This qualitative study explored the organizational and psychosocial characteristics of organizations where there had been a reduction in the proportion of employees consuming alcohol at a risky level. An inductive reflexive thematic analysis was used to examine 17 semi-structured interviews with HR, managers, and employees from eight different organizations in Sweden. Findings were interpreted through the lens of the Socio-Ecological Model. Four themes were identified: Multi-Level Leadership, including organizational structure and individual characteristics; Ongoing Conversation reflecting active use of policies in daily practice and continuous dialogue; Shared Work Environment, including organizational norms that emphasize inclusion and trust; and The Importance of Health encompassing physical and mental health and work-life balance. Core cultural values were Support, Responsibility, and Trust. Leadership was central in translating policies into practice and fostering a supportive culture. Upon reflection, interviewees proposed that leadership development, enhanced work environments, effective communication, and the promotion of healthy lifestyles may have contributed to the observed reduction in risky drinking. The included organizations were characterized not only by practices specifically related to alcohol, but also by several general organizational changes. Most organizations treated the issue of alcohol separately, distinct from general structural and psycho-social initiatives, while a few incorporated it into broader efforts to promote an overall healthy workplace culture.
How do young refugees rebuild their lives when thrust into a new country during childhood or adolescence? To answer this question, we used a modified McAdams life story interview. We explored the narratives of eight participants, aged 21-45, who arrived in Norway between the ages of 8 and 17. They have lived in Norway for 13-30 years. Through explorative-reflexive thematic analysis, we uncovered the intertwining of youth development with the upheaval of forced migration. Two main themes emerged from our participants' stories: the promise of fresh beginnings, and the weight of loss and overwhelming events. Within these broader themes, four subthemes traced their emotional and existential passage: "A new world: First encounter with Norway," "The backstory that makes you vulnerable," "Finding belongingness through hard work: Schooling and career," and "Gratitude for opportunities: contrasting actual and potential life outcomes." These themes reveal how past trauma and uncertainty coexist with hope and resilience. Participants often turned their hardships into fuel for growth, particularly when bolstered by social bonds and institutional opportunities. Their stories show that integration springs not from individual effort alone, but from the interplay of personal determination and societal support. This study deepens our understanding of young refugees' dual transition and highlights how both community connection and personal meaning-making shape successful adjustment to life in a new land.
Whereas previous research has examined how national identity, social welfare, and security concerns shape public attitudes toward the asylum system and asylum applicants, less is known about the role of individual factors. Drawing on the theory of motivated cognition, we investigated how personal immigration attitudes, gender, and age shape beliefs about asylum authorities and their decisions. Using data from 255 respondents, we found that individuals with more lenient immigration attitudes view the asylum system as overly restrictive, believe that rejected claims are often incorrect, and tend to see asylum applicants as truthful. Conversely, those with more restrictive immigration attitudes perceive the system as too lenient, question the accuracy of accepted claims, and are more skeptical of asylum applicants. Gender and age were also associated with these views, with men and older individuals typically being more restrictive. These findings highlight how ideology shapes public beliefs about asylum processes.
This article explores cooperative co-parenting in the wake of divorce, focusing on how parents experience and negotiate everyday family life across two households. While much research on divorce has concentrated on children’s outcomes or on measuring parental conflict, less attention has been given to parents’ first-person perspectives on what it means to co-parent in practice. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 14 Danish parents from eight dual-residence families, the article examines how parents organize routines, responsibilities, and relationships after divorce. The analysis is guided by the critical psychological concept of the conduct of everyday life and Axel’s notion of conflictual cooperation (2009, 2020), highlighting how cooperation and conflict are inseparably intertwined in co-parenting practices. Through three case narratives, the study shows how parents navigate dilemmas of continuity, difference, and recognition, and how emotions such as frustration, grief, or pride function as evaluative tools in this process. Cooperative co-parenting emerges not as a conflict-free condition, but as an ongoing, contested, and emotionally charged accomplishment. The article contributes to divorce and family research by foregrounding parents’ own perspectives on shared parenting, offering a practice- and subject-oriented understanding of how cooperative co-parenting is lived, struggled with, and sustained in everyday life.
