Oddrun Samdal
Biographic Data
| ID | 390977 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Oddrun Samdal |
| GIVEN NAMES | Oddrun |
| FAMILY NAME | Samdal |
| SIGNATURE | SAMDAL O |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Bergen |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1776-9273 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 47 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 24 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Converging perspectives on the processes exacerbating adolescent obesity
Adolescent obesity is a complex public health challenge with steadily increasing and variable prevalence among countries. This paper synthesises the driving feedback mechanisms of adolescent obesity studied in the CO-CREATE project, furthering our understanding of the complexity of this issue. Using systems thinking principles and causal loop diagramming, we integrated the following knowledge and perspectives derived from diverse sources into a c…
Associations between eating habits and mental health among adolescents in five nordic countries
Eating habits should be considered when promoting mental health in the adolescent population. While gender differences and cross-country variations exist, even minor enhancements in eating behaviors could yield meaningful benefits
Examining the Psychometric Properties of the Family Affluence Scale in Norwegian Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children Surveys
This study assessed the applicability of the Family Affluence Scale II (FASII) for conducting time trend analysis within Norway's “Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children Study” (HBSC), spanning from 2002 to 2018. A dataset comprising 27,470 valid questionnaires was employed to assess the psychometric properties of the FASII with respect to validity and reliability for use at single- and multiple times points. The analytical approach encompassed…
Cross-national variation in the association between family structure and overweight and obesity
The study indicates that living in a one-parent family, as well as living together with grandparents, are associated with overweight and obesity among adolescents, particularly in the Nordic European region. Existing welfare policies may be insufficient to eliminate inequalities related to family structure differences
An Investigation of the Implementation of Obligatory Physical Activity Classes for 5th–7th Grade in Norway
In 2009, all Norwegian 5th-7th graders were allocated 76 h of obligatory physical activity (PA) classes in addition to physical education (PE). The study explores how schools implemented these classes and the relationship with school physical activity guidelines. The sample consisted of 134 schools participating in the WHO collaborative Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) survey in 2014 ( n = 69) and 2018 ( n = 65). Ten questions conc…
Gaming Behaviors and the Association with Sleep Duration, Social Jetlag, and Difficulties Falling Asleep among Norwegian Adolescents
The relationship between gaming and sleep is mostly informed by studies of addictive gaming behavior, thus limiting our understanding of sleep in the context of nonproblematic engaged gaming. The present study investigated whether addicted, problem, and engaged gaming behavior was associated with sleep duration, social jetlag, and difficulties falling asleep. The sample consisted of 13- and 16-year-old Norwegian adolescents (n = 3228) participati…
Associations between family structure and adolescents’ food habits
Objective: To investigate family structure differences in adolescents’ consumption of fruit, vegetables, sweets and sugar-added soft drinks with adjustments for socio-demographic and socio-economic variables. Design: Cross-sectional data from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey. Setting: Norwegian primary and secondary schools. Participants: Adolescents ( n 4475) aged 11, 13, 15 and 16 years. Results: After adjusting for covariate…
Associations between family structure and young people’s physical activity and screen time behaviors
This study suggests that living with a single parent or in reconstituted families was unfavorably associated with physical activity, sport participation and screen-based behaviors among Norwegian youth. The findings indicate that family structure could be an important factor to take into account in the development and testing of interventions. More in-depth research is needed to identify the mechanisms involved
Are associations between electronic media use and BMI different across levels of physical activity
While the usage of EM appear to be inconsequential for BMI and the risk of overweight among physically active boys, we find evidence indicating that EM use is associated with BMI and risk for overweight among girls, including those who report complying with MVPA guidelines
The assessment of ongoing community-based interventions to prevent obesity
We found that many multi-level obesity prevention interventions among adults are currently active in Europe, although we found relatively few in Southern and Eastern Europe. Identifying interventions and obtaining detailed information proved to be a difficult, time consuming and painstaking process. We discuss some of the reasons why this might be the case and present recommendations based on our experiences. We suggest that future research uses …
Enjoyment in youth soccer
This article reports on a qualitative study that explored the experiences of adolescents in Norwegian soccer teams. The sample included players aged 12–14 years who participated in the promoting adolescence physical activity (PAPA) project. The data were generated by twelve focus groups with seven girls’ teams and five boys’ teams and indicated that a central component of the soccer players’ experience was simply enjoyment. Their descriptions of …
Autonomy support and achievement goals as predictors of perceived school performance and life satisfaction in the transition between lower and upper secondary school
A path analysis of basic need support, self-efficacy, achievement goals, life satisfaction and academic achievement level among secondary school students
