0000000000107910
AUTHOR
Sakari Suominen
showing 15 related works from this author
Trends in perceived school stress among adolescentsin five Nordic countries 2002–2014
2019
Abstract Associations between school-related stress and poor health, risk behaviours and low well-being are well documented. The aim of this paper was to estimate trends of perceived school stress experienced by boys and girls of different ages in the Nordic countries, and to describe trends in school stress between the Nordic countries. Nordic data from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study (HBSC) between 2002 and 2014 were used. The participants were aged 11–16 years. School stress was measured by a single item; “How pressured do you feel by schoolwork?” The participants answering “some” or “a lot” were categorised as reporting school stress. Sweden, Norway and Denmark had …
Minority status and perceived health: a comparative study of Finnish- and Swedish-speaking schoolchildren in Finland
2000
Results of earlier studies suggest that the health of the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland is better than that of the sociodemographically similar Finnish-speaking population. The causes of differences are unknown. The main aim of the study referred was to investigate whether differences in perceived health according to linguistic group were present in a nation-wide representative sample (n=5,230) of schoolchildren aged 11, 13 and 15 years. A further aim was to determine whether differences could be attributed to socioeconomic background, social relationships or health behaviour. The study is part of the international Health Behaviour in School-aged children (HBSC) survey. The perceive…
Does health literacy explain regional health disparities among adolescents in Finland?
2021
Summary Health literacy (HL)—as a broad range of health-related competencies—has been proposed to be a promising construct in understanding health disparities better, also among adolescents. Several factors have been found to explain differences in adolescents’ HL levels; however, not much is known about how different regions of a country or majority/minority status is associated with HL, or whether HL is associated with regional health disparities. The aim of this study was to examine and compare HL and health levels among majority- and minority-language-speaking adolescents living in different regions of Finland, and to explore if HL explains regional health disparities, taking into accou…
Trends in excellent self-rated health among adolescents: A comparative Nordic study
2019
Abstract Background: Excellent self-rated health (SRH) can be seen as an important component of positive health among adolescents. The aim of this paper is to examine time trends of excellent health among adolescents in five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) between 2002 and 2014, including differences between countries, gender and age. Methods: Nordic data from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey (including 11-, 13- and 15-year-olds) from 2002 (n = 19,009), 2006 (n = 29,656), 2010 (n = 33,232) and 2014 (n = 31,540) were analysed by design-adjusted binomial logistic regression models. Results: The trend analysis of excellent SRH for Nordi…
The role of health literacy in explaining regional health differences among adolescents
2019
Abstract Background Health disparities in adolescence track forward to adulthood. In understanding disparities better, health literacy (HL) - as a broad range of health-related competencies - has been identified as a valuable construct. Higher HL has been associated with better health outcomes, also among adolescents. Not much is known about how language or region in a bilingual country is associated with HL, or how HL is associated with regional health disparities. The aim of this study, in a bilingual country, was a) to examine and compare HL and health levels among majority and minority language speaking adolescents in different regions of Finland, and b) to explore if HL explains possib…
Towards enhancing research on adolescent positive mental health
2019
The positive mental health and well-being perspective represents innovative public health research of first-rank priority in Europe. Good mental health is both a state and a resource for everyday life. Hence, the concept often refers to a subjective feeling (hedonic component) as well as positive functioning (eudaimonic component). Different conceptualisations of mental health-related issues are a background to this paper, which gives a brief overview of three research issues in the Nordic countries. First, the development in the occurrences of adolescent mental health-related indicators such as life satisfaction, health, sleep, and school pressure. Second, review of Nordic methodological s…
Organizational justice at school and its associations with pupils' psychosocial school environment, health, and wellbeing.
2011
It has been shown that the psychosocial environment perceived by school staff is associated with children's academic performance and wellbeing. In this study we examined the associations between organizational justice (procedural and relational justice) as reported by school staff and pupils' perceptions of their school environment, health problems, academic performance, and absenteeism. We combined data from two surveys: for the staff (the Finnish Public Sector Study, n = 1946) and pupils (the Finnish school health promotion survey, n = 11,781 boys and 12,842 girls) of 136 secondary schools, collected during 2004-2005. Multilevel cumulative logistic regression analyses showed that after ad…
Trends in high life satisfaction among adolescents in five Nordic countries 2002–2014
2019
Abstract Life satisfaction is an important indicator when assessing positive mental health aspects in populations, including among adolescents. The aim of this study was to investigate trends over time in prevalence of high life satisfaction among adolescents from five Nordic countries: Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden. We used data from four waves of the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children study from 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014 (n=109,847). HBSC is a school-based study examining social circumstances, health and health behaviour among 11-, 13- and 15-years olds every four years in many European and North American countries. The Cantril Ladder, an 11-step visual analogue sc…
Does chronic pain hinder physical activity among older adults with type 2 diabetes?
