, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. Parents reported height and weight of the children, and BMI values were analysed using the US Centers of Disease Control and Prevention and the International Obesity Task Force reference populations. Continuous variables were compared with one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Games-Howell post hoc tests. Categorical variables were analysed using chi-square tests. The prevalence of overweight + obesity varied between the countries from 8.6% to 30.6% and 5.9% to 26.5%, respectively, depending on the reference population, with the lowest prevalence in Dutch girls, the highest in Portuguese boys. Obesity prevalence varied from 1.1% (Dutch and Danish girls) to 10.7% (Portuguese boys) and from 0.3% (Dutch girls) to 6.2% (Portuguese boys), respectively. Portugal and Spain had the highest prevalence of overweight and obesity for both genders. The ranking of the countries according to overweight and obesity prevalence was roughly the same, independent of reference population. The prevalence of underweight varied from 2.3% (Swedish boys) to 12.3% (Belgian boys), using the American reference population. The proportion of stunted children was highest in Portugal, Spain and Belgium. The highest levels of overweight, obesity and stunting in the pro children material are found in Portugal and Spain.

Cross-Cultural Comparison of Motivation to Learn in Physical Education: Japanese vs Swedish Schoolchildren

The present study compared differences between Japanese and Swedish schoolchildren in learning motivation-related variables in physical education. The subjects were 1,562 Japanese fifth and sixth graders (776 boys and 786 girls) ranging in age from 10 to 12 years and 573 Swedish fifth graders (306 boys and 267 girls) from 10 to 13 years (M = 11.4, SD = 0.5). They completed three questionnaires to evaluate the children's learning motivation, factors supporting motivation to learn, and preferences of learning behavior. The questionnaires were taken from Nishida's Diagnosis of Learning Motivation in Physical Education Test, a multidimensional and comprehensive test that measures learning motivation. A 2 x 2 (country by sex) multivariate analysis of variance indicated both Swedish boys and girls scored significantly higher than the Japanese children on most subscales. Results were discussed in relation to differences in the sports environment and culture of the two countries.

Preventing pregnancy: a girls' issue. Seventeen-year-old Swedish boys' perceptions on abortion, reproduction and use of contraception

Objective To gain deeper understanding of how teenage males view abortion, adolescent fatherhood, sexual behavior, and use of contraception.Method We conducted six focus-group interviews with 17-year-old boys (n = 40). The interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using manifest content analysis.Results Adolescent fatherhood was considered to be a catastrophe and abortion a moral dilemma. Most participants agreed that the unrestricted right to decide on abortion rests upon the girl, but some were frustrated by not having any legal right to influence the decision. Contraceptive failure was viewed as common and mainly due to the influence of alcohol or in relation to unplanned sex. Boys perceived girls as having a greater responsibility in avoiding pregnancy, and they often put a blind trust in the girls' use of hormonal contraceptives or initiation of emergency contraception. Several groups had insufficient knowledge about fetal development and other aspects of reproduction. Many were unsatisfied with the sex education they had received at school, but still considered it to be an important counterweight to other sources of information concerning sex, such as pornography.Conclusion Equal responsibility among boys and girls regarding reproductive issues is still a challenge, but nevertheless an important key to the prevention of unwanted pregnancies.

Estimating Final Height from Parental Heights and Sex in Taiwanese

We have developed a simple function for accurately estimating target height for use in evaluating growth and growth-promoting therapies in Taiwanese children. The heights of parents and their adult offspring born in the 1970s were determined in 1229 healthy families who accompanied another family member to our pediatric clinic. We directly measured the heights of the population-based cohort of adult offspring. The heights of their parents were based on self-report. Both the parents and their offspring were healthy. The increases in height between the two generations were 1.49-3.19 cm for boys and 2.03-2.61 cm for girls. These increases lie between those reported for Chinese children in Hong Kong (4.2-4.8 cm) and children in Sweden (0.7-1.0 cm). Final height was underestimated using the corrected midparental height method and was overestimated using the final parental height model developed from Swedish data. We developed a new linear model by fitting our data: boy height = 79.3 + 0.56 (midparental height); girl height = 35.2 + 0.76 (midparental height). The intercept and slope of the model are similar to those reported for Swedish girls but not to those reported for Swedish boys. Use of the new equations derived from our data may increase the accuracy of estimates of target height in Taiwanese children. The intermediate position of our fairly representative Taiwanese sample in both final height and generational increases in final height may reflect an intermediate stage between the Swedes and Hong Kong Chinese in the secular trend of heights.

The reproduction of gender: housework and attitudes towards gender equality in the home among Swedish boys and girls1

The housework Swedish girls and boys age 10 to 18 do, and their attitudes towards gender equality in the home are studied. One aim is to see whether the work children do is gendered and if so, whether they follow their parents', often gendered, pattern in housework. A second aim is to see whether children's attitudes are influenced by their parents' attitudes and practices. When it comes to issues like these, Sweden is of special interest because in 1995, Sweden was appointed the most gender equal country in the world by the United Nations. The data used were the Swedish Child Level of Living Survey 2000 (see http://www.sofi.su.se/LNU2000/english.htm), a data set that includes extensive first-hand information from both children and their parents. The results indicate that girls and boys in two-parent families are more prone to engage in gender atypical work the more their parent of the same sex engages in this kind of work. The fact that girls still do more housework than boys in all families independent of, among other things, the parental division of housework and the mother's educational level indicates that housework to some extent signifies gender also to children. However, no clear relation is found between the parents' division of work and the child's attitude towards gender equality in the home. Neither is there any clear relation between the parents' attitude towards gender equality in the home and the children's attitude to the same topic.

Hearing ability according to screening at conscription; comparison with earlier reports and with previous screening results for individuals without known ear disease

(1) To study if young, Swedish men have poorer or better hearing according to screening at conscription in 1988 compared to 1969-1977. (2) To study how the results of screening and audiometry vary across the teenage years for a group of boys without middle ear disease. A birth cohort has earlier been well documented regarding results in four general screenings with follow-up and examinations and treatment for middle ear disease at the ENT departments in the area. Their results when screened at conscription have been compared with those in earlier reports on screening of Swedish conscripts. We have also studied results in screenings and follow-up at 11 and 14 years of age with special focus on small losses at the frequencies of 3, 4, 6 and 8 kHz and describe how 611 boys without known ear disease performed in these examinations and in screening at the age of 18. There is no obvious trend in the prevalence of hearing loss in Swedish conscripts. At 11 years of age 80.4% and at 14 years of age 64.6% of small high tone losses diagnosed by screening were not confirmed by audiometry. Approximately half of those who had confirmed losses had normal screening at conscription. 18-year-old Swedish boys did not have poorer hearing in 1998 than 29 years earlier. Information drawn from screenings must be interpreted with caution.

Hearing loss as a sequel of secretory and acute otitis media as reflected by audiometric screening of Swedish conscripts

Many authors have shown a small effect on hearing from middle ear disease even a long time after active disease has subsided. We wanted to see to what extent those who have had otitis media in childhood in our district have normal hearing at the age of 18 years. The aim of the present study is to find out if a history of secretory otitis media (SOM) up to 14 years of age or acute otitis media (AOM) up to 4 years of age affects hearing at conscription in an age cohort of Swedish boys. For a cohort of 951 boys we have good knowledge of their ear diseases up to 14 years of age from previous studies. The prevalence of elevated thresholds in audiometric screening at conscription was compared for the group of boys who had been treated with tympanostomy tubes and the group of boys with no history of ear disease. Similarly, boys with a history of ear disease but no treatment with tubes were compared to boys without history of ear disease. We also compared the prevalence of elevated thresholds for boys with a history of at least four episodes of AOM up to the age of four to those who had had no episodes up to that age. Those who had been treated with tympanostomy tubes because of longstanding SOM had a significantly higher prevalence of elevated thresholds for solitary frequencies. Two treated boys had a pure tone average greater than 25 dB, one unilaterally, one bilaterally. No difference could be seen between those who had had episodes of ear disease but no treatment with tympanostomy tubes and those who had had no documented ear disease. The prevalence of elevated thresholds was not correlated to more than three treated episodes of acute otitis media up to the age of 4 years. Boys who had been treated with tympanostomy tubes had a higher prevalence of having a hearing threshold above 20 dB for at least one frequency at the age of 18. Hearing handicap was not a common sequel to SOM. We can show no relation between more than three treated episodes of AOM before the age of four and screening results at the age of 18.

Are our children fit or fat?

Overweight and obesity are increasing in Swedish boys and girls aged 7‐16 y. The fitness of 16‐y‐old Swedish boys in 2001 was approximately 10% worse than in 1987. Conclusion: It is important to start the prevention of atherosclerosis and type 2 diabetes early. The number of children with physical inactivity and obesity should be as low as possible.