Teachers’ support of basic psychological needs, self-efficacy, achievement goals, life satisfaction and academic achievement level was measured in a sample of 240 secondary school students (8th and 10th grades). Correlation analysis showed significant positive relations between all of the variables, except for the relation between need support of competence and performance goals. A subsequent path analysis showed that these variables could be acc…
Family affluence and cultural capital as indicators of social inequalities in adolescent’s eating behaviours
Material capital and cultural capital individually and independently contributed to the prediction of healthy eating patterns among adolescents in Norway. Cultural capital is an understudied dimension of the socio-economic status concept and the influence on health behaviour needs to be explored in future studies. Initiatives to promote healthy eating should focus on education, habits and consciousness of a healthy diet, but also at reducing the …
Sustainable prevention of obesity through integrated strategies
SPOTLIGHT offers the potential to develop approaches that combine an understanding of the obesogenicity of environments in Europe, and thus how they can be improved, with an appreciation of the individual factors that explain why people respond differently to such environments. Its findings will inform governmental authorities and professionals, academics, NGOs and private sector stakeholders engaged in the development and implementation of polic…
Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction in Leisure Activities and Adolescents’ Life Satisfaction
Participation in leisure activities is an important arena for the positive psychological development of adolescents. The present study set out to examine the relationship between adolescents' satisfaction of the psychological needs for competence, relatedness, and autonomy in their participation in leisure activities and their perceived life satisfaction. The aim was to identify the extent to which satisfaction of the three needs explained the re…
Local school policies increase physical activity in Norwegian secondary schools
The implementation of school policies to support the adoption of physical activity is one of the main strategies recommended to increase physical activity levels among this age group. However, documentation of the effect of such policies is so far limited. The purpose of this study was to explore policy-related practices to support physical activity in Norwegian secondary schools and their association with recess physical activity. Emphasis was g…
Understanding barriers to implementing the Norwegian national guidelines for healthy school meals
The main goal of the present study was to investigate the barriers to implementing the Norwegian national guidelines for healthy school meals as perceived by principals, project leaders, teachers and students. This study employed a multiple-case design using an explorative approach. Data were collected at three secondary schools in Norway participating in the intervention project Physical activity and healthy school meals. Individual interviews w…
Cross-National Measurement Invariance of the Teacher and Classmate Support Scale
The cross-national measurement invariance of the teacher and classmate support scale was assessed in a study of 23202 Grade 8 and 10 students from Austria, Canada, England, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, and Slovenia, participating in the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) 2001/2002 study. A multi-group means and covariance analysis supported configural and metric invariance across countries, but not full scalar equivalence. The composit…
The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study
School-Related Social Support and Students' Perceived Life Satisfaction
The authors examined the effect of school-related social support from teachers, classmates, and parents on students' life satisfaction that school satisfaction, scholastic competence, and general self-efficacy, respectively, mediated. The authors based the analyses on data from a nationally representative sample of 13- and 15-year-old students (N = 3,358) from the Norwegian part of the 6th World Health Organization international survey of Health …
The role of physical structures in implementing the Norwegian guidelines for healthy school meals
Country material distribution and adolescents’ perceived health
Objective: To assess the impact of country material distribution on adolescents’ perceptions of health. Design: Cross sectional multilevel study. Setting: Data were collected from the school based health behaviour in school aged children: WHO cross national study 1997/98, which includes students from 27 European and North American countries. Participants: 12 0381 students in year 6, 8, and 10 who were attending school classes on the day of data c…
The Teacher and Classmate Support Scale
This article presents results on the factor structure, testretest reliability and external validity of the Teacher and Classmate Support scale, a brief self-report measure on perceived support from teachers and classmates. The main study included 315 13-year-olds and 366 15-year-olds. At 7-10 days after the main study, a subsample of 57 13-year-olds and 51 15-year-olds took part in a retest study. A confirmatory factor analysis of the scale showe…
Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction in Leisure Activities and Adolescents’ Life Satisfaction
Participation in leisure activities is an important arena for the positive psychological development of adolescents. The present study set out to examine the relationship between adolescents' satisfaction of the psychological needs for competence, relatedness, and autonomy in their participation in leisure activities and their perceived life satisfaction. The aim was to identify the extent to which satisfaction of the three needs explained the re…
Cross-National Measurement Invariance of the Teacher and Classmate Support Scale
The cross-national measurement invariance of the teacher and classmate support scale was assessed in a study of 23202 Grade 8 and 10 students from Austria, Canada, England, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, and Slovenia, participating in the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) 2001/2002 study. A multi-group means and covariance analysis supported configural and metric invariance across countries, but not full scalar equivalence. The composit…
