Social relationships in adolescence and heavy episodic drinking from youth to midlife in Finland and Sweden - examining the role of individual, contextual and temporal factors.

Background: Applying the Process-Person-Context-Time (PPCT) model of the bioecological theory, this study considers whether proximal processes between the individual and the microsystem (social relationships within family, peer group and school) during adolescence are associated with heavy episodic drinking (HED), from youth to midlife, and whether the macro level context (country) plays a role in these associations.

Methods: Participants of two prospective cohort studies from Finland and Sweden, recruited in 1983/1981 at age 16 (n = 2194/1080), were followed-up until their forties using postal questionnaires. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine associations between social relationships at age 16 and HED (at least monthly intoxication or having six or more units of alcohol in one occasion) at ages 22/21, 32/30 and 42/43.

Longitudinal prospective associations between psychological symptoms and heavy episodic drinking from adolescence to midlife.

Aim: This study examined whether development of psychological symptoms (PS) differed between persons with different longitudinal profiles of heavy episodic drinking (HED) from adolescence to midlife. In addition, the reciprocal associations between PS and HED were studied.

Methods: Participants of a Finnish cohort study in 1983 at age 16 ( N = 2194) were followed up at ages 22 ( N = 1656), 32 ( N = 1471), and 42 ( N = 1334).

Associations between unemployment and heavy episodic drinking from adolescence to midlife in Sweden and Finland.

Background: Unemployment and alcohol use have often been found to correlate and to act as risk factors for each other. However, only few studies have examined these associations at longitudinal settings extending over several life phases. Moreover, previous studies have mostly used total consumption or medical diagnoses as the indicator, whereas subclinical measures of harmful alcohol use, such as heavy episodic drinking (HED), have been used rarely.

Pathways from problems in adolescent family relationships to midlife mental health via early adulthood disadvantages - a 26-year longitudinal study.

Poor childhood family conditions have a long-term effect on adult mental health, but the mechanisms behind this association are unclear. Our aim was to study the pathways from problematic family relationships in adolescence to midlife psychological distress via disadvantages in early adulthood. Participants of a Finnish cohort study at the age of 16 years old in 1983 were followed up at ages 22, 32 and 42 years old (N = 1334).

Interpersonal Conflicts and Development of Self-Esteem from Adolescence to Mid-Adulthood. A 26-Year Follow-Up.

This study investigated the association between interpersonal conflicts and the trajectory of self-esteem from adolescence to mid-adulthood. The directionality of effects between self-esteem and interpersonal conflicts was also studied. Participants of a Finnish cohort study in 1983 at age 16 (N = 2194) were followed up at ages 22 (N = 1656), 32 (N = 1471) and 42 (N = 1334) using postal questionnaires.

Self-esteem and Body Mass Index from Adolescence to Mid-adulthood. A 26-year Follow-up.

Purpose: This study examined the developmental trajectories of self-esteem and body mass index (BMI) from adolescence to mid-adulthood and the way the association between self-esteem and BMI changed during a 26-year follow-up.

Methods: Participants of a Finnish cohort study in 1983 at 16 years (N = 2194) were followed up at ages 22 (N = 1656), 32 (N = 1471), and 42 (N = 1334) using postal questionnaires. Measures at each time point covered self-esteem and self-reported weight and height.

Brief Behavioral Sleep Intervention for Adolescents: An Effectiveness Study.

Sleep disturbances are common among adolescents, but there are no brief interventions to treat them. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a brief semistructured, individually delivered sleep intervention to ameliorate adolescents' sleeping difficulties and lengthen sleep duration. All students aged 16-18 years in a high school were screened for sleeping difficulties and 36 students with the highest sleep problem scores were invited to the intervention.

Self-esteem growth trajectory from adolescence to mid-adulthood and its predictors in adolescence.

The present study examined the trajectory of self-esteem from adolescence to mid-adulthood and its predictors in adolescence in a prospective cohort sample with a 26-year follow-up. Participants of a Finnish cohort study in 1983 at 16 years (N = 2194) were followed up at ages 22 (N = 1656), 32 (N = 1471) and 42 (N = 1334) years. Self-esteem development was analyzed using latent growth curve models with parental socioeconomic status (SES), parental divorce, school achievement, daily smoking, and heavy drinking as time invariant covariates.

