Icelandic Youth Research Articles

Life goal development, educational attainment, and occupational outcomes: A 12-year, multisample longitudinal study.

Life goals play a major role in shaping people's lives and careers. Although life goals have prior documented associations with occupational and other life outcomes, no prior studies have investigated associations between life goal development and occupational outcomes. Using two representative samples of Icelandic youth (Sample 1: n = 485, Sample 2: n = 1,339), followed across 12 years from adolescence to young adulthood, we examined life goal development and associations with educational attainment and a wide range of occupational outcomes. We found that life goals had relatively high rank-order and profile stability across the 12 years. Most life goals decreased in importance during the transition from adolescence to young adulthood, except for family- and community-related goals, pointing to a continued focus on building social relationships in young adulthood. We also found meaningful variation in change at the item level within certain goal domains. Furthermore, adolescent levels of life goals, as well as changes in certain goals, predicted educational attainment and occupational outcomes in young adulthood. This suggests that life goals motivate career behaviors beginning at an early age and that subsequent changes in certain life goals also matter for educational and occupational outcomes. Dominance analyses revealed that education and prestige life goals were generally the strongest predictors of future outcomes. Overall, these results highlight the importance of life goal development in predicting later educational attainment and occupational outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Sexual Attraction and Non-Suicidal Self-Harm: The Role of Stressors and Psychological Mediators.

Non-suicidal self-harm (NSSH) is a serious concern for the well-being of youth. Stressors relate to greater NSSH risk, such as being non-heterosexual in a heteronormative society. Other stressors may include traumatic experiences. These relationships may be mediated by psychological factors (depressed mood, anxiety, anger, and self-esteem) as well as contextual factors (support from parents and peers). The purpose of this study was to examine NSHH ideation and behavior among Icelandic youth, as well as relationships with stressors and mediators. Students in Icelandic high schools (N = 8921, 50.8% female) completed an in-class survey in the year 2016. Results showed an elevated risk of NSSH ideation and behavior among bisexual and homosexual youth. Mediation analyses showed that, for girls, being bisexual related to greater NSSH ideation and behavior, and these relationships were mediated by depressed mood, anger, and self-esteem, as well as by support from parents and peers. For boys, however, both homosexual and bisexual attraction related to greater risk for NSSH ideation and behavior, which was mediated by depressed mood, anger, and self-esteem. These results suggest that NSSH risk factors vary by gender and, therefore, they may benefit from different interventions to stop and prevent this behavior. This is the first study of its kind in Iceland, where sexual minority stress may need further study within the Nordic context.

The Migration Experience of Forced Migrant Children and Youth in Iceland

The Migration Experience of Forced Migrant Children and Youth in Iceland

Gapassipi

Gapassipi

Productive language development in classroom activities in Poland and Iceland: The diversity of language context in the digital world

The aim of the study was to gain insight into Polish and Icelandic teachers’ attitudes towards children’s productive language skills in the societal languages, Polish and Icelandic, their teaching practices in fostering these skills, and to identify any obstacles experienced. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with two teachers in each country. The Icelandic population is only 364.000, while the number in Poland is 39.857.000. In Iceland, English is an additional language to Icelandic, whereas Polish is the dominant language in Poland. Reading literacy among Icelandic youth on PISA has declined and Polish adolescents have improved. According to the Icelandic teachers, the diversity of language context in Iceland has a negative effect on children‘s Icelandic language skills. Speaking and writing appeared to be practised in a more elaborate way by the Icelandic teachers. School activities focused on speaking and writing can be improved in both the Polish and the Icelandic classes./ Keywords: primary school, literacy, oral skills, discussions, writing instruction, classroom practices

Prevalence and correlates of nonmedical use of prescription stimulants among upper secondary school students in Iceland

The current study examined the prevalence and correlates of nonmedical use of prescription stimulants (NMUPS) among upper secondary school students in Iceland, given a paucity of research conducted beyond the US and among younger student populations. National, cross-sectional data from N = 10,199 upper secondary school students ages 16–20 (49.9% female), collected as part of the larger survey Youth in Iceland 2018, were analyzed. Results revealed a lifetime NMUPS prevalence of 5.6%. Participants with a history of NMUPS were more likely to be male, report lower grades, inattention problems at school, depressive and anxiety symptoms, lower parental monitoring and support, and a lifetime history of other substance use, compared to participants without NMUPS history. Regression analyses demonstrated that when accounting for covariates, inattention problems at school significantly associated with NMUPS. Consistent with prior studies, these findings suggest inattention problems contribute to NMUPS. Despite limitations, these findings may help inform drug use prevention and intervention policy. Longitudinal research is needed to examine directional relationships.