Country material distribution and adolescents’ perceived health
Objective: To assess the impact of country material distribution on adolescents’ perceptions of health. Design: Cross sectional multilevel study. Setting: Data were collected from the school based health behaviour in school aged children: WHO cross national study 1997/98, which includes students from 27 European and North American countries. Participants: 12 0381 students in year 6, 8, and 10 who were attending school classes on the day of data c…
Autonomy support and achievement goals as predictors of perceived school performance and life satisfaction in the transition between lower and upper secondary school
Enjoyment in youth soccer
This article reports on a qualitative study that explored the experiences of adolescents in Norwegian soccer teams. The sample included players aged 12–14 years who participated in the promoting adolescence physical activity (PAPA) project. The data were generated by twelve focus groups with seven girls’ teams and five boys’ teams and indicated that a central component of the soccer players’ experience was simply enjoyment. Their descriptions of …
The Teacher and Classmate Support Scale
This article presents results on the factor structure, testretest reliability and external validity of the Teacher and Classmate Support scale, a brief self-report measure on perceived support from teachers and classmates. The main study included 315 13-year-olds and 366 15-year-olds. At 7-10 days after the main study, a subsample of 57 13-year-olds and 51 15-year-olds took part in a retest study. A confirmatory factor analysis of the scale showe…
Country material distribution and adolescents’ perceived health
Objective: To assess the impact of country material distribution on adolescents’ perceptions of health. Design: Cross sectional multilevel study. Setting: Data were collected from the school based health behaviour in school aged children: WHO cross national study 1997/98, which includes students from 27 European and North American countries. Participants: 12 0381 students in year 6, 8, and 10 who were attending school classes on the day of data c…
The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study
School-Related Social Support and Students' Perceived Life Satisfaction
The authors examined the effect of school-related social support from teachers, classmates, and parents on students' life satisfaction that school satisfaction, scholastic competence, and general self-efficacy, respectively, mediated. The authors based the analyses on data from a nationally representative sample of 13- and 15-year-old students (N = 3,358) from the Norwegian part of the 6th World Health Organization international survey of Health …
The role of physical structures in implementing the Norwegian guidelines for healthy school meals
Local school policies increase physical activity in Norwegian secondary schools
The implementation of school policies to support the adoption of physical activity is one of the main strategies recommended to increase physical activity levels among this age group. However, documentation of the effect of such policies is so far limited. The purpose of this study was to explore policy-related practices to support physical activity in Norwegian secondary schools and their association with recess physical activity. Emphasis was g…
Understanding barriers to implementing the Norwegian national guidelines for healthy school meals
The main goal of the present study was to investigate the barriers to implementing the Norwegian national guidelines for healthy school meals as perceived by principals, project leaders, teachers and students. This study employed a multiple-case design using an explorative approach. Data were collected at three secondary schools in Norway participating in the intervention project Physical activity and healthy school meals. Individual interviews w…
Cross-National Measurement Invariance of the Teacher and Classmate Support Scale
The cross-national measurement invariance of the teacher and classmate support scale was assessed in a study of 23202 Grade 8 and 10 students from Austria, Canada, England, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, and Slovenia, participating in the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) 2001/2002 study. A multi-group means and covariance analysis supported configural and metric invariance across countries, but not full scalar equivalence. The composit…
A path analysis of basic need support, self-efficacy, achievement goals, life satisfaction and academic achievement level among secondary school students
Teachers’ support of basic psychological needs, self-efficacy, achievement goals, life satisfaction and academic achievement level was measured in a sample of 240 secondary school students (8th and 10th grades). Correlation analysis showed significant positive relations between all of the variables, except for the relation between need support of competence and performance goals. A subsequent path analysis showed that these variables could be acc…
Family affluence and cultural capital as indicators of social inequalities in adolescent’s eating behaviours
Material capital and cultural capital individually and independently contributed to the prediction of healthy eating patterns among adolescents in Norway. Cultural capital is an understudied dimension of the socio-economic status concept and the influence on health behaviour needs to be explored in future studies. Initiatives to promote healthy eating should focus on education, habits and consciousness of a healthy diet, but also at reducing the …
Sustainable prevention of obesity through integrated strategies
SPOTLIGHT offers the potential to develop approaches that combine an understanding of the obesogenicity of environments in Europe, and thus how they can be improved, with an appreciation of the individual factors that explain why people respond differently to such environments. Its findings will inform governmental authorities and professionals, academics, NGOs and private sector stakeholders engaged in the development and implementation of polic…
Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction in Leisure Activities and Adolescents’ Life Satisfaction
