Sexual Violence against Children with Disabilities: A Danish National Birth Cohort Prospective Study.

Background: Children with disabilities are at heightened risk of sexual violence compared to non-disabled peers.

Objective: We aimed to examine the associations between ten childhood disabilities and sexual victimization.

Methods: Data were drawn from the Danish Psychiatric Case Register, the Criminal Register, and other population-based registers.

From recreational to regular drug use: qualitative interviews with young clubbers.

This article analyses the process of going from recreational use to regular and problematic use of illegal drugs. We present a model containing six career contingencies relevant for young people's progress from recreational to regular drug use: the closing of social networks, changes in forms of parties, intoxication becoming a goal in itself, easier access to drugs, learning to recognise alternative effects of drugs and experiences of loss of control. The analysis shows that these dimensions are at play not only when young people develop a regular drug use pattern but also when they attempt to extricate themselves from this pattern.

A long-term follow-up study of adolescents with conduct disorder: Can outcome be predicted from self-concept and intelligence?

Background: This study examines Swedish young adults (age 21) with a history of conduct disorder (CD) in adolescence. Research has established CD as a condition for a range of adverse outcomes. Intelligence, aggression, parent-child conflict, parent-child relation and peer-rejection are known factors influencing the outcome.

DSM diagnosis of conduct disorder (CD)--a review.

Conduct disorder (CD) is a condition that describes an aggressive, antisocial and criminal individual with social maladjustment. A diagnostician must consider symptoms, time and function when making a diagnosis. The aim of the article is to provide a general outline of the CD diagnosis described in DSM, using three databases--Medline, PsycIFO and Social Sciences Citation.

Do different scales measure the same construct? Three Sense of Coherence scales.

Background: Different scales claim to measure the construct "Sense of Coherence". Results from these scales have been compared without knowing whether they measure the same construct. This article compares two versions of Antonovsky's original scale (SOC-13 and SOC-29), translated into Swedish, and a three-item scale (SOC-3) that claims to measure Sense of Coherence.

Risk factors for a first-time drink-driving conviction among young men: a birth cohort study of all men born in Denmark in 1966.

Using a complete birth cohort of all young men born in 1966 in Denmark (N = 43,403), the prevalence of a first-time drink-driving conviction among young men is estimated. More than 7% of the total male birth cohort was so convicted before the age of 27 years. In an examination of risk factors for a first-time drink-driving conviction, young adults coming from potentially vulnerable groups have an increased risk.

Health shocks and retirement: the role of welfare state institutions.

We investigate the effect of an acute health shock on retirement among elderly male workers in Denmark, 1991-1999, and in particular whether various welfare state programs and institutions impinge on the retirement effect. The results show that an acute health event increases the retirement chances of elderly male workers by 8%, and that this increase in the baseline retirement probability is not affected by eligibility to early exit programs and persists even after accounting for selection due to take-up of disability pension. Neither is it affected by the relatively long duration of sickness benefits in Denmark nor by the promotion of corporate social responsibility initiatives since the mid-1990s.

Work environment satisfaction and employee health: panel evidence from Denmark, France and Spain, 1994-2001.

This paper investigates whether a satisfactory work environment can promote employee health even after controlling for socioeconomic status and life style factors. A dynamic panel model of health is estimated from worker samples from Denmark, France and Spain, employing both self-assessed general health and the presence of a functional limitation. In all three countries and for both types of health measures, a good perceived work environment is found to be a highly significant determinant of worker health even after controlling for unobserved heterogeneity and minimizing reverse causality.

Case management interviews and the return to work of disabled employees.

This study measures the effect of case management interview (CMI) on 1,000 long-term sick-listed employees' probability of returning to work. In contrast to previous studies, we use instrumental variables to correct for selection effects in CMI. Using a competing hazard rate model, we find that CMI increases the probability of returning to work for the pre-sick leave employer, but has no effect on the probability of resuming work for a new employer.

The importance of family to health, development and welfare of children.

Objectives: Recent investigations have shown that a number of families in Greenland have problems related to parents' use of alcohol. One of the consequences is that children get more difficult conditions during childhood. Children suffer when their parents have alcohol-related problems.

The long-term consequences of parental alcohol abuse: a cohort study of children in Denmark.

The aim of this study is to consider whether parents' abuse of alcohol has an impact on children during their formative years. The research is based on data from 84,765 children born in Denmark in 1966. These children and their parents were followed between 1979 and 1993.

Estimating the use of illegal drugs among homeless people using shelters in Denmark.

Based on a longitudinal study of approximately 1000 homeless people who used shelters or similar institutions in 1988-89, an estimate was made of the rate of people using illegal drugs in that population. This estimation was made possible by combining information from different registers-criminal records, enrollments at drug user treatment centers, and registers indicating cause of death. The samples use of drugs is also noted.

Reintegration: public or private responsibility? Consequences of Dutch and Danish policies toward work-disabled persons.

The Scandinavian welfare states are known for their universal social security coverage and high labor-market participation rates for all groups in society. The institutional setup in continental European welfare states, on the other hand, is said to foster a divide between employed persons and persons outside the labor market. In the area of disability policies, The Netherlands and Denmark illustrate this distinction.

Families in distress, the development of children growing up with alcohol and violence.

Growing up in a family with alcohol problems and violence means a greater risk of abuse and neglect depending on: who is the alcoholic, how violent is the violence, social conditions, social status, relations outside the family and individual factors in the child (the resilient child). The psychological environment in which the children are raised is characterized by: having experienced one or both parents losing contact with reality because of being drunk, fear of losing one or both parents because of death, fear of not being loved and fear of being stigmatised if it is known, that one or both parents are alcoholics and/or violent. Results show that the more passive forms of neglect are the most common and that children develop strategies for survival.

Special dwellings for the elderly.

The policy governing old people's housing is administered individually in the various Danish municipalities. Those municipalities with a high housing coverage give the widest scope with regard to suitable housing, frequently applying The Housing for the Elderly Act, with common housing and service areas generally available. This is not the case, however, with municipalities operating with low housing coverage where suitable nursing homes are usually available, but not to a degree sufficient to offset the difference.

Out-of-home care in Denmark.

Paradoxically, Denmark has a large number of children in out-of-home care because it has a comprehensive child welfare system. Danish families turn to it for help, and under present social conditions of unemployment and family disruptions, the system is strained. This paper describes a large-scale, government-funded effort to improve the system's policies, programs, and flexible use of placement-treatment resources.