The working alliance is a well-established predictor of outcome, but less is known about different components of the alliance, how they interact with treatment approach within a limited timeframe in a Aardal et al. (Citation2025) setting, and the reciprocal relationship between alliance and outcome. This study examined the predictive role of early therapeutic alliance (first five sessions), measured by the WAI-C-S, in relation to depressive symptoms (BDI-II). The analysis compared the predictive value of the total WAI score and its subscales across Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) using data from 96 participants. Multiple regression analyses showed that only the task component predicted outcome (beta = -0.61, t = -2.13, p = .04), while neither goal, bond nor overall alliance predicted outcome (beta = -0.15, t = -1.51, p = .14). No significant differences were found between conditions (beta = -0.35, p = .10). However, depressive symptom change predicted overall alliance quality (beta = -0.35, t = -3.97, p < .001). Results support the particular importance of the task component as a predictor of outcome. Symptom reduction predicted a better alliance, and the alliance appears to be equally important across therapeutic approaches within a limited timeframe in a Aardal et al. (2025) setting. Public significance statement This study suggested that agreement between patient and therapist on the specific tasks of therapy was important for improvement in treatment of depression. This task agreement seemed to be more important for outcome than the emotional bond or agreement on overall goals. The study also reveals a reciprocal relationship, where early symptom relief leads patients to view the therapy relationship more positively. These findings suggest that in brief therapy, regardless of whether it is CBT or EFT, therapists should pay particular attention to ensuring that patients understand and accept the specific methods used in treatment.
Drawing on the social exchange theory, this study examines the relationship between social and economic leader-member exchange (LMX) relationships and career success, and how these two types of LMX relationships affect career success from a lifespan perspective. The results from a dyadic field study with 196 employees and their leaders showed that social LMX predicted subjective career success, while economic LMX predicted employee objective career success rated by leaders. A learning goal orientation (LGO) moderated the relationship between social LMX and subjective career success, such that the relationship was stronger for employees with a strong LGO. Finally, the findings partially supported a three-way interaction. For younger employees, economical LMX had a negative impact on subjective career success for employees with a strong LGO. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is a widely used screening measure for child mental health, yet findings regarding its latent structure have been inconsistent. The present study examined the structural validity of the SDQ parent-report in a large community sample of mothers of Icelandic children aged 6-12 years (N = 2332). Competing measurement models were evaluated, including the original five-factor structure, second-order and bifactor models, estimated with and without a method factor capturing covariance among positively worded items. Model comparisons indicated that a bifactor model including two broad general factors-Externalizing and Internalizing problems-together with a Prosocial Behavior factor and an orthogonal wording-related method factor provided the most interpretable representation. The Externalizing (omega H = 0.69; ECV = 0.65) and Internalizing (omega H = 0.58; ECV = 0.55) factors accounted for a substantial proportion of reliable variance among the symptom-based items, whereas the specific SDQ factors, particularly Conduct Problems and Peer Problems, contributed relatively limited variance beyond these broader factors. The wording method factor accounted for a notable share of covariance among positively worded items, particularly those from the Prosocial Behavior domain, consistent with structured wording-related variance. Sensitivity analyses using alternative specifications, including exploratory structural equation modeling and a random-intercept factor approach, yielded converging results. The findings highlight the influence of wording-related covariance and skewed and restricted response distributions, underscoring the importance of accounting for these sources of variance when interpreting SDQ scores. Broad Internalizing and Externalizing scores may therefore provide more stable indicators of child mental health difficulties in non-clinical populations.
