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Recurrent pain is an increasing public health problem among school-aged children, with potential negative impact on children's daily lives, such as schoolwork. The overall aim of this study was to investigate whether recurrent pain in school year 6 was associated with poorer academic achievement at the end of elementary school in school year 9. The study was a follow-up study based on data from "The Study of Health in School-Aged Children from Umeå". Participants were 1567 children aged 12 to 13 years who attended school year 6. A follow-up was performed in school year 9, when the children were 16 years old. The children answered a questionnaire about recurrent pain (headache, stomachache, and backache). Information about academic achievement was collected from school registers. The results showed that having weekly recurrent pain in school year 6 predicted lower final overall grade points in school year 9 than in children with no recurrent pain. This applied for recurrent headache, stomachache, backache, and multiple pains and for both girls and boys. Recurrent pain did not predict secondary school eligibility, however. Perceived problems with academic achievement and problems with concentration partly mediated the association between recurrent pain and lower final overall grade points. Sleep problems were not associated with academic achievement and were therefore not a mediator. Thus, the results suggest that recurrent pain may predict later impairment of academic achievement and that problems with concentration and children's perceived achievement in school, but not sleep problems, may partly explain this relationship.

Aims: During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sweden was one of the few countries that rejected lockdowns in favour of recommendations for restrictions, including careful hand hygiene and social distancing. Preschools and primary schools remained open. Several studies have shown negative impacts of the pandemic on children, particularly high levels of anxiety. The study aim was to explore how Swedish school-aged children aged 6–14 years, experienced the COVID-19 pandemic and their perceived anxiety.

Methods: In total, 774 children aged 6–14 years and their guardians answered an online questionnaire containing 24 questions, along with two instruments measuring anxiety: the Children’s Anxiety Questionnaire and the Numerical Rating Scale. A convergent parallel mixed-methods design was used for analysing the quantitative and qualitative data. Each data source was first analysed separately, followed by a merged interpretative analysis.

Results: The results showed generally low levels of anxiety, with no significant sex differences. Children who refrained from normal social activities or group activities (n=377) had significantly higher levels of anxiety. Most of the children were able to appreciate the bright side of life, despite the social distancing and refraining from activities, which prevented them from meeting and hugging their loved ones.

Conclusions: These Swedish children generally experienced low levels of anxiety, except those who refrained from social activities. Life was nonetheless mostly experienced as normal, largely because schools remained open. Keeping life as normal as possible could be one important factor in preventing higher anxiety and depression levels in children during a pandemic.

The well-being of young people in relation to their school performance has received increased attention in recent years. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the longitudinal and reciprocal relationship between adolescents’ subjective well-being and their academic achievements. The current study examined the bidirectional relationship between subjective well-being and academic achievement across two timepoints (T1 and T2) during the course of mid to late adolescence, i.e.,in school year 9 (age 15), and school years 11–12 (ages 17–18). The study also investigated variation in the association as afunction of adolescent gender. Data on subjective well-being and teacher-assigned school grades of 723 adolescents (48.7% girls) residing in Sweden were analyzed by estimating a series of cross-lagged path models. The findings suggest gender differences in the relationship as no associations were found among boys. Support for a bidirectional relationship between the constructs was only found for girls. For girls, higher subjective well-being at T1 was associated with higher academic achievements at T2, while higher academic achievements at T1 was associated with lower subjective well-being at T2. These findings highlight that the subjective well-being of adolescent girls may be important for their ability to perform at school, but their academic achievements may also inflict negatively on their subjective well-being.