Intentional Self-Regulation and Executive Functions: Overlap and Uniqueness in Predicting Positive Development Among Youth in Iceland

This study examined relations between intentional self-regulation (ISR) and executive functions (EFs) among 84 Icelandic youth in Grade 6 (mean age 11.7 years; 51% girls) and their contributions to healthy and problematic outcomes a year later. ISR was indicated by the Selection, Optimization and Compensation model (SOC) and Self-Regulated Learning (SRL). EF was indicated by attention shifting, inhibition, and working memory (WM). Only WM was related to ISR. Furthermore, ISR tended to uniquely predict Grade 6 outcomes, but the inverse was less true. In Grade 7, EF but not ISR uniquely predicted national test scores, and symptoms of depression and anxiety, whereas ISR remained a stronger predictor of Positive Youth Development (PYD) and risk behavior. These findings suggest a limited relation between ISR and EF, and that ISR is important to the general well-being of youth, whereas EFs may play a role in the development of problems and academic achievement.

Stronger alcohol-violence association when adolescents drink less? Evidence from three Nordic countries.

BackgroundSince 2000, adolescents’ alcohol use and heavy episodic drinking (HED) have declined in the Nordic countries. However, little is known about corresponding trends in alcohol-related harm and possible changes in the alcohol-harm association. The aims are to examine (i) whether the decline in HED was accompanied by a decline in alcohol-related violence (AV) and (ii) whether the strength of the HED-AV association changed concomitant with the decline.MethodsAnalysis of data from the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD), conducted among 15–16-year-olds in Iceland, Norway and Sweden in 2007 and 2015 (n = 17 027). Changes in proportions of AV and alcohol use past 12 months, and mean frequency of HED past 30 days were examined using Pearsons χ2-test and F-test, respectively. The HED-AV associations were estimated using logistic regression analysis.ResultsHED and AV proportions decreased from 2007 to 2015 in all countries. Among current drinkers (n = 8927), both HED frequency and AV proportion decreased in Norway (P < 0.001) and remained stable in Iceland. In Sweden, AV decreased (P < 0.001) whereas HED remained stable. The magnitude of the HED-AV association increased in Norway (Beta2015–2007 = 0.145, 95% CI 0.054–0.236), remained the same in Iceland and decreased in Sweden (Beta2015–2007 = −0.082, 95% CI −0.158 to −0.005).ConclusionsAmong youth in Iceland, Norway and Sweden, heavy episodic drinking and alcohol-related violence declined from 2007 to 2015. Among drinkers, the strength of the alcohol-violence association was moderated by the extent of heavy episodic drinking.

Mental Health, Academic Engagement, and Youths’ Nonmedical Use of Stimulants: A Latent Profile Analysis

Background: Nonmedical prescription stimulant (NPS) use is a growing problem in Europe. Poor mental health and lack of academic engagement are potent sources of risk for substance use. Studies suggest that considerable heterogeneity may characterize the risk profiles of NPS users. To understand better the potential profiles of risk that characterize NPS users, we conducted a latent profile analysis (LPA) to document subgroups of users based on their mental health and academic engagement. Methods: A nationally representative, cross sectional survey of Icelandic youth was analyzed. The sample included 584 (5% of the sample) older adolescent students participating in a national study in Iceland who reported lifetime NPS use. Results: Three subgroups of NPS users emerged from our analyses. The largest subgroup (43.1%) we labeled mentally healthy achievers; youth who appear to be academically motivated and have few if any mental health concerns. The second largest group (40.4%), low achievers, resembled a typical profile for drug users in that they reported low or modest academic engagement and moderate levels of mental health concerns. The third group, anxious achievers (16.5%) appears to represent youth who felt academics were very important, had moderate study motivation, and also reported elevated mental health concerns, especially anxiety. Conclusions: LPA revealed considerable heterogeneity among these users. Group membership suggests distinct approaches to prevention to address heterogeneity in motivations for NPS use.