Information about the relationship between bilingualism and performance on comprehensive intelligence tests is still scarce. This study compared test performance on the Swedish WISC-V between monolingual Swedish-speaking (n = 110) and bilingual Swedish-Finnish-speaking (n = 84) 6-16-year-old children from Finland. The bilinguals spoke both languages at home and were regularly exposed to both before the age of 1. All participants attended Swedish-speaking schools or pre-primary schools in Finland. The results showed no significant main effects of bilingualism on the subtest level, the primary index level, or the Full Scale IQ. However, monolingual children scored significantly higher on the Vocabulary subtest and the Verbal Comprehension Index than bilinguals, and the opposite was found for the Symbol Search subtest. The results demonstrate the need to take bilingualism into consideration in clinical assessments to avoid misinterpretations of bilinguals' verbal reasoning skills.
The Adult Self Report (ASR) form is an assessment tool used by clinicians and researchers to measure adult psychopathology. However, information on the instruments psychometric properties and measurement invariance (MI) is scarce or lacking. Thus, the aim of the current study was to investigate the psychometric properties and MI of the ASR across genders for the first time in Scandinavia, as well as test the factor structure among young adults in Norway. The current study is based on reports from 1,264 participants (43.1% male; 56.9% female; mean age 27 years (SD=.59 years). Men reported a significantly higher symptom load on the factors rule-breaking behaviour and intrusiveness compared to women, while women reported a significantly higher symptom load on the factors anxious/depressed, somatic complaints, and aggressive behaviour. No gender difference was found for the factors withdrawn, thought problems, and attention problems. The internal consistency of the eight ASR factors varied, with some demonstrating satisfactory reliability while others fell below the traditional acceptable threshold of internal consistency (>= .70). Additionally, the confirmatory factor analyses showed a relatively weaker fit for the full sample model compared to the gender-specific models, as indicated by the fit indices. The MI investigation indicated lack of measurement invariance across genders, suggesting that ASR scores are not directly comparable between men and women.
There is a risk of diagnostic overshadowing between traumatic stress reactions and ADHD and autism. The prevalence of potentially traumatic events (PTE) and associated posttraumatic mental health problems was investigated among children referred for assessment for ADHD and autism at the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in Sweden. The study included 62 Swedish children (34 boys, 28 girls) between the ages 8-16. The children self-reported the prevalence of PTEs and associated stress reactions on Life Incident of Traumatic Event (LITE), Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC), and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires (SDQ), at an appointment with a licensed psychologist. Sex and age differences were analyzed, and the results were compared with Swedish norms for children when possible. The children in this study reported a high prevalence of PTEs on LITE, and half of the girls reported scores above the clinical cut-off on the TSCC scale, post-traumatic stress reactions, as well as significantly higher scores (M = 60.87) in comparison to the boys (M = 35.94). Most children (74.2%) scored above the SDQ cut-off value for total difficulties. Conclusively, children referred for assessment for ADHD and autism report high levels of exposure to PTEs and post-traumatic stress symptoms. This calls for immediate action in overseeing the procedures and reliability for trauma screening and strategies to protect these children from exposure to PTEs.
Sustaining a traumatic brain injury (TBI) during adolescence - a critical period for identity formation - can significantly hinder social involvement. In addition to the initial recovery period limiting opportunities for interaction, survivors often experience behavioral and emotional changes that contribute to ongoing social isolation. As a continuation of research involving the same participants, this study explores how survivors who sustained TBI during adolescence and young adulthood experience their sense of self and social interactions following the injury. Employing the descriptive phenomenological framework as proposed by Giorgi, eleven participants who had experienced a TBI between the ages of thirteen and twenty-seven were selected, with the time since injury ranging from seven to thirty-seven years. Analysis revealed three key themes: changed self, friendship dynamics, and social encounters outside close relationships. Our study highlights that adolescent and young adult survivors of TBI experience multifaceted challenges which disrupt identity formation and social engagement, characterized by a dual othering—external marginalization and internal fragmentation—that intensifies isolation and underscores the need for holistic, developmentally informed psychosocial rehabilitation.