Participation in leisure activities is an important arena for the positive psychological development of adolescents. The present study set out to examine the relationship between adolescents' satisfaction of the psychological needs for competence, relatedness, and autonomy in their participation in leisure activities and their perceived life satisfaction. The aim was to identify the extent to which satisfaction of the three needs explained the re…
Autonomy support and achievement goals as predictors of perceived school performance and life satisfaction in the transition between lower and upper secondary school
Are associations between electronic media use and BMI different across levels of physical activity
While the usage of EM appear to be inconsequential for BMI and the risk of overweight among physically active boys, we find evidence indicating that EM use is associated with BMI and risk for overweight among girls, including those who report complying with MVPA guidelines
The assessment of ongoing community-based interventions to prevent obesity
We found that many multi-level obesity prevention interventions among adults are currently active in Europe, although we found relatively few in Southern and Eastern Europe. Identifying interventions and obtaining detailed information proved to be a difficult, time consuming and painstaking process. We discuss some of the reasons why this might be the case and present recommendations based on our experiences. We suggest that future research uses …
Enjoyment in youth soccer
This article reports on a qualitative study that explored the experiences of adolescents in Norwegian soccer teams. The sample included players aged 12–14 years who participated in the promoting adolescence physical activity (PAPA) project. The data were generated by twelve focus groups with seven girls’ teams and five boys’ teams and indicated that a central component of the soccer players’ experience was simply enjoyment. Their descriptions of …
Associations between family structure and young people’s physical activity and screen time behaviors
This study suggests that living with a single parent or in reconstituted families was unfavorably associated with physical activity, sport participation and screen-based behaviors among Norwegian youth. The findings indicate that family structure could be an important factor to take into account in the development and testing of interventions. More in-depth research is needed to identify the mechanisms involved
Cross-national variation in the association between family structure and overweight and obesity
The study indicates that living in a one-parent family, as well as living together with grandparents, are associated with overweight and obesity among adolescents, particularly in the Nordic European region. Existing welfare policies may be insufficient to eliminate inequalities related to family structure differences
An Investigation of the Implementation of Obligatory Physical Activity Classes for 5th–7th Grade in Norway
In 2009, all Norwegian 5th-7th graders were allocated 76 h of obligatory physical activity (PA) classes in addition to physical education (PE). The study explores how schools implemented these classes and the relationship with school physical activity guidelines. The sample consisted of 134 schools participating in the WHO collaborative Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) survey in 2014 ( n = 69) and 2018 ( n = 65). Ten questions conc…
Gaming Behaviors and the Association with Sleep Duration, Social Jetlag, and Difficulties Falling Asleep among Norwegian Adolescents
The relationship between gaming and sleep is mostly informed by studies of addictive gaming behavior, thus limiting our understanding of sleep in the context of nonproblematic engaged gaming. The present study investigated whether addicted, problem, and engaged gaming behavior was associated with sleep duration, social jetlag, and difficulties falling asleep. The sample consisted of 13- and 16-year-old Norwegian adolescents (n = 3228) participati…
Associations between family structure and adolescents’ food habits
Objective: To investigate family structure differences in adolescents’ consumption of fruit, vegetables, sweets and sugar-added soft drinks with adjustments for socio-demographic and socio-economic variables. Design: Cross-sectional data from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey. Setting: Norwegian primary and secondary schools. Participants: Adolescents ( n 4475) aged 11, 13, 15 and 16 years. Results: After adjusting for covariate…
Associations between eating habits and mental health among adolescents in five nordic countries
Eating habits should be considered when promoting mental health in the adolescent population. While gender differences and cross-country variations exist, even minor enhancements in eating behaviors could yield meaningful benefits
Examining the Psychometric Properties of the Family Affluence Scale in Norwegian Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children Surveys
This study assessed the applicability of the Family Affluence Scale II (FASII) for conducting time trend analysis within Norway's “Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children Study” (HBSC), spanning from 2002 to 2018. A dataset comprising 27,470 valid questionnaires was employed to assess the psychometric properties of the FASII with respect to validity and reliability for use at single- and multiple times points. The analytical approach encompassed…
Converging perspectives on the processes exacerbating adolescent obesity
Adolescent obesity is a complex public health challenge with steadily increasing and variable prevalence among countries. This paper synthesises the driving feedback mechanisms of adolescent obesity studied in the CO-CREATE project, furthering our understanding of the complexity of this issue. Using systems thinking principles and causal loop diagramming, we integrated the following knowledge and perspectives derived from diverse sources into a c…
Medicine (18 works) · Psychology (17 works) · Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet (12 works) · Public health (11 works) · Norwegian (10 works) · Environmental health (9 works) · Developmental psychology (8 works) · Gerontology (8 works) