Underestimation of Overweight and Health Beneficial Outcomes in Two Adolescent Cohorts in Norway - The HUNT Study.

Purpose: Underestimating overweight may prevent efforts toward reducing weight, but simultaneously benefit mental health and well-being. The magnitude of underestimation of overweight and obesity in adolescents is largely unknown, and so is to what extent this underestimation is associated with dieting behaviors, mental distress, and life satisfaction. As overweight has become more common during the past decades, associations between body size underestimation and mental health may have changed.

Is more frequent physical therapy associated with increased gross motor improvement in children with cerebral palsy? A national prospective cohort study.

To investigate the association between physical therapy frequency and gross motor improvement in children with cerebral palsy (CP). This is a prospective cohort study of 442 children aged 2-12 years, Gross Motor Function Classification System levels I-V, from the Cerebral Palsy Follow-up Program and the Cerebral Palsy Register of Norway. Outcome was change in reference percentiles for the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM-66) between two subsequent assessments ( = 1056) analyzed in a linear mixed model.

Factors Associated with Enhanced Gross Motor Progress in Children with Cerebral Palsy: A Register-Based Study.

Aim: To examine associations between interventions and child characteristics; and enhanced gross motor progress in children with cerebral palsy (CP).

Methods: Prospective cohort study based on 2048 assessments of 442 children (256 boys, 186 girls) aged 2-12 years registered in the Cerebral Palsy Follow-up Program and the Cerebral Palsy Register of Norway. Gross motor progress estimates were based on repeated measures of reference percentiles for the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM-66) in a linear mixed model.

Validation of the exercise and eating disorder questionnaire in males with and without eating disorders.

Objective: The need to consider gender when studying exercise in eating disorder (ED) has been underscored. The study aimed to test the psychometric properties and factor structure of the exercise and eating disorder (EED) questionnaire for males with and without ED, to highlight gender differences, and to explore issues relevant for a male version of the EED questionnaire.

Method: This cross sectional study included 258 male participants: 55 ED patients (inpatients and outpatients) and 203 student controls.

Gender differences and gender convergence in alcohol use over the past three decades (1984-2008), The HUNT Study, Norway.

Background: To examine changes in men's and women's drinking in Norway over a 20-year period, in order to learn whether such changes have led to gender convergence in alcohol drinking.

Methods: Repeated cross-sectional studies (in 1984-86, 1995-97, and 2006-08) of a large general population living in a geographically defined area (county) in Norway. Information about alcohol drinking is based on self-report questionnaires.

Intergenerational Hazardous Alcohol Use and Area Factors: The HUNT Study, Norway.

Background: Alcohol use among adolescents has been found to be associated with parental alcohol abuse, but it's relation to more prevalent forms of hazardous drinking patterns among parents has been less explored. Few studies have included area factors when investigating alcohol use across generations.

Objectives: The aims of this study were to investigate whether adolescent intoxication was associated with parental heavy episodic drinking (HED) and intoxication, area-level socioeconomic status (SES), and rates of area-level HED.

Parental alcohol misuse and hazardous drinking among offspring in a general teenage population: gender-specific findings from the Young-HUNT 3 study.

Background: Parental alcohol misuse may negatively affect drinking behaviours among offspring, but it is unclear to what extent influences are gender-specific and dependent upon the actual drinking behaviour measured. The aim of this study was to investigate whether hazardous drinking among Norwegian teenage boys (N = 2538) and girls (N = 2494) was associated with paternal and maternal alcohol misuse (CAGE).

Methods: Definitions of hazardous drinking among offspring were based on self-reported alcohol consumption (in litres a year), frequency of drinking, and frequency of drunkenness.

Age for onset of walking and prewalking strategies.

Background: Age for onset of independent walking (AOW) is frequently used as an indicator of the progress of motor development in early life. Yet there is considerable uncertainty in the research literature about the age we should expect children to walk independently, and also whether prewalking strategies are of importance for this milestone. In clinical practice we commonly experience that children start walking at later ages than the standards presented in the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS), the most frequently used standardized instrument of gross motor development in Norway.

Adolescent predictors and associates of psychosocial functioning in young men and women: 11 year follow-up findings from the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study.

The aim of this paper was to investigate whether psychosocial functioning in adulthood (e.g., friends support, cohabitation, community connectedness and work satisfaction) could be predicted by mental health, subjective well-being, social relations and behavior problems in adolescence, and whether gender was a moderator in these associations.

