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Biomedical subjects

Rickard L Sjöberg

Publications and source records attributed to Rickard L Sjöberg.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2007

Adolescent girls and criminal activity: role of MAOA-LPR genotype and psychosocial factors.

Recent findings among boys show that interactions between a polymorphism in the monoamine oxidase A gene promoter region (MAOA-LPR) and psychosocial factors predict criminal activity. The objective of this study was to investigate whether this finding could be extended to adolescent girls. One hundred nineteen female adolescents were recruited among respondents to a cross-sectional study of the total population of 16- and 19-year old girls. These girls constituted a randomly selected sub-sample from groups representing different degrees of risk behavior. The subjects filled in a questionnaire and were interviewed and genotyped with regard to MAOA-LPR. The results indicate that the long, (4-repeat) allele confer an increased risk for criminal behavior in the presence of psychosocial risk. Among girls without social risk, MAOA-LPR genotype was of no importance for criminal behavior. The present results suggest that previous observations on adolescent males, which demonstrate that the short MAOA-LPR genotype and psychosocial adversity interact to predict criminal activity, may not be applicable to females.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Knowledge about cardiovascular risk factors among obese individuals.

BACKGROUND: Obesity is an important biological risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). AIMS: The main aim of this study was to answer the question whether obese individuals differ from individuals with normal weight with regard to knowledge about risk factors for CVD. A further aim was to replicate previous findings that obese individuals are at higher risk of developing other biological risk factors for CVD. METHOD: Normal weights, BMI<25 kg/m(2) (n=385), and obese, BMI> or =30 kg/m(2) (n=159), individuals were identified from a screening program conducted among 50-year-old inhabitants of the County of Västmanland, Sweden. Participants answered questions regarding their gender, level of education, and items relating to knowledge about cardiovascular risk factors. Total cholesterol and blood glucose levels, height, weight and blood pressure were measured. RESULTS: Obese individuals did not differ significantly from individuals with a normal weight regarding knowledge of cardiovascular risk factors when education was controlled for. Obesity and low level of education are associated with other risk factors for CVD such as high blood pressure and high serum cholesterol. CONCLUSION: Obese individuals are at an increased risk of developing other risk factors for CVD but are just as knowledgeable about risk factors for CVD as normal weighting individuals.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed2006

Lags in behavioral change: A population based comparison of cardiovascular risk behavior in Poland and Sweden.

One thousand and twenty Polish men and women and 1,011 Swedish men and women aged 50 and recruited through primary health care took part in a survey relating to their knowledge of health-related behaviour, attitudes to health-related behaviour and self-reported risk behaviour. The results reveal that Poles know as much about cardiovascular risk factors as Swedes, but that Swedes feel that it is more important to change their dietary habits and to influence factors in the working environment to avoid the risk of developing CVD than did Poles. Swedes also displayed less risk behaviour than Poles and more Swedes than Poles had successfully stopped smoking. These findings suggest that differences in stages of health-related behavior that have previously been observed at an individual level may sometimes also be discerned at a national level.

Cardiovascular Diseases↗
PubMed2005

Development of depression: sex and the interaction between environment and a promoter polymorphism of the serotonin transporter gene.

Previous research has demonstrated that a polymorphism in the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) and adverse psychosocial circumstances interact to predict depression. The purpose of the present study was to explore the extent to which sex modulates these effects. Eighty-one boys and 119 girls (16-19 years old) were interviewed about psychosocial background variables and genotyped for the 5-HTT promoter polymorphism. There were two main results. First, boys and girls carrying the short 5-HTTLPR allele react to different kinds of environmental factors. Whereas males were affected by living in public housing rather than in own owned homes and by living with separated parents, females were affected by traumatic conflicts within the family. Second, the responses of males and females carrying the short 5-HTTLPR allele to environmental stress factors go in opposite directions. Thus, whereas females tend to develop depressive symptoms, males seem to be protected from depression. The results suggest that both the molecular and the psychosocial mechanisms underlying depression may differ between boys and girls.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Role of monoamine oxidase A genotype and psychosocial factors in male adolescent criminal activity.

BACKGROUND: A number of important sociological, psychological, and biological predictors of adolescent criminal behavior have been identified during the most recent decades. The aim of this study was to replicate recent findings that interactions between a polymorphism in the monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) gene promoter region and psychosocial factors might predict male adolescent criminal activity. METHODS: A cross-sectional study with a randomized sample from the total population of 16- and 19-year-olds from the county of Västmanland, Sweden. Eighty-one male adolescents, who volunteered to participate, were randomly selected from groups representing different degrees of deviant risk behavior. RESULTS: The present study strongly supports the notion that carrying the 3-repeat allele of the MAO-A-gene promoter increases the risk of male adolescent criminal behavior, when interacting with psychosocial factors. No effects at all of the MAO-A genotype on adolescent criminal activity were found when MAO-A genotype was considered alone (i.e., without its psychosocial context). The explained variance of the bio-psychosocial model (controlling for MAO-A) in this study exceeded the psychosocial model by 12%. CONCLUSIONS: The findings support the notion that genotype and psychosocial factors interact to precipitate male adolescent criminal behavior.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Role of the serotonin transporter gene and family function in adolescent alcohol consumption.

