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Exposure to critical incidents and hence potentially traumatic events is endemic in law enforcement. The study of law enforcement officers' experience of moral injury and their exposure to potentially morally injurious incidents, and research on moral injury's relationship with different forms of traumatization (e.g. compassion fatigue, post-traumatic stress disorder) are in their infancy. The present study aims to build on prior research and explores the role of moral injury in predicting post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and its clusters thereof. To this end, a sample of law enforcement officers ( N = 370) from the National Police of Finland was recruited to participate in the current study. Results showed that moral injury significantly predicted PTSD as well as its diagnostic clusters (i.e., avoidance, hyperarousal, re-experiencing). The aforementioned role of moral injury to significantly predict PTSD and its clusters were unequivocal even when compassion fatigue was incorporated into the path model. Clinical, research, and law enforcement practice implications are discussed., (Copyright © 2020 Papazoglou, Blumberg, Chiongbian, Tuttle, Kamkar, Chopko, Milliard, Aukhojee and Koskelainen.)

Police Special Forces (a.k.a. special weapons and tactics [SWAT]) officers are tasked with responding to the most critical situations, including incidents that require specialized skills and equipment beyond typical policing activities. In this study, we tested the feasibility of applying Arnetz and colleagues' resilience promotion training that was developed for patrol officers to SWAT team officers ( n = 18). The resilience promotion training program included psychoeducation focused on police stress and resilience, and the practice of resilience promotion techniques (controlled breathing and imagery) while listening to audio-recorded critical incident scenarios. The aims of this study were to (a) examine if a resilience training program was relevant and accepted by SWAT team officers and (b) assess participants' physiological stress responses (heart rate, respiration) during the resilience training sessions to note if there were improvements in stress responding over time. Our findings revealed that participants were able to significantly reduce their average heart rate and improve their ability to engage in controlled respiration (i.e., breathing) during simulated critical incidents over the course of the 5-day training. Improvements in stress responding were observed even when the critical incident scenarios became more graphic. Results suggest that an intervention to reduce stress responses of SWAT officers to critical incident scenarios works in a simulated training setting. Translation of these findings to real-world occupational hazards is a recommended next step.

The present study examines the 10-year time-trend changes of adolescent psychiatric symptoms, smoking and alcohol use. Representative population-based samples with same methods at two time-points, same age range and with 10-year period between the time points were gathered in Finland to investigate secular changes in adolescents' emotional and behavioral problems. Seventh and ninth grade students filled in the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and questions regarding alcohol use and smoking anonymously during a school lesson in 1998 (n = 1458) and 2008 (n = 1569). The self-reports of SDQ showed substantial stability in emotional and behavioral problems from 1998 to 2008. There was no increase between the two timepoints in self-reports of SDQ total, conduct, hyperactivity, emotional or peer problems when using the 90th percentile clinical cut-off points. However, there was a trend showing decreasing prosocial behavior among girls indicating that proportions of adolescent boys and girls having problems in prosocial behavior have converged, The self-reported alcohol use, drunkenness and cigarette smoking decreased within the 10-year time period. Of alcohol use, the number of non-users increased from 44 to 63 % between the years 1998 and 2008. Similarly, the proportion of non-smokers increased from 56 to 68 %. Although rates of substance use declined within the 10-year study period, drunkenness-oriented alcohol use and regular smoking are still prevalent among Finnish adolescents.

The aims of this study were to examine the prevalence, co-occurrence, and psychosocial determinants of self-perceived headache, abdominal pain, and sleep problems among adolescents. The adolescents from two cities in Finland (n = 2,215, 90.9% of the target population) attending 7th and 9th grade (age range 13-18 years) participated in the cross-sectional survey inquiring about frequency of headache, abdominal pain, sleep problems, and psychosocial difficulties. The 6-month prevalence of weekly headache was 13%, abdominal pain 6%, and sleep problems 27%. All three symptoms were strongly associated with each other. Of the adolescents suffering from one symptom, 32% reported one co-occurring symptom and 17% two co-occurring symptoms. In the multivariate analysis, female gender, experience of psychological difficulties, emotional symptoms, smoking, victimization, and feeling not cared about by teachers were independently associated with all the individual symptoms, as well as an increasing number of symptoms. Sleep problems were associated with older age and peer and alcohol problems. Abdominal pain was associated with conduct problems, and both headache and abdominal pain were linked with immigration background. An increasing number of symptoms was associated with older age, having a chronic illness, and conduct and alcohol problems. Adolescents' headache, abdominal pain and sleep problems were common and often co-occurred. An increasing frequency of each symptom and number of symptoms were associated with psychosocial factors in a similar way. Screening for psychiatric symptoms, substance use, victimization and difficulties with teachers should be included in the assessment of adolescents who suffer from recurrent headache, abdominal pain or sleep problems.

Context: To our knowledge, no population study examining psychosocial and psychiatric risk factors associated with cyberbullying among adolescents exists., Objective: To study cross-sectional associations between cyberbullying and psychiatric and psychosomatic problems among adolescents., Design: Population-based cross-sectional study., Setting: Finland., Participants: The sample consists of 2215 Finnish adolescents aged 13 to 16 years with complete information about cyberbullying and cybervictimization., Main Outcome Measures: Self-reports of cyberbullying and cybervictimization during the past 6 months., Results: In the total sample, 4.8% were cybervictims only, 7.4% were cyberbullies only, and 5.4% were cyberbully-victims. Cybervictim-only status was associated with living in a family with other than 2 biological parents, perceived difficulties, emotional and peer problems, headache, recurrent abdominal pain, sleeping difficulties, and not feeling safe at school. Cyberbully-only status was associated with perceived difficulties, hyperactivity, conduct problems, low prosocial behavior, frequent smoking and drunkenness, headache, and not feeling safe at school. Cyberbully-victim status was associated with all of these risk factors. Among cybervictims, being cyberbullied by a same-sex or opposite-sex adult, by an unknown person, and by a group of people were associated with fear for safety, indicating possible trauma., Conclusions: Both cyberbullying and cybervictimization are associated with psychiatric and psychosomatic problems. The most troubled are those who are both cyberbullies and cybervictims. This indicates the need for new strategies for cyberbullying prevention and intervention.

Background: The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) has been translated into the different Nordic languages between 1996 and 2003. During the past few years, SDQs have been completed for nearly 100,000 children and adolescents in population-based studies as well as in clinical samples. The largest studies have been performed in Norway and Denmark, and in these countries the diagnostic interview DAWBA has also been used in conjunction with the SDQ., Aims: In addition to a brief overview of past and ongoing SDQ work in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland, we present scale means and standard deviations from selected community studies with comparable age groups, including parental reports for 7, 9 and 11 year-old children and self-reports of 13 and 15 year-olds., Conclusions: The descriptive statistics suggest that the distributions of SDQ scores are very similar across the Nordic countries. Further collaborative efforts in establishing norms and evaluating the validity of the SDQ as a screening instrument are encouraged.

The aim of the study was to examine factors associated with dieting and weight concerns among Finnish adolescents. A school-survey included a 9-item screening scale for assessing attitudes and behaviors involving dieting and body image and a self-report measure of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire assessing emotional and behavioral problems. Altogether 1458 questionnaires were analyzed, which accounted for about 89% of the target population including all the 7th and the 9th graders in two cities in Finland. According to the results, dieting and weight concerns were extremely common among Finnish adolescents. For all aspects of weight control and dieting concerns, the rates of occurrence were greater among girls. A high level of dieting concerns was associated with female sex, body mass, emotional, conduct, and hyperactivity symptoms, and alcohol use.

Objective: To examine the effect of sex, latitude, and behavior problems on symptoms related to pediatric seasonal affective disorder among seventh and ninth graders., Method: A school survey including a modified version of the Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire was carried out in 2 Finnish cities located in the 60th and 67th northern latitudes. Altogether 1,458 questionnaires were analyzed, representing 89% of the target population., Results: Seasonal changes in mood and behavior were commonly reported among seventh and ninth graders. A high Global Seasonality score (> 95th percentile) was associated with female gender and emotional and hyperactivity symptoms. During February and March, girls living in the 67th latitude reported more seasonal distress than girls living at the 60th latitude., Conclusions: It is important to recognize pediatric seasonal affective disorder and related problems among adolescents. Seasonal alterations in child and adolescent behavior are not well understood and need to be investigated more thoroughly.