Gender differences in psychosocial functioning of adolescents with symptoms of anxiety and depression: longitudinal findings from the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study.

Purpose: To explore longitudinally gender differences in the associations between psychosocial functioning, subjective well-being and self-esteem among adolescents with and without symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Methods: Data were obtained from a major population-based Norwegian study, the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study, in which 1,092 boys and 1,262 girls (86% of all invited) completed an extensive self-report questionnaire at baseline (mean age 14.4 years) and at follow-up (mean age 18.

The influence of behavioural and health problems on alcohol and drug use in late adolescence - a follow up study of 2 399 young Norwegians.

Background: Both early alcohol debut, behavioural and health problems are reported to enhance adolescence substance use. This prospective study investigate the influence of behavioural and health problems on adolescents' alcohol and drug use.

Method: Prospective population based cohort study of 2 399 adolescents attending the Young-HUNT study, aged 13-15 at baseline in 1995/97, and 17-19 at follow-up 4 years later.

Factors predicting changes in physical activity through adolescence: the Young-HUNT Study, Norway.

Purpose: The purpose of this prospective population-based study was to analyze predictors of changes in physical activity (PA) levels from early to late adolescence.

Methods: Data presented are from 2,348 adolescents and their parents who participated in the Nord-Trøndelag Health study (HUNT 2, 1995-1997) and at follow-up in Young-HUNT 2, 2000-2001 Participants completed a self-reported questionnaire and participated in a clinical examination that included measurements of height and weight.

Results: Four patterns of PA emerged in the study: active or inactive at both time points (active maintainers, 13%; inactive maintainers, 59%), inactive and became active (adopters, 12%), active and became inactive (relapsers, 16%).

Gender differences in subjective well-being, self-esteem and psychosocial functioning in adolescents with symptoms of anxiety and depression: findings from the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study.

Gender differences in the prevalence of symptoms of anxiety and depression during adolescence are well documented. However, little attention has been given to differences in subjective well-being, self-esteem and psychosocial functioning between boys and girls with symptoms of anxiety and depression. The aim of this study was to investigate gender differences in the associations between such symptoms and subjective well-being, self-esteem, school functioning and social relations in adolescents.

Early sexual maturation, central adiposity and subsequent overweight in late adolescence. a four-year follow-up of 1605 adolescent Norwegian boys and girls: the Young HUNT study.

Background: Early sexual maturation has been associated with overweight that may persist after the completion of biological growth and development. We have prospectively examined the influence of early sexual maturation on subsequent overweight in late adolescence and assessed if this association was modified by central adiposity in early adolescence.

Methods: 1605 Norwegian adolescents were followed from early (baseline, mean age 14.

Perceived pubertal timing, pubertal status and the prevalence of alcohol drinking and cigarette smoking in early and late adolescence: a population based study of 8950 Norwegian boys and girls.

Aim: To study whether perceived pubertal timing is related to the prevalence of alcohol drinking and cigarette smoking among adolescent boys and girls.

Methods: The Young-HUNT study (95-97), conducted in Nord-Trøndelag County in Norway, comprises information from 8950 students, aged 13-19 years. Odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) related to alcohol drinking and cigarette smoking were estimated by logistic regression analyses.

Combined influence of early sexual maturation and central adiposity on subsequent stature. A four-year follow-up of 1,605 Norwegian boys and girls: the Young-HUNT study.

Introduction: Shorter adult stature has been attributed to early sexual maturation, as well as early adiposity, but it is not clear if these factors are interrelated.

Results And Discussion: A number of 1,605 Norwegian adolescents were followed from early (baseline) to late adolescence (follow-up). Maturational timing was assessed by self-reports of pubertal status (pubertal development scale, PDS) in boys and age at menarche (AAM) in girls.

Sexual maturation in early adolescence and alcohol drinking and cigarette smoking in late adolescence: a prospective study of 2,129 Norwegian girls and boys.

Early sexual maturation has been associated with higher involvement in risk behaviour during early and mid-adolescence. In a prospective study of 2,129 girls and boys, we investigated whether the timing of sexual maturation was associated with cigarette smoking and alcohol drinking in late adolescence and whether this relation differed between boys and girls. Nine hundred and eighty boys and 1,149 girls, who participated in a cross-sectional study in middle school, were included in a follow-up study in high school 4 years later.