BACKGROUND: That the extent to which a particular individual will engage in problematic behaviors such as delinquency, violence, or drug abuse is determined by the way psychosocial, situational, and hereditary factors interact is widely accepted. However, only recently have researchers begun to investigate the interactions between specific genotypes and psychosocial factors in relation to behavior. The purpose of the present study was to investigate possible interactions between a polymorphism in the promoter region of the serotonin transporter (5-HTT) gene and family relations on adolescent alcohol consumption. METHODS: A cross-sectional study with a randomized sample from a total population of 16- and 19-year-old adolescents from a Swedish county was conducted. Eighty-one male and 119 female adolescents, who volunteered to participate after having answered a questionnaire, were randomly selected from quartiles of volunteers representing various degrees of psychosocial risk behavior. RESULTS: 5-HTT genotype (p=0.029) and family relations (p=0.022) predicted alcohol consumption independently as well as through an interaction with one another (p=0.05). The model explained 11% of the variance in alcohol consumption. In a binary logistic model, we found that adolescents with the LS variant of the 5-HTT gene and with family relations being "neutral" or "bad" had a 12- to 14-fold increased risk for high intoxication frequency. CONCLUSIONS: In sum, our results show that a functional polymorphism of the 5-HTT genotype, family relations, and interactions between these variables predict adolescent alcohol consumption in a randomized sample of adolescents.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Obesity, shame, and depression in school-aged children: a population-based study.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether there is an association between adolescent obesity and depression in a nonclinical population and whether psychosocial and economic status and subjective experiences of shame (defined as experiences of being degraded or ridiculed by others) may account for such an association. METHOD: We examined associations between self-reported body mass index (BMI) and depression, controlling for gender, shame, parental employment, parental separation, and economy. The study was performed on a sample of 4703 adolescents (71% of the target population of 15- and 17-year-old students in 1 Swedish County) who answered the Survey of Adolescent Life in Vestmanland 2004. RESULTS: Obesity was significantly related to depression and depressive symptoms among 15- and 17-year-olds. Obesity was also significantly related to experiences of shame. All significant association between BMI grouping and depression according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition disappeared when shaming experiences, parental employment, and parental separation were controlled for. Adolescents who reported many experiences of shame had an increased risk (odds ratio: 11.3; confidence interval: 8.3-14.9) for being depressed. CONCLUSIONS: There is a significant statistical association between adolescent obesity and depression. Effects of experiences of shame, parental separation, and parental employment explain this association. These results suggest that clinical treatment of obesity may sometimes not just be a matter of diet and exercise but also of dealing with issues of shame and social isolation.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Wild child.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed2004

The outbreak of mass allegations of Satanist child abuse in the parish of Rättvik, Sweden, 1670-71: two texts by Gustav J. Elvius.

During recent decades, interpretation of mass allegations fo Satanist child abductions have challenged psychiatrists and mental health professionals in the Western world. It has been argued that a useful perspective on this phenomenon ay be gained from a study of historical parallels from countries such as Spain, Germany and Sweden. The texts translated below are an eyewitness account of the witch panic in Rättvik 1670-71 and a letter of 1671, both written by the Reverend Gustav Elvius.

Child↗
PubMed2003

Understanding mass allegations of satanist child abuse in early modern Sweden: demographic data relevant to the Rättvik outbreak of 1670-1671.

Demographic characteristics of 79 women who were accused of satanist child abductions in the parish of Rättvik, Sweden, in 1670-1671; 53 adults who promoted such accusations by bringing children to interrogations; and samples from the general population of Rättvik were compared. Results indicate that men were more likely to promote allegations of satanism than women and that these men were more likely to be married than the average Rättvik male. Promoters of allegations were older than average parishioners, and land-owning people who were involved in the panic owned more land than landowners who were not involved. People who were involved in the panic knew less about Luther's catechism than members of the general population. It is suggested that most of these findings may reflect a tendency of people who lived in the proximity of children to become involved in the panic.

Child↗
PubMed2003

Gender biases in decisions on euthanasia among Swedish jurors.

The present study set out to investigate whether group-based biases may influence decisions regarding euthanasia in Swedish jurors (nämndemän). Thirty-eight Swedish jurors were presented with a case description of euthanasia in a severely brain-damaged patient. Age and gender of the patient were systematically varied. The jurors were asked to what extent they believed that euthanasia was ethical in the case presented to them and whether they thought that it should be legal. Jurors tended to be supportive of euthanasia and were more so when it was used on patients who belonged to the opposite gender. These results suggest that group-based biases may influence decisions regarding euthanasia in Swedish jurors. The finding has implication for the Swedish debate regarding a possible legalization of such procedures.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Limited disclosure of sexual abuse in children whose experiences were documented by videotape.

OBJECTIVE: The authors describe obstacles to children's disclosure of their sexual abuse experiences. METHOD: Ten children's descriptions of 102 incidents of sexual abuse and the process of disclosing these incidents during police interviews were studied. Children's self-reports of the abuse were compared to videotapes of the incidents made by the lone perpetrator. RESULTS: There was a significant tendency among the children to deny or belittle their experiences. Some children simply did not want to disclose their experiences, some had difficulties remembering them, and one child lacked adequate concepts to understand and describe them. CONCLUSIONS: Failure by children to disclose their experiences of sexual abuse might have diverse explanations. Professionals will most likely never be able to identify all cases of sexual abuse on the basis of children's narratives.

Child↗