A model for the study of research and education in a transdisciplinary context

In an evaluation project at the Goteborg University, we have looked at the relationship between individual and collective production of knowledge within the Health sciences in order to facilitate a common ground for a Academy of Health Sciences. We found obstacles for developing an environment which could stimulate multilateral co-operation and creativity. Some of these obstacles have their root in the different cultural backgrounds indicated in the analysis and makes it difficult to find common aims and strategies. The Model used makes the organizations’ activities visible and encouraging transdisciplinary contacts and improve organizational, structural and ideological decision making emanating from overall policies of the boards concerned.     

What Predicts Adolescent Violence in Better-Off Neighborhoods?

Predictors of repeated violent delinquency across ages 13–19 were investigated in a longitudinal sample of 420 urban adolescent males living in high- compared to low-socioeconomic status (SES) neighborhoods. Adolescents in high-SES neighborhoods were significantly less likely than their counterparts in low-SES neighborhoods to engage in serious and violent delinquency. Results indicated that risk factors for later repeated violence among adolescents in high-SES neighborhoods, such as physical aggression, may be biologically based, whereas risk factors for later violence among adolescents in low-SES neighborhoods, such as poor parent–adolescent communication and early intercourse, appeared to be context-dependent. Having positive attitudes toward problem behavior and delinquent peers increased risk for later violence regardless of neighborhood SES type. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Exhaustion is differentiable from depression and anxiety: evidence provided by the SF-36 vitality scale

Stress-related exhaustion is an increasingly focused phenomenon, although scientifically not yet fully conceptualised. This is perhaps partly due to the fact that the distinction between exhaustion and other already established concepts, such as depression, is not clear. This study explores whether exhaustion can be differentiated from depression and anxiety, by means of introducing the SF-36 vitality scale as a strategy for the measurement of exhaustion. The Malm? Shoulder and Neck Study cohort, in this study including 12,607 middle-aged men and women, was utilized. Depression and anxiety were assessed by the general health questionnaire (GHQ). Factor analysis was performed in order to potentially discriminate between the included measures. Factor analysis showed that all four exhaustion items of the (inverted) SF-36 vitality scale loaded on a single factor, separate from the GHQ depression and anxiety factors. These results support the notion that exhaustion can be distinguished from depression and anxiety, providing an empirical foundation for defining exhaustion as a unique concept. Furthermore, since SF-36 has been widely used in clinical and epidemiological studies, the benefits of using the SF-36 vitality scale in the assessment of exhaustion could be substantial.