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Background: Studies have reported higher levels of absenteeism due to illness among special education teachers compared to other teachers, but it is not known which factors might contribute to this difference. We examined whether health, health behaviors, and exposure to violence at work differed between special education and general education teachers in Finnish basic education. Methods: Survey data from 5760 general and special education teachers were analyzed with multilevel logistic models adjusted for individual- and school-level confounding factors. Results: No difference was found between the health behaviors of general and special education teachers. The differences in physical and mental health between the two groups were also relatively small. With regard to work-related violence, however, male special education teachers were 3 times more likely to be exposed to mental abuse, and 5 times more likely to be exposed to physical violence when compared to their male colleagues in general education. Although female special educators were also at an increased risk of mental abuse and physical violence compared to their female general teacher colleagues, their odds ratios for such an encounter were smaller (2- and 3-fold, respectively) than those of male special education teachers. The school-level variance of physical violence toward teachers was large, which indicates that while most schools have little physical violence toward teachers, schools do exist in which teachers' exposure to violence is common. Conclusions: These findings suggest that special education teachers may benefit from training for handling violent situations and interventions to prevent violence at schools. (Contains 4 tables.)

Although research on business crime victimization has increased in recent years, few studies have explained variation in the crime risk of businesses. Drawing on a nationally representative survey of retail premises (N=1197), this study describes the prevalence and correlates of business crime victimization in Finland, using England and Wales as a point of comparison. We subject the Finnish data to theory-driven risk factor analysis, focusing on environmental factors, the influence of which is examined controlling for local socio-economic disadvantage. Indicating that public disorder is a predictor of crimes against retail premises, the findings are consistent with routine activity approach in general and the incivilities thesis in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: The aim of this study was to examine to what extent reported harms and risk behaviours related to alcohol use were associated with 15--16-year-old adolescents' frequency of alcohol drinking, subjective state of intoxication, self-control, and family factors such as parental control, family composition, and family's financial situation. Methods: Cross-sectional survey data from Finnish Self-Reported Delinquency Study were collected in 2008 ( n == 5826). Results: The multivariate analyses indicate that drunkenness oriented drinking style was strongly associated with variety of alcohol-related harms. While physiological and social harms were especially connected with situational heavy drunkenness, delinquency and sexual risk-taking behaviour were associated with both drunkenness and frequency of alcohol drinking. Low self-control was associated most strongly with delinquency and sexual risk behaviour; whereas low parental control was related to social harms and delinquency. Conclusions: These findings should be taken into account when planning more comprehensive policies to reduce both alcohol drinking and related harms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]