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Previous studies indicate that the use of disability benefits is associated with reduced chances of having children. The current study aimed to identify the bidirectional nature of this association which has been overlooked in previous research. The longitudinal data used in this study were obtained from the Swedish national registers. It consists of 440,200 individuals born from 1968 to 1970 with a follow-up period extending up to 2010. Descriptive analysis, heat map visualization, and multinomial logistic regression were performed. The results show a complex and dynamic association between disability and parenthood. Starting on disability benefits at the age of 20–25 years was associated with a reduced chance of having children during the follow-up duration (≤42 years). Interestingly, another pattern was also revealed, and individuals who had their first child as teenagers (aged 13–19 years) were at higher odds of starting to receive disability benefits during their 30s and 40s compared to the rest of the study population. This is the first study to show evidence of a bidirectional nature of the association between age at starting to use disability benefits and the age of having a first child. Our findings demonstrate the potential of using heatmaps and multinomial regression on time-to-event data to examine bidirectional relationships between various factors investigated across several disciplines.

People with disability make up the largest minority group worldwide. Despite advocacy work and political advances in disability rights, such as the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, these people are still marginalised in society, and disability is often considered solely a medical condition associated with personal tragedy and exclusion. The European Research Council funded the DISLIFE project to research disability in Sweden from the 1800s until present time from life course perspectives. This chapter gives an overview of the project and highlights some key findings on how societal circumstances have shaped the opportunities and lives of people with disability across time. We explain the project's use of the life course concept and reflect critically upon it from ableist perspectives. In all, the project findings suggest there has been little improvement over time of the life opportunities of people with disability.

Background: Inbreeding, arising from consanguinity between related parents, has been observed to impact the health of individuals, typically attributed to biological factors. Nevertheless, these effects may be influenced by the social and environmental conditions. The prevalence of consanguineous marriages increased in certain parts of Sweden after it became legal in 1844, which offers a unique opportunity to study and understand the effects of inbreeding on health.

Aim: The objective of this study is to explore the potential impact of inbreeding on the longevity, fertility, and impairments of individuals born in the Skellefteå region, Sweden, between 1890 and 1905, with a follow-up period extending until 1950.

Subjects and methods: The level of inbreeding is calculated using micro-level parish register data and related to longevity, fertility, and impairments using regression analysis.

Results: Inbreeding is shown to be associated with longevity, fertility, and impairments. It seems to affect the risk of stillbirth and impairments and male longevity and fertility.

Conclusion: Inbreeding seems to have had a detrimental effect on some health outcomes in this historical population under study.

Analysis of colonization processes that occurred before the availability of written records has traditionally relied on methods from fields such as archaeology and linguistics. However, the rapid development of DNA testing has introduced a novel approach to investigating these historical processes. In this study, we utilize genetictesting to examine the colonization of Västerbotten, a region in northern Sweden. Although detailed written records exist from the 18th century onward through parishregisters, the region’s earlier history remains only partially understood.

This study employs genetic analysis to explore the demographic and migratory patterns of Västerbotten’s early inhabitants. The primary objective was to tracethe progression of colonization, including the demographics, migration routes, andancestry of early settlers. By analyzing haplogroup patterns, we uncovered insightsinto the paternal lines that have shaped the region’s genetic landscape over the past two millennia, providing valuable implications for understanding the colonizationprocess.

Furthermore, this study underscores the significant potential of genetic genealogyas a tool for reconstructing complex historical demographic processes. Our findings demonstrate how analyzing paternal lineages that contribute to the genetic makeup of the Västerbotten population can reveal clues about regional colonization dynam-ics. This work illustrates the broader applicability of genetic analysis in deepeningour understanding of historical events, not only in this region but also in similar contexts worldwide.

Partnership signifies a key transition for social recognition in society. This study identifies long-term trends of disability and partnership in Sweden evidenced by the chances to marry or cohabit during two centuries (1800s–2010s). We compare results from studies within one comprehensive disability project, making use of quantitative life-course analysis and population records. Our findings uncover a remarkably persistent trend from the 1800s until the 2010s. Disability impeded both men and women’s partnership chances significantly (by about 60%), with some variations across disability types, genders, and periods. That disabled people did not enjoy greater access to a partner relative to others while Sweden moved from a poor country to a wealthy welfare state, suggests that disability persistently affords fewer possibilities to participate in social life and society. Our study is exceptional by combining disability with partnership and comparing recent results with the past.

This study investigates the main features of collected disability statistics for the censuses in Sweden, 1860–1930, when the disability prevalence rose from four to 21 individuals per thousand of the population. We use qualitative methods to analyze the means of collecting, categorizing, and defining disability, while quantitative methods help us calculate the prevalence by disability type and gender in urban and rural areas. Our long-term findings reveal that this increase reflects new approaches whereby authorities applied alternative methods to collect disability data, using additional sources, wider definitions, and introducing new disability categories. The temporal variations in disability prevalence were influenced by the social and political context and normative views on who was considered disabled or not.

Background: Over the past decades the number of young people using disability pensions (DP) has gradually increased in Europe but the reasons for this change are poorly understood. We hypothesize that teenage parenthood could be associated with an increased risk of receiving early DP. The aim of this study was to examine the association between having a first child at age 13-19 and receiving DP at age 20-42 (here called early DP).

Methods: A longitudinal cohort study was undertaken based on national register data obtained from 410,172 individuals born in Sweden in 1968, 1969, and 1970. Teenage mothers and fathers were followed until age 42 and compared to non-teenage parent counterparts to examine their early receipt of DP. Descriptive analysis, Kaplan-Meier curves, and Cox regression analyses were performed.

Results: The proportion of teenage parents was more than twice higher in the group that received early DP (16%) compared to the group that did not receive early DP (6%) during the study duration. A higher proportion of teenage mothers and fathers started to receive DP at 20-42 years old compared to non-teenage parents, and the difference between the two groups increased during the observation period. A strong association was observed between being a teenage parent and receiving early DP, significant both independently and after adjusting for the year of birth and the father's level of education. From the age of 30 to 42 years, teenage mothers used early DP more often than teenage fathers or non-teenage parents, and this difference also increased during the follow-up period.

Conclusion: A strong association was found between teenage parenthood and the use of DP between 20 and 42 years of age. Teenage mothers used DP more than teenage fathers and non-teenage parents.

Denna Genväg till forskning syftar till att ge en översikt av det aktuella kunskapsläget om våld i nära relationer bland vuxna med funktionsnedsättning. Det utgör ett problemområde som har undersökts jämförelse lite hittills. Översikten utgår från Världshälsoorganisationens (WHO) övergripande definition av funktionsnedsättning som avser långvarigt nedsatt förmåga hos individer att fungera fysiskt eller psykiskt i relation till sin omgivning och förhindrar dem från att fullt delta i samhället. Översikten ger en bild av den senaste forskningen beträffande: förekomst och följder av våld i nära relationer bland vuxna män och kvinnor med funktionsnedsättning; riskfaktorer för denna typ av våld; vad som kännetecknar det; samt tillgång till stöd och serviceinsatser. Även om båda könen berörs ligger fokus på hur övergrepp från närstående drabbar kvinnor med funktionsnedsättning generellt sett, där jämförelser mellan olika funktionsnedsättningar ibland förekommer. Vår översikt av forskningsläget blottlägger två kunskapsluckor, varav den första gäller okunskap om de erfarenheter av våld i nära relationer som personer med funktionsnedsättning har. För det andra är forskning om tillgång till stödinsatser bristfällig, inte minst vilka former av stödinsatser som bidrar till skydd och stöd. För att kunna förebygga våld som personer med funktionsnedsättning utsätts för och för att förbättra samhällets stödsystem behöver framtida forskning närmare undersöka dels hur de upplever våld från närstående, dels hur tillgången till stöd fungerar i praktiken. I slutet av rapporten presenteras några resultat från våra projekt som belyser just dessa aspekter avseende kvinnor som utsatts för dessa övergrepp i Sverige. Resultaten bidrar till att täppa till de två forskningsluckor som översikten påvisar.

A major organizational change is currently taking place in Swedish sports, with people labelled with disabilities leaving the Swedish Para-sport Federation (SPF) to participate in mainstream sports under the Swedish Sports Confederation. The aim of this study was to map the expectations of this ongoing process of the stakeholders of the SPF.  Based on a questionnaire with 130 respondents connected to the SPF we found that, overall, the respondents were optimistic about mixed training groups, something that could point towards the possibility of equality between PLwD (people labelled with disabilities) and mainstream athletes. However, a rather large number of respondents feared negative consequences in terms of the physical environment for PLwD. This means that inclusion may create a dilemma regarding the relationship between the individual and the environment. We conclude that inclusion works at different levels of organized sport and there is insufficient knowledge about the impact of inclusion.

Historical studies on the institutionalization of the mentally ill have primarily relied on data for institutionalized patients rather than the population at risk. Consequently, the underlying factors of institutionalization are unclear. Using Swedish longitudinal microdata from 1900–59 reporting mental disorders, we examine whether supply factors, such as distance to institutions and number of asylum beds, influenced the risk of institutionalization, in addition to demand factors such as access to family. Institutionalization risks were associated with the supply of beds and proximity to an asylum, but also dependent on families’ unmet demand for care of relatives. As the supply of mental care met this family-driven demand in the 1930s, the relative risk of institutionalization increased among those lacking family networks.