Mentalization theory (MT) is an influential theoretical framework with deficits in mentalizing hypothesised to be a key transdiagnostic factor in the development and treatment of various psychopathologies. While studies of externalising disorders in adults generally support this hypothesis, less is known about how mentalization relates to internalising disorders in children and adolescents. This rapid scoping review aims to evaluate whether, in child and adolescent populations, there is evidence of an inverse correlation between mentalizing ability – operationalised as Reflective Functioning – and internalising symptoms i.e., whether better reflective functioning is associated with fewer symptoms. A total of 490 peer-reviewed publications were screened, with 22 studies included. Eight studies found evidence of an inverse correlation, where better Reflective Functioning was associated with fewer internalising symptoms. Six studies yielded mixed or unclear results, whereas eight studies produced findings that did not align with the theoretical prediction, showing either null or reverse findings. Taken together, the available research provides largely inconclusive evidence for an inverse correlation between mentalizing and internalising symptoms in children and adolescents, with the overall pattern suggesting limited support for a consistent association. Possible explanations, both methodologically and theoretically, are discussed. Further research is needed to elucidate the relationship between mentalization ability and internalising symptoms.
Accurate psychological measurements remain challenging due to the symptoms' latent and subjective nature. Standard instruments for assessing generalized anxiety and depression, such as the GAD-7 and PHQ-9, typically rely on Likert scaling. This study examined Borg centiMax (cMax) adaptations of these measures to study whether ratio-scaled response formats retain the psychometric properties of the originals. Adults from a convenience sample (N = 138) completed Likert and cMax multi-item (MI) of the GAD-7 and PHQ-9, a single-item (SI) cMax global measure of GAD and MDD, and life satisfaction. Analyses assessed internal consistency, convergent and divergent validity, and discriminative validity. Both cMax MI and Likert formats showed good to excellent internal consistency. Strong convergence between cMax and Likert measures of general anxiety (r = .73-.77) and depression (r = .79-.86), indicated preserved construct coverage. Divergent validity was supported by moderate associations with life satisfaction (r = -.44 to -.63). ROC analyses showed good-to-excellent MI and SI cMax discrimination of clinically relevant anxiety and depression (sensitivity = .82-.92; specificity = .76-.93). Both formats also distinguished between participants who did or did not recognize themselves in the descriptions of GAD and MDD. MI and SI formats performed comparably, with MI aligning slightly more closely with traditional scales. We conclude that the centiMax-based instruments retained the psychometric and structural properties of the original scales while providing a ratio-scaled, standardized response format that may enhance interpretability and cross-domain comparability in psychological assessment.
The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) is among the most widely used self-report instruments for assessing depressive symptoms. Although previously translated into Icelandic and widely adopted in clinical and research contexts, recent studies identified notable translation issues that may have affected its psychometric quality. This study examined a revised Icelandic version of the PHQ-9, designed to improve clarity and fidelity to the original English version. A general population sample (n = 139) completed the revised version in an online survey. Mokken scale analysis was conducted to evaluate scalability, monotonicity, local independence, and invariant item ordering. Results indicated that the revised version demonstrated stronger psychometric properties compared to the original translation. The overall scalability coefficient suggested a strong scale (H = .548) according to Mokken's criteria; however, the confidence interval (95% CI [.466, .630]) crossed .50, indicating that strong scalability cannot be guaranteed at the population level. All items surpassed the conventional .30 benchmark, with most achieving Hi >= .50. No significant violations of monotonicity were observed, and only minor indications of negative local dependence emerged. While partial evidence for invariant item ordering was found, it remained limited. These findings suggest that the revised Icelandic PHQ-9 is a more internally consistent and interpretable assessment of depression severity, broadly comparable to findings reported in other language versions. The scale appears suitable for use in research settings and for screening purposes in Iceland, although further validation in clinical populations is needed.