Personality Changes Predict Early Career Outcomes: Discovery and Replication in 12-Year Longitudinal Studies

In this research, we examined whether personality changes from adolescence to young adulthood predicted five early career outcomes: degree attainment, income, occupational prestige, career satisfaction, and job satisfaction. The study used two representative samples of Icelandic youth (Sample 1: n = 485, Sample 2: n = 1,290) and measured personality traits over 12 years (ages ~17 to 29 years). Results revealed that certain patterns of personality growth predicted career outcomes over and above adolescent trait levels and crystallized ability. Across both samples, the strongest effects were found for growth in emotional stability (income and career satisfaction), conscientiousness (career satisfaction), and extraversion (career satisfaction and job satisfaction). Initial trait levels also predicted career success, highlighting the long-term predictive power of personality. Overall, our findings show that personality has important effects on early career outcomes—both through stable trait levels and how people change over time. We discuss implications for public policy, for theoretical principles of personality development, and for young people making career decisions.

Moral Intuitions and Suicide Risk: Results from a National Sample of Icelandic Youth*

Abstract Combining insights from Moral Foundations Theory and the Durkheimian tradition, we examine the effects of moral intuitions on suicide risk. We argue that moral intuitions constitute a moral-regulative force that individuals bring with them into a range of socially structured settings and that influence their behavior independent of the structural forces in play in those settings. Focusing on Iceland, an economically advanced country with a largely secular and individualistic culture, and using data from a national sample of youth between the ages of 16 and 21 (N = 10,710), we find that group-oriented (binding) moral intuitions are associated with lower suicide risk while individual-oriented (individualizing) moral intuitions are associated with higher suicide risk. We also find an unexpected (non-linear) protective effect among respondents with strong individualizing moral intuitions, and some evidence that the effects of individualizing moral intuitions on suicide risk are conditioned by involvement in socially integrative relationships. Overall, our results suggest that the sociological study of suicide would be meaningfully improved by incorporating moral intuitions into the model.

Changes in sleep and activity from age 15 to 17 in students with traditional and college-style school schedules

ObjectivesSleep duration and physical activity decline with age during adolescence. Earlier school schedules may contribute to these declines. The aim of this longitudinal study was to track changes in sleep and activity of Icelandic youth from primary to secondary school and compare students who enrolled in secondary schools with traditional and college-style schedules. MethodsWe measured free-living sleep and activity with wrist actigraphy and body composition by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry in 145 students at age 15 and age 17, when 58% attended schools with college-style scheduling. Differences from 15 to 17 and between students of different school structures were assessed with mixed-effect models. ResultsActigraphs were worn for 7.1 ± 0.4 nights at 15 and 6.9 ± 0.4 nights at 17. Overall, sleep duration decreased from 6.6 ± 0.7 h/night to 6.2 ± 0.7 h/night from age 15 to 17 (P < .001). Students with traditional schedules reduced school-night sleep duration 26 min/night at follow-up (P< .001), while sleep duration did not change for college-style students. All students went to bed later on school nights at follow-up, but only college-style students rose later. Sleep efficiency and awakenings did not differ by schedule-type. Neither sex changed body fat percentage, but average school-day activity decreased by 19% (P< .001) on follow-up and did not differ by schedule-type. ConclusionsOver the 2-year period, adolescents decreased weekly sleep duration and activity, but only those continuing traditional schedules reduced school-night sleep. This suggests greater individual control of school schedule may preserve sleep duration in this age group, which may be beneficial during the transition into adulthood.

Developmental structure of personality and interests: A four-wave, 8-year longitudinal study.

Personality traits and vocational interests capture different aspects of human individuality that intersect in certain ways. In this longitudinal study, we examined developmental relations between the Big 5 traits and RIASEC vocational interests over 4 timepoints from late adolescence to young adulthood (age 16-24) in a sample of Icelandic youth (N = 485) well-representative of the total student population. Results showed that interests and personality traits were similarly stable over time, but showed different patterns of mean-level change. There was evidence of personality maturation but a lack of cumulative changes in interest levels. For the most part, gender differences in developmental trends were minimal. In addition, latent growth curve analyses revealed broad and specific correlated changes between personality and interests. Changes in general factors of personality and interests were moderately related (r = .32), but stronger correlated changes were found among specific personality-interest pairs that share situational content. Overall, results reveal how interests and personality are related across different types of continuity and change. While there was little correspondence between group-level changes, substantial correlated change occurred at the individual level. This means that when a person's personality changes, their interests tend to change in predictable ways (and vice versa). Integrative theories that link different aspects of psychological functioning can benefit by incorporating these findings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Troubling the discourse of the victimization of queer youth in Icelandic and South African education

The homophobia and hostility experienced by queer learners in Icelandic and South African schools are well documented. Drawing on in-depth interviews with queer youth (16–19 years) in Iceland and South Africa, this paper aims at understanding how queer youth navigate heterosexist and homophobic school spaces and create some positive spaces. The findings highlight that queer youth employ various social and discursive strategies to (re)position themselves as agentic subjects. They counter heteronormativity by drawing on what we define in this paper as “queer capital”, which entails deploying various social and discursive strategies to establish some kind of distinction within the school and in their interaction with peers. Humour, parody, and active resistance, as well as finding ways to escape the regulatory mechanisms of gender, and relating easily to both genders, are examples of the social/discursive strategies employed by our participants and discussed in the paper. The paper then concludes with implications for research with queer youth.

Being in nature together: Photovoice of an Icelandic youth nature club

Being in nature together: Photovoice of an Icelandic youth nature club

Do population trends in adolescent electronic cigarette use coincide with changes in prevalence of cigarette smoking?

Adolescents who initiate electronic cigarette (EC) use without having ever used tobacco are more likely than those that have not initiated EC use to try cigarette smoking over time. However, whether rates of EC use coincide with cigarette smoking rates at the population level remains unknown. This study aimed to compare trends in ever, current, and daily use of EC and cigarette smoking among adolescents in Iceland from 2015 to 2018. We analyzed four waves of pooled cross-sectional population-based school survey data with students enrolled in the 8th, 9th and 10th grades in the national Icelandic school system (n = 42,440, boys = 50.1%). Response rates ranged between 83.3% and 86.0%. Findings for 8th, 9th, and 10th grade students, and the combined sample, revealed a consistent pattern: prevalence of cigarette smoking either remained unchanged or decreased minimally over the study period. In the combined sample rates of ever smoking remained between 9 and 10% during the entire study period, whereas the prevalence of daily cigarette smoking was around 1%. The use of EC increased 2- to 3-fold in all age groups. Ever use increased from 12% to roughly 30% in the combined group and daily use increased from about 2% to 6% during the same period. We conclude that the prevalence of adolescent cigarette smoking in Iceland remained mostly unchanged between the years 2015 and 2018, whereas EC use increased exponentially during the same period. The prevalence of EC use now far outweighs cigarette smoking in 8th–10th grade youth in Iceland.

Implementing the Icelandic Model for Preventing Adolescent Substance Use.

This is the second in a two-part series of articles about the Icelandic Model for Primary Prevention of Substance Use (IPM) in this volume of Health Promotion Practice. IPM is a community collaborative approach that has demonstrated remarkable effectiveness in reducing substance use initiation among youth in Iceland over the past 20 years. While the first article focused attention on the background context, theoretical orientation, evaluation and evidence of effectiveness, and the five guiding principles of the model, this second article describes the 10 core steps to practical implementation. Steps 1 to 3 focus on building and maintaining community capacity for model implementation. Steps 4 to 6 focus on implementing a rigorous system of data collection, processing, dissemination, and translation of findings. Steps 7 to 9 are designed to focus community attention and to maximize community engagement in creating and sustaining a social environment in which young people become progressively less likely to engage in substance use, including demonstrative examples from Iceland. And Step 10 focuses on the iterative, repetitive, and long-term nature of the IPM and describes a predictable arc of implementation-related opportunities and challenges. The article is concluded with a brief discussion about potential variation in community factors for implementation.

Tengsl lestraráhugahvatar og lesskilnings nemenda á miðstigi grunnskóla

Rannsóknir sýna að lestraráhugahvöt hefur áhrif á ýmsar hliðar lestrarfærni, svo sem umskráningu, lesskilning og orðaforða. Börn með litla lestraráhugahvöt lesa minna en jafnaldrar með meiri lestraráhuga og sterk tengsl eru á milli slakrar lestraráhugahvatar, lítils lestrar og lestrarerfiðleika. Markmið rannsóknarinnar var að kanna hvernig lestraráhugahvöt birtist í 5. og 6. bekk meðal íslenskra nemenda, hvernig hún breytist milli ára og mögulegan kynjamun þar á. Einnig að kanna hvort um tengsl milli lestraráhugahvatar og lesskilnings sé að ræða. Þetta er fyrsta íslenska rannsóknin þar sem hlutverk lestraráhugahvatar í lesskilningi meðal nemenda á miðstigi grunnskóla er rannsakað. Þátttakendur í rannsókninni voru valdir með klasaúrtaki, 400 nemendur úr 24 bekkjum í átta skólum á höfuðborgarsvæðinu og Reykjanesi sem svöruðu spurningalista um lestraráhugahvöt í 5. og 6. bekk. Svör þeirra voru svo tengd við gengi þeirra í lesskilningsverkefnum í 6. bekk. Niðurstöður sýndu að lestraráhugi nemendanna var nokkuð stöðugur milli ára og stúlkurnar höfðu að meðaltali meiri lestraráhuga og forðuðust lestur síður en drengir. Þá spáði lestraráhugahvöt í 5. bekk fyrir um framfarir í lesskilningi í 6. bekk. Með auknum skilningi á mikilvægi lestraráhugahvatar í læsisþróun er hægt að þróa leiðir til að auka áhuga með það að markmiði að auka lesskilning.

Above average increases in body fat from 9 to 15years of age had a negative impact on academic performance, independent of physical activity.

The associations between body fat levels and physical activity with academic performance are inconclusive and were explored using longitudinal data. We enrolled 134/242 adolescents aged 15, who were studied at the age of nine and agreed to be followed up from April to May 2015 for the Health behaviours of Icelandic youth study. Accelerometers measured physical activity, body mass indexes (BMI) were calculated and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scans assessed the participants' body composition at nine and 15. Their language and maths skills were compared to a growth model that estimated the academic performances of children born in 1999. Higher than normal body fat levels between the ages of nine and 15 were negatively associated with maths performance, but the same association was not found for Icelandic language studies. These were Pearson's r=-0.24 (p=0.01) for BMI and Pearson's r=-0.34 (p=0.01) for the percentage of body fat. No associations were found with changes in physical activity. Children who put on more body fat than normal between the ages of nine and 15 had an increased risk of adverse academic performance that was independent of changes in physical activity.

„Maður er bara sinn eigin skapari“: Staðbundin starfstengd sjálfsmynd íslenskra ungmenna í hnattvæddum heimi

Markmið rannsóknarinnar var að kanna upplifun íslenskra ungmenna af mótun eigin náms- og starfsferils í hnattvæddum heimi í því skyni að öðlast innsýn í starfstengda sjálfsmynd þeirra. Frásagnarnálgun McAdams (2015) var beitt þegar tekin voru viðtöl við sex 22 ára ungmenni. Niðurstöður sýna að marg- og síbreytileiki vinnumarkaðar, minna starfsöryggi og hverfult efnahagsástand veldur þátttakendum óvissu og óöryggi sem flækir starfsferilsþróun þeirra. Heimssýn þeirra er hnattræn en staðbundin menning er þó ríkjandi í starfstengdri sjálfssögu þeirra. Sagan byggist á hefðbundnum gildum fjölskyldu og nærsamfélags sem birtast í frásögnum af eigin vinnusemi, stundvísi, samskiptahæfni og mikilvægi tengslanets. Niðurstöðunum er ætlað að auka skilning á starfstengdri sjálfsmynd ungs fólks og áskorunum við mótun náms- og starfsferils í hnattvæddum heimi.