2021
Background: Physical activity (PA) is a key component in management of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Pain might be a barrier to PA especially among older adults with T2D, but surprisingly few studies have investigated the association between chronic pain and PA. Our aim was to evaluate the prevalence of chronic pain among older adults with T2D and to examine the association between chronic pain and PA while taking important life-contextual factors into account. Methods: Data of this register-based, cross-sectional study were collected in a survey among adults with T2D (n=2866). In the current study, only respondents aged 65–75 years were included (response rate 63%, n=1386). Data were analysed by …
Externalizing Problem Behaviors and Headache: A Follow-up Study of Adolescent Finnish Twins
2004
Objective.To examine the association of teacher- and parent-rated behavior with headache in a prospective follow-up study of adolescent Finnish twins.Methods.Questionnaire data were collected during 1995–2001 from a nationwide sample of Finnish families of 11-year-old twins who were born 1983–1987 (n = 5393) and again at age of 14. Psychological factors were measured by using parents’ and teachers’ ratings of a 37-item multidimensional rating instrument at the ages of 11 and 14.Results.At age 11, headache frequency (5 categories) was associated with total scales of externalizing and internalizing problem behaviors and adaptive behaviors, assessed by parents, but only with externalizing prob…
Healthy Learning Mind - a school-based mindfulness and relaxation program: a study protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial
2016
Abstract Background Mindfulness has shown positive effects on mental health, mental capacity and well-being among adult population. Among children and adolescents, previous research on the effectiveness of mindfulness interventions on health and well-being has shown promising results, but studies with methodologically sound designs have been called for. Few intervention studies in this population have compared the effectiveness of mindfulness programs to alternative intervention programs with adequate sample sizes. Methods/design Our primary aim is to explore the effectiveness of a school-based mindfulness intervention program compared to a standard relaxation program among a non-clinical c…
Empowerment-enabling home and school environments and self-rated health among Finnish adolescents
2018
SummaryPerceived health during adolescence has not only immediate consequences for individuals and for society, but also long-term. We need to understand better the health development in this period of the lifespan. Empowerment may be one pathway through which social factors and conditions translate into health effects. This study aimed to examine whether empowerment-enabling home and school environments are associated with self-rated health among adolescents, and whether the associations differ between genders, age or majority/minority language groups. Anonymous questionnaire data from respondents aged 11, 13 and 15 years were obtained from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children stud…
Hälsotrender bland elever i svensk- och finskspråkiga grundskolor 1994-2014 : WHO:s skolelevsstudie (HBSC-Study)
2016
WHO:s skolelevsstudie (Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) Study) är internationellt en av de mest omfattande, långvariga och betydelsefulla undersökningarna om levnadsvanor bland skolungdomar. Undersökningen startade för drygt 30 år sedan och i detta nu deltar över 40 länder i Europa och Nordamerika. Nästa internationella datainsamling, som är den tionde i ordningen, genomförs år 2018. Nytt forskningsmaterial insamlas vart fjärde år. Forskare vid Jyväskylä universitets Forskningscenter för hälsofrämjande (Terveyden edistämisen tutkimuskeskus) ansvarar för WHO:s skolelevsstudie i Finland. För ungefär 20 år sedan började det givande samarbetet mellan Jyväskylä universitet och Samf…
Empowerment-enabling home and school environments and self-rated health among Finnish adolescents
2020
Perceived health during adolescence has not only immediate consequences for individuals and for society, but also long-term. We need to understand better the health development in this period of the lifespan. Empowerment may be one pathway through which social factors and conditions translate into health effects. This study aimed to examine whether empowerment-enabling home and school environments are associated with self-rated health among adolescents, and whether the associations differ between genders, age or majority/minority language groups. Anonymous questionnaire data from respondents aged 11, 13 and 15 years were obtained from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study, cond…
Does health literacy explain regional health disparities among adolescents in Finland?
2021
Health literacy (HL)—as a broad range of health-related competencies—has been proposed to be a promising construct in understanding health disparities better, also among adolescents. Several factors have been found to explain differences in adolescents’ HL levels; however, not much is known about how different regions of a country or majority/minority status is associated with HL, or whether HL is associated with regional health disparities. The aim of this study was to examine and compare HL and health levels among majority- and minority-language-speaking adolescents living in different regions of Finland, and to explore if HL explains regional health disparities, taking into account other…