Project Support (PS) is an evidence-based intervention for parents exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) whose children develop conduct disorders. PS was developed in the US and piloted and transferred to Sweden, where it has only been used in research. It is however important that interventions will be utilized beyond research context. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to explore how counsellors in the Swedish social service experienced their further use of PS. The study was based on digital interviews with 14 trained PS counsellors (13 women and one man) from two domestic violence shelters and five social service units who had previously participated in evaluating PS. A deductive thematic analysis using a theoretical framework based on implementation research and operant conditioning generated three propositions concerning compliance and adherence, efficacy and operant conditioning, and organizational support and readiness. The findings indicate that facilitating an intervention's successful and organization-sustaining implementation presupposes support from organizational structures having an active present leader as well as a team that encourages the intervention's use. Neither an individual counsellor nor a valued intervention such as PS is sufficient in itself in terms of sustainability and the ongoing use of the intervention, as contextual support is also crucial.
Subjective experiences of existential dimensions often become explicit in relation to a crisis. While the Covid-19 pandemic crisis increased vulnerability mostly among young people, the subjective experiences of the existential dimensions, such as meaning and identity, are underrepresented in research. This study explores how children and adolescents found themselves affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in two Scandinavian countries with different pandemic strategies. Using thematic analysis, semi-structured interviews (N = 36) with 17 Swedish children (aged 10-11) and 19 Danish adolescents (aged 16-17) were analysed and compared. The pupils were affected by the pandemic in one common and four different ways related to the overall risks of Covid-19 and to overall strategies to cope with the crisis: Worry about older family members, absence of social relationships, absence of school, influence of Covid-19 restrictions and absence of relatives. They employed attitudes and coping strategies towards the impacts of Covid-19 in six ways related to the specific differences in Covid-19 strategies between the two countries: Aesthetic activities, hope, digital contact, family relationships, the meaning of peer relationships and gratitude. When the pupils' experiences of belonging and being part of "a larger whole" were challenged, findings indicate a reduced existential health with negative consequences for their psychological and social health. Findings highlight the dialectic relationship between the societal conditions and the individual to understand existential health related to development. The study provides knowledge about what characterises the challenges in children and adolescents' lives during a pandemic crisis and can inform future research and clinical work about the relationship between development, societal conditions and existential health.
We investigated in two surveys if and how a cluster of factors derived from intersectionality, feminist, critical race, postcolonial, queer and class theory would predict woke attitudes in Sweden. In Study 1, index variables corresponding to these factors were entered into a hierarchical regression together with variables measuring ingroup identification and political orientation. All indexes were found to be reliable and correlated with self-assessed wokeness. Indexes related to feminist and queer theory were highly important, while intersectionality, critical race theory, and class theory were less important in predicting self-assessed wokeness. Measures of ingroup identification and political orientation were also found to be important. In Study 2, testing the same factors in a full model largely replicated these findings. A more parsimonious model suggested that feminist and queer theory were the most important predictors of self-assessed wokeness. In addition, while measures of social-domination orientation and right-wing authoritarianism had no unique effects, affective polarization was a strong predictor in predicting self-assessed wokeness in Sweden.
Between 2019 and 2022, the number of women aged 20-24 diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in Norway doubled, to around 2.2% of all women in this age group. As the numbers of incidents have been rising, so have the voices suggesting the diagnosis is “trending” too fast or has gotten “out of hand”. This qualitative study explores women’s lived experiences of receiving an ADHD diagnosis in adulthood and the perceived consequences of late diagnosis. We conducted in-depth interviews with nine women who were over the age of 25 when they were diagnosed with ADHD. The participants were between the ages of 28-62 years old at the time of the interview, and the mean age was 40.5 years. Participants described complex and serious burdens related to education, relationships and mental health issues. When the women in this study look at their past, they believe their lives could have been better had their diagnosis been given earlier. Obtaining a diagnosis was significant in that it enabled access to appropriate treatment, provided validation of past experiences, and contributed to the development of a more comprehensive self-understanding. We discuss the synergies in our findings with earlier studies on ADHD in women and interpret them in terms of A. Honneth’s theory of recognition. The study highlights the need for further research and improved knowledge about ADHD in women, and the need to disseminate that knowledge beyond the field of clinical psychology. ADHD may be over-diagnosed in some groups, but it also appears to be underdiagnosed in others, for instance in young women. It is important that anyone working with young people is aware of this.
