Socio-demographic Differences in Self-reported Psychological Distress Among 25- to 64-Year-Old Finns

Background Mental health problems are a major public health issue worldwide. The aim of this study was to assess the relative importance of socio-demographic characteristics associated with different domains of psychological distress in Finland. Methods Data source was a nationwide survey “Health Behaviour and Health among the Finnish Adult Population” (AVTK), from years 2002 to 2003 (N = 5425; response rate 66%). Psychological distress was measured by self-reported questions of general mental health (MHI-5), depression, insomnia and stress. Socio-demographic factors included education, employment status, partnership and children living in the household. Main analyses were conducted by multivariate logistic regression. Results Education, employment and partnership were associated with most of the psychological distress outcomes. Respondents with a lower educational level had poor mental health in both genders but less insomnia and stress in men. Those with an intermediate education had the least stress in women. The unemployed and retired were at a higher risk for poor mental health and depression. Moreover, employment status was associated with insomnia and stress in men. Respondents not having a partner showed a higher risk of psychological distress according to all measures. Not having children living in the household was associated with insomnia in women and with less stress in men. Conclusions Socio-demographic factors, such as having a partner and employment status, are associated with several measures of psychological distress indicating the importance of social and economic factors to psychological well-being. The association of education and of having children living at home varies by the domain of psychological distress measure.     

Relation contents in multiple networks

Distinctions among kinds of relations (friendship, advice, intimacy, and so on) are typically ad hoc in empirical research. These ad hoc distinctions among relation contents can be expected to increase the likelihood of equivocal research conclusions. We develop three ideas indicating how standard, well-known, network models of relationship form can be used to clarify relationship content. (a) We begin with an idea for recovering the semantic context in which a relation content occurs. This context is cast as a network of tendencies for contents to be confused for one another and the form of this network—dissected with network models of relation form—holds insights into the ways in which relation contents are understood in a study population. (b) The network concept of structural equivalence is used to define content domains composed of specific relation contents that are substitutable for one another in described relationships. (c) The network concept of network prominence is used to define the ambiguity of contents in described relationships. The proposed perspective is analogous to a linguistic componential analysis of relation content.     

A model to support the assessment of subjective probabilities

Conclusions The purpose of this article has been to provide a new method for the determination of subjective probabilities. The kind of support which is suggested for the assessment process has several interesting properties. Constructed in accordance with the Savage theory the procedure considers a preference structure on the space of the possible actions A or on a suitably chosen space A ^* as its basis. This structure will be attained by pairwise comparison of the elements a _i A (or a _i ^*A ^*). It may be incomplete and inconsistent. A linear programming approach will use this information to derive numerical probabilities which are in accordance with the stated preference judgments. Therefore, it avoids the difficulties which arise when the judge has to assign the numerical values to the possible states of nature. On the other hand, this method presents the advantage of taking into consideration all relevant a priori information because of its systematic judgment process. Another important element is given by the use of coefficients which express the judge's confidence in the stated comparisons. Further relevance is added to the procedure by the relatively small consumption of time and work to report the judgments even in complex situations, and by the renunciation of any methodological knowledge on the part of the judges.This study was financed by a research grant of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).     

Subset Selection in Linear Regression using Sequentially Normalized Least Squares: Asymptotic Theory

This article examines the recently proposed sequentially normalized least squares criterion for the linear regression subset selection problem. A simplified formula for computation of the criterion is presented, and an expression for its asymptotic form is derived without the assumption of normally distributed errors. Asymptotic consistency is proved in two senses: (i) in the usual sense, where the sample size tends to infinity, and (ii) in a non‐standard sense, where the sample size is fixed and the noise variance tends to zero.     

The Throes and Relief of Divorce

A divorce is a series of victories and losses. Everyone's lives get better if a marriage eroded by painful disagreements is dissolved. Usually, both spouses go through purgatory with various trials along their divorce. The aim of this article is to analyze what kinds of feelings a divorce excites as described by divorcees (N?=?74). What emotions do the divorcees emphasize in their divorce experience? The data were collected in the form of informal letters, in which people (71 women, 3 men) could reveal their thoughts and experiences in an open manner. The data were analyzed by content analysis and the results showed that a divorce produces emotional baggage with plenty of insecurity and uncertainty, but provides promises, challenges, and options as well. Although a divorce is a difficult experience, it cannot be blamed as such. Often after a torturous marriage, divorce is the only reasonable solution.     

Achievement Orientations,School Adjustment,and Well-being: A Longitudinal Study

This study set out to identify the kinds of achievement orientations that adolescents show, and to examine the kinds of antecedents and consequences the use of a particular orientation has. The participants were 734 Swedish adolescents (335 boys and 399 girls) who filled in questionnaires measuring their achievement beliefs and behaviors, depressive symptoms, engagement with school, and norm-breaking behavior. By using clustering-by-cases analysis, five achievement orientation groups were identified: optimism, defensive-pessimism, self-handicapping, and learned helplessness, and a group showing average levels of criteria variables. The results showed further that a decrease in depressive symptoms and an increase in engagement with school predicted a move to the use of optimistic and defensive-pessimistic groups, whereas a reverse pattern predicted a move to the helplessness and self-handicapping groups. Moreover, the optimistic and defensive-pessimistic achievement orientations at Time 1 predicted an increase in engagement with school and a decrease in depressive symptoms later on, whereas self-handicapping and learned helplessness predicted a decrease in engagement with school and increases in depressive symptoms and norm-breaking behavior.     

Network Governance and Programme Steering – Rationales and Tensions in Planning Child and Youth Policies

This article examines the underlying rationales and tensions of network governance and programme steering in policy planning processes by closely examining their practical implementation in the national and municipal child and youth welfare planning. It is asserted that a fundamental gap exists not only between the ideals and actual practices of networked planning, but also (despite being seen as forming a natural alliance) between network governance and programme steering. This gap is mainly because the former emphasizes governmental openness, whereas the latter tends to be connected to administrative centralization and control. In order to be successful, the article concludes, both need elements of political exclusion albeit for different reasons.     

Institutional work through empathic engagement

A growing body of literature examines how actors engage with institutions and how they prompt institutional change and evolution. This article takes stock of this knowledge and contributes an affective dimension to the study of how institutional entrepreneurs achieve momentum and field-level impact. The article views institutional work as relational agency and conceptualises empathic engagement as a way for institutional entrepreneurs to relate affectively to other actors and induce cooperation. We demonstrate how empathic engagement by institutional entrepreneurs can nurture communities of practice that co-create change in institutional fields. Our argument hinges on the actors’ affective investment and advances the less developed non-cognitive dimension of institutional work. By integrating empathic engagement into institutional entrepreneurship, we demonstrate how institutional entrepreneurs nurture their ability to engage and cooperate with others to diffuse particular values through institutional work. This integration focuses on the way of knowing generated through empathic engagement: the ability to bring about a consensus by creating frames of reference and identities that others are enchanted by and subscribe to, as opposed to using coercive mechanisms.