Studies on children's life circumstances and health
The SOFIA Study
Several ongoing and planned studies are conducted within the framework of the longitudinal study on the social and physical development, interventions, and adaptation of children (the SOFIA study), carried out in collaboration with Karlstad Municipality and Örebro University.
The overall purpose of the SOFIA study is to better understand the development of children's social, physical, and mental health, including deviant behavior. The study also aims to examine the interventions provided and how collaboration evolves over time concerning children with noted difficulties. The goal is for the study to provide knowledge about children's development that can be used to improve interventions and practical work with children and youth.
The SOFIA study is an ongoing prospective longitudinal study where approximately 2000 children in a medium-sized Swedish municipality have been followed since their preschool years at 3–5 years old. So far, caregivers and educators have answered questions about the child and the child's situation at six different times (2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2018, and 2021). In the last two data collections, the children/youth themselves have also answered questions. In 2024, the seventh data collection will take place through a survey and interview study with the SOFIA youth. The long-term plan is to conduct follow-up investigations at an additional 6-10 occasions until the participants reach the age of 65-75.
Researchers at Karlstad University focus on health, school-related factors, and social vulnerability. SOFIA-based research at Örebro University focuses on risk factors for criminal behavior.
Project Period: 2010 –
Funders: Swedish Research Council, FORTE, among others.
Participating Researchers: Evelina Landstedt, Birgitta Persdotter, and Victoria Lönnfjord.
Hand in Hand We Stand – Collaboration to Promote Mental Health among Youth in School Environments
The aim of the research project is to develop a model for health promotion work in school environments with a focus on mental health among children and adolescents. The project aims to meet the need for sustainable efforts to promote mental health through co-creation of knowledge between students, school staff, and researchers. Another goal is to strengthen collaboration between school professionals, especially between student health services and teachers. The research is based on close collaboration between researchers at Karlstad University and students, teachers, student health personnel, and principals at three schools. The project is expected to generate new knowledge on how successful health-promoting work with a focus on youth mental health can be implemented in a school environment.
The project is affiliated with the Center for Research on Children's and Adolescents' Mental Health and Life circumstances (CBU) at Karlstad University.
Link to CBU - Hand in Hand We Stand
Project Period: 2023 – 2025. Funded by: The Kamprad Family Foundation.
Participating Researchers: Evelina Landstedt and Victoria Lönnfjord.
Evaluation of "Stop! My Body!"
In collaboration with Save the Children and the World Childhood Foundation.
The focus is on evaluating a school-based intervention – Stop! My Body! – aimed at facilitating children to talk about experiences related to the body, consent, abuse, and shame. The intervention includes physical materials, films, and a digital game and is delivered by teachers as part of regular school instruction. The target group is children in grades 2 and 3. The evaluation is conducted through an innovative digital evaluation tool in which children participate in its creation.
The overall purpose of the project is to evaluate the Stop! My Body! program with a focus on knowledge related to emotions, body, abuse, consent, secrets, and online safety.
The two sub-studies of the project have the following purposes:
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To produce a digital evaluation tool with high validity and reliability for measuring children's knowledge related to emotions, body, abuse, consent, secrets, and online safety.
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To evaluate whether an intervention focused on working with school materials and a digital game in a school environment makes a difference in students' knowledge and if different effects can be identified for school materials versus the game.
Project Period: 2022 - 2025
Participating Researchers: Evelina Landstedt and Victoria Lönnfjord.
Youth Exposure to Violence and Maltreatment
A longitudinal study on adolescents' experiences of various types of violence. Collaboration with Mid Sweden University.
Participating Researcher: Evelina Landstedt.
Grandchildren of Misfortune (GRAM) – the Role of Resilience in Relation to Multigenerational Patterns of Inequality
In collaboration with Stockholm University. Funded by the Swedish Research Council 2020-2022.
Participating Researcher: Evelina Landstedt.
Social Integration, Religiosity, and Mental Well-being
Children and adolescents migrating between countries often experience psychosocial challenges as they need to establish new relationships, navigate society, and address existential questions in the country where they settle.
Olov Aronson has investigated how children and adolescents with a foreign background form friendships with peers and what conditions are crucial for them to successfully establish friendships with peers from different backgrounds. The research has focused on children's and adolescents' friendships within their school classes, emphasizing how factors related to school organization and adult involvement impact the friendships of children and adolescents. Olov Aronson has also examined how the mental well-being of children and youth, with both domestic and foreign backgrounds, is influenced by their social relationships with peers and their everyday religious practices.
The research was conducted from 2017 to 2022.