Longitudinal associations between depressive symptoms and body mass index in a 20-year follow-up.

Objective: Longitudinal studies have rarely investigated changes in depressive symptoms and indicators of obesity simultaneously, although it is often proposed that the positive relationship between depression and obesity is bidirectional. The present study examined the reciprocal nature of the relationship between depressive symptoms and body mass index (BMI) in a 20-year follow-up survey.

Methods: Participants of a Finnish cohort study in 1989 at 22 years (N=1656) were followed up at ages 32 (N=1262) and 42 (N=1155) with postal questionnaires.

A 26-year follow-up study of heavy drinking trajectories from adolescence to mid-adulthood and adult disadvantage.

Aims: The aim of the study was to identify heavy drinking trajectories from age 16 to 42 years and to examine their associations with health, social, employment and economic disadvantage in mid-adulthood.

Methods: Finnish cohort study's participants who were 16 years old in 1983 were followed up at age 22, 32 and 42 (n = 1334). Heavy drinking was assessed at every study phase and based on these measurements trajectories of heavy drinking were identified.

Changes in psychological resources moderate the effect of socioeconomic status on distress symptoms: a 10-year follow-up among young adults.

Objective: This study examined the impact of socioeconomic status (SES) on changes in psychological resources and whether these changes in turn moderate the effect of SES on distress symptoms in a prospective 10-year follow-up among young adults.

Method: Subjects (N = 1239) were participants in two phases (1989, 22 years; 1999, 32 years) of a Finnish cohort study. The measurements were SES (basic education at 22 years, occupation at 32 years), distress symptoms (index of 17 somatic and mental complaints), and psychological resources (self-esteem, meaningfulness, locus of control).

Long-term impact of parental divorce on intimate relationship quality in adulthood and the mediating role of psychosocial resources.

The purpose of this 16-year prospective follow-up study was to investigate the association between parental divorce in childhood and intimate relationship quality in adulthood. The mediating role of psychosocial resources (parent-child relationships at 16 years, self-esteem and social support at 32 years) in this association was also studied. All 16 year olds of one Finnish city completed questionnaires at school and were followed up by postal questionnaires at 32 years of age (n = 1,471).

The contribution of psychological distress to socio-economic differences in cause-specific mortality: a population-based follow-up of 28 years.

Background: Psychological factors associated with low social status have been proposed as one possible explanation for the socio-economic gradient in health. The aim of this study is to explore whether different indicators of psychological distress contribute to socio-economic differences in cause-specific mortality.

Methods: The data source is a nationally representative, repeated cross-sectional survey, "Health Behaviour and Health among the Finnish Adult Population" (AVTK).

Adolescent risk factors for excessive alcohol use at age 32 years. A 16-year prospective follow-up study.

Aims: To examine which socioeconomic, family, personal and lifestyle risk factors in adolescence were the strongest independent predictors of excessive alcohol use in adulthood.

Methods: In a prospective longitudinal study, all 16-year-olds of one Finnish city completed questionnaires at school, and were followed up by postal questionnaires at 32 years of age [n = 1,471, (females n = 805, males n = 666); response rate 70.3%).

Trends in socio-economic differences in self-reported depression during the years 1979-2002 in Finland.

Background: Socio-economic differences in depressive symptoms are well reported, but there are only few studies concerning changes in these differences over time. The aim of this study was to assess trends in socio-economic differences in self-reported depression over the time period 1979-2002 in Finland.

Methods: The data source was a representative repeated cross sectional survey "Health Behaviour and Health among the Finnish Adult Population" (AVTK) linked with socio-economic register data from Statistics Finland, for the period 1979-2002.

Adolescent risk factors for episodic and persistent depression in adulthood. A 16-year prospective follow-up study of adolescents.

Background: We examined mid-adolescent psychosocial problems as risk factors for subsequent depression up to adulthood proper, and differences in these for episodic and persistent depression.

