[Alcohol related mortality 1980-90, how many children are affected?]. / Alkoholrelaterte dødsfall 1980-90, hvor mange barn er berørt?

During the decade 1980 to 1990, 3,500 persons in Norway, under 30 years of age lost their mother or father as a result of an alcohol-related disease. Many of these persons were small children. The article presents research based on linkage of data from the population census of 1980, causes of death and the population register. The results show large regional differences in the rates of children who lost a parent due to misuse of alcohol. Even larger differences were observed between the different districts within the city of Oslo. Differences in registered sales and the consumption of illicitly distilled alcohol both help to explain the regional differences between counties.

Freud, Piaget, or neither? Beliefs in controlling others by wishful thinking and magical behavior in young children.

Tests showed that 4- to 6-year-old children believe that people can be influenced or "controlled" both by thinking (e.g., both wishful thinking and magical behavior) and by realistic means (e.g., positive reinforcement, example, and group pressure). Belief in control by thinking did not vary by the subjects' sex or age, influence type (wishing or magical behavior), or target response (behavior, emotion, or thought). Quantitative measures, however, suggested that magical behavior was seen by subjects as being more efficient than wishing, and that emotion was considered easier to influence than thinking. Beliefs in control by thinking were not related to a measure of fantasy-reality differentiation (realism).

Eating behaviour, drug use, psychopathology and parental bonding in adolescents in Norway.

A 12-item version of the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-12) was constructed and applied at 1-year intervals in a non-referred cohort of 1193 adolescents in Norway aged 13-18 years. Eight percent of the girls scored beyond the chosen cut-off point of 9/10 the first time and 9% the second time. Factor analysis demonstrated 3 factors--dieting, bulimia and food preoccupation and oral control. Both the total scores on the EAT-12 and the 3 different factor scores showed a significant relationship between eating behaviour and smoking, level of alcohol consumption, alcohol intoxication, psychopathology and parental bonding.

Patterns of drug use and sensation-seeking among adolescents in Norway.

The relationship between personality and drug use was investigated by studying patterns of sensation-seeking behaviour and drug use among adolescents. A questionnaire was distributed to a sample of 1027 Norwegian senior high school students aged 16 to 19 in the greater Oslo area. The response rate was 97%. The sensation-seeking subscores showed moderate to strong association with the use of the different drugs. A canonical correlation analysis yielded 3 significant variates: in the drug use domain the first dimension correlated with the use of legal drugs and inhalants, the second with cannabis and tranquillizers and the third with tobacco. In the sensation-seeking domain the first dimension was almost synonymous with the disinhibition scale, the second with experience-seeking, and the third correlated highly negatively with thrill-, adventure- and experience-seeking. The results support the assumption that a strong link exists between sensation seeking and drug use. They further show the importance of taking different subdimensions of the sensation-seeking trait into account for prevention and treatment of drug use and abuse.