Vaccination of the population seems to be an important strategy in halting the COVID-19 pandemic in both local and global society. The aim of this study was to explore Swedish adolescents' willingness to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and its association with sociodemographic and other possible factors. A survey was distributed in Sweden between 7 July and 8 November 2020. The main qualitative question concerned adolescents' thoughts on vaccination against COVID-19 and evaluated whether the adolescents would like to be vaccinated when a COVID-19 vaccine is made available. In total, 702 adolescents aged between 15-19 responded to the questionnaire. A convergent parallel mixed-methods design was used. The results showed that nearly one in three adolescents had not decided if they wanted to get a COVID-19 vaccine, i.e. 30.5%: n=214. Of the participants 54.3% (n=381) were willing to be vaccinated. Girls had higher levels of anxiety about the vaccine compared to boys. In addition, high levels of anxiety impacted on the participants' willingness to be vaccinated. One reason for being undecided about the vaccine was that participants felt they did not know enough about it. Practising social distancing increased willingness to be vaccinated, as reflected in the qualitative results which showed participants wanted to be vaccinated to protect others. The results impart important knowledge to healthcare professionals and contribute to their communication with adolescents about vaccine hesitancy.

Recurrent pain and school failures are common problems in children visiting the school nurses office. The overall aim of the current study was to investigate the relationship between recurrent pain and academic achievement in school-aged children. Literature was searched in seven electronic databases and in relevant bibliographies. Study selection, data extraction, and study and evidence quality assessments were performed systematically with standardized tools. Twenty-one studies met the inclusion criteria and 13 verified an association between recurrent pain (headache, stomachache, and musculoskeletal pain) and negative academic achievement. Two longitudinal studies indicated a likely causal effect of pain on academic achievement. All studies had substantial methodological drawbacks and the overall quality of the evidence for the identified associations was low. Thus, children’s lack of success in school may be partly attributed to recurrent pain problems. However, more highquality studies are needed, including on the direction of the association and its moderators and mediators.

Bakgrund Återkommande smärta är ett av de vanligaste folkhälsoproblemen bland skolbarn. Den höga förekomsten är ingen ny kunskap, trots det finns det lite beskrivet hur smärtan påverkar barnens funktion och då särskilt om det får konsekvenser för barnens skolprestationer.

Syfte Det övergripande syftet med avhandlingen var att studera och värdera evidensen för ett samband mellan återkommande smärta och skolprestation. Detta utifrån smärtans frekvens, lokalisation och utbredning, samt utifrån både subjektiva och objektiva mått på skolprestation. Därutöver studerades möjlig modertorer och mediatorer .

Metod Processen delades in i två steg. Steg 1 utgjordes av en systematisk litteraturöversikt (delstudie 1) som studerade den tillgängliga evidensen för sambandet mellan återkommande smärta och skolprestation bland skolbarn mellan 4 och 18 år. Samtliga delar med urval, dataextraktion, kvalitets- och evidensbedömningar utfördes systematisk. Några av de kunskapsluckor som upptäcktes i steg 1 blev grunden till Steg 2 som utgjordes av delstudie 2 och 3. Dessa studier baserades på en longitudinell totalpopulationsstudie från Umeå “The Study of Health in School-aged children from Umeå”. Urvalet bestod av 1524 respektive 1567 barn. Oberoende variabeln var återkommande smärta och beroende variablerna var upplevda problem med skolprestation, meritvärde och gymnasiebehörighet. I studie 2 och 3 analyserades data med hjälp av logistisk och linjär regression.

Resultat Steg 1: av 6 387 identifierade studier inkluderades 21 studier varav 13 kunde verifiera samband mellan återkommande smärta och nedsatta skolprestationer. Sammantaget fann översikten begränsat evidens för ett samband mellan återkommande smärta och objektiv skolprestation, samt otillräcklig evidens för ett samband mellan återkommande smärta och subjektiv skolprestation. Brister i de enskilda studiernas kvalitet och design bidrog till den låga evidensen. Steg 2: visade att smärta i årskurs 6 fördubblande oddsen för upplevda problem med skolprestation i årskurs 9, vilket gällde vid olika smärtfrekvenser, lokalisationer och antal smärtställen. Skolfrånvaro, koncentrations och sömnproblem kunde inte mediera sambandet mellan återkommande smärta och upplevda problem med skolprestation. Dessutom sågs ett samband mellan återkommande smärta i veckan i årskurs 6 och meritvärde i årskurs 9. Däremot fanns inget samband mellan smärta i årkurs 6 och gymnasiebehörighet, förutom bland flickor med magsmärta. Skolfrånvaro, koncentrationsproblem och upplevda skolprestation medierade delvis sambandet mellan smärta i årskurs 6 och lägre meritvärde i årskurs 9.

Slutsats Resultaten indikationer att återkommande smärta kan predicerar nedsatta betyg och en upplevelse av problem med att prestera i skolan. Resultatet kan lägga till grund för prioriteringar av preventiva insatser i skolan och inom hälso-och sjukvården och kan också bidra med underlag inför utvecklandet av insatser riktade till barn med återkommande smärta.

Background Recurrent pain is one of the most common public health issues among school-aged children. However, less is known about the consequences of recurrent pain, for instance in terms of academic achievement.

Aims The overall objective was to study and synthesize the evidence for an association between recurrent pain and academic achievement, across different pain locations, frequencies, and number of pain sites, and across different measures of academic achievement, while considering potentials moderators and mediators.

Method The objective of the thesis was investigated in two steps. Step 1 used a systematic review to capture the available evidence for an association between recurrent pain and academic achievement among school-aged children, aged 4 to 18 years. In step 2, knowledge-gaps identified in the review were further investigated in two empirical studies. These studies were based upon two longitudinal total population samples following children from grade 6 to 9 in elementary school. One study focused subjectively measured academic achievement and one objectively measured achievement. The participants in the two studies consisted of 1524 and 1567 children, respectively. The independent variable was recurrent pain and the dependent variables were perceived problem with academic achievement, overall grade points, and secondary school eligibility.

Results Step 1: of the 6387 studies identified in the systematic review, 21 met the inclusion criteria’s, and 13 verified an association between recurrent pain and academic achievement. However, the literature held numerous methodological drawbacks. Thus, the systematic review overall found low evidence for an association between recurrent pain and objectively measured academic achievement, as well as very low evidence for an association between recurrent pains and subjectively measured academic achievement. Step 2: showed that recurrent pain in school-year 6 doubled the odds for perceived problem with academic achievement three years later. This was true across different pain frequencies, pain locations, and number of pain sites. Problem with concentration, sleep and school-absenteeism, did not mediated the relationship between recurrent pain and perceived problem with academic achievement. Moreover, an association was seen between recurrent pain in grade 6 and overall grade points in grade 9. Finally, problem with concentration, school- absenteeism, and perceived problem with academic achievement partly mediated this association.

Conclusion The findings indicated that recurrent pain may predicts low overall grade points and may also impair children’s perception of their academic performance in school. These results may serve as a base for priority setting in the school health services and other health care settings. They may also contribute with knowledge needed for the development of future interventions targeting children with recurrent pain.

Background: Mental health in adolescents has become a major public health issue. This study examined school experiences in relation to mental health (emotional problems and conduct problems) from early to middle adolescence.

Methods: This longitudinal 3-year follow up study used data from the Swedish Study of Health in School Children in Umeå. Analyses were conducted in 1379 participants that were attending grade six in 2003 or 2006 (age 12 years). KIDSCREEN-52 was used to assess school experiences and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire for emotional and conduct problems. Statistical analyses included repeated measures ANOVA and multiple linear regressions.

Results: Positive school experiences decreased while emotional and conduct problem scores increased from grades six to nine. Positive school experiences were negatively associated with emotional and conduct problem scores and contributed to the explanation of mental health scores in middle adolescence after controlling for background factors. When baseline mental health problem scores were taken into account the association with early school experiences disappeared (except for conduct problems in boys). However, incorporating concurrent school experiences in the analysis increased the levels of explanation for emotional and conduct problem scores further.

Conclusions: The results of this study confirm that school experiences are linked to emotional and conduct problems. That link may be stronger for conduct problems. In addition, the association of school experiences in early adolescence with later mental health may be overridden by concurrent school experiences in middle adolescence.