Methods: In a 16-year follow-up of an urban Finnish community cohort (547 males and 714 females) from age 16 years risk factors for subsequent depression (S-BDI) were studied. Data were collected with a classroom questionnaire at 16 years and a postal questionnaire at 22 and 32 years.

Psychosocial resources and depression among chronically ill young adults: are males more vulnerable?

This population-based study examined the association between chronic illness and depression and the role of psychosocial resources (coping styles, locus of control (LOC) and social support) in this association, among young Finnish adults aged 32. Gender differences in these phenomena were also investigated. The study was based on questionnaire data from a Finnish cohort study.

Does social support affect the relationship between socioeconomic status and depression? A longitudinal study from adolescence to adulthood.

Background: The aim of this prospective longitudinal study of adolescents was to investigate socioeconomic differences in adult depression and in the domain of social support from adolescence to adulthood. We also studied the modifying effect of social support on the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and depression.

Methods: All 16-year-old ninth-grade school pupils of one Finnish city completed questionnaires at school (n=2194).

Long-term psychosocial effects of parental divorce: a follow-up study from adolescence to adulthood.

Objective: The purpose of this 16-year follow-up study was to investigate whether 32-year-old adults who had experienced parental divorce before 16 years of age (n = 317) differed in psychosocial well-being or life trajectories from those from non-divorced two-parent families (n = 1069).

Method: The data were obtained from a follow-up survey of a Finnish urban age cohort from the age of 16 till 32 years (n = 1471). The long-term impact of parental divorce on a variety of outcomes in adulthood, including psychological well-being, life situation, health behaviour, social networks and support, negative life events and interpersonal problems, was assessed.

Socioeconomic status as a cause and consequence of psychosomatic symptoms from adolescence to adulthood.

Background: Few follow-up studies have investigated psychosomatic health and socioeconomic status (SES) and associations between them at different life stages. The aim of this study was to investigate differences in psychosomatic symptoms by SES in adolescence, early adulthood and adulthood and to examine whether lower SES leads to higher levels of symptoms (social causation) or higher levels of symptoms to lower SES (health selection) or both.

Methods: All 16-year-old ninth-grade school pupils of one Finnish city completed questionnaires at school.

The problem of attrition in a Finnish longitudinal survey on depression.

A cohort of all school children aged 16 years in 1983 (n = 2194, 96.7%) in Tampere, Finland were studied at 16, 22 and 32 years of age by self-reported questionnaires. The non-response pattern was considered by modelling the individual response probability by panel year and gender.

Incidence and prevalence of asthma and allergic rhinitis: a cohort study of Finnish adolescents.

Only limited data are available about the incidence of asthma and allergic rhinitis based on prospective longitudinal studies throughout childhood into adult life. The main purpose of the study was to estimate the incidence rate of asthma and allergic rhinitis from birth to early adulthood. We also estimated the prevalences of these diseases at 16, 22, and 32 years of age.

Well-being and health behaviour by parental socioeconomic status: a follow-up study of adolescents aged 16 until age 32 years.

Background: The aim of the study was to investigate the impact of parental socioeconomic status (SES) on subjects' well-being and health behaviour in adolescence, early adulthood and adulthood, and whether these impacts remained after controlling for the person's own SES.

Methods: All 16-year-old ninth-grade school pupils of one Finnish city completed questionnaires at school. Subjects were followed up using postal questionnaires when aged 22 and 32 years.

Long-term psychosocial effects of persistent chronic illness. A follow-up study of Finnish adolescents aged 16 to 32 years.

Adolescents reporting persistent chronic illness at ages 16, 22, and 32 years (n = 296, limiting in daily life n = 52, non-limiting n = 244) were compared with those without any chronic illness (n = 401) in their life situation, psychosocial well-being and health habits at age 32 years. The data were drawn from a follow-up survey of a Finnish urban age cohort from age 16 until age 32 years. The group of persistent chronic illnesses included allergies (n = 249, 84%), non-allergic skin conditions (n = 10), migraine (n = 29), diabetes mellitus (n = 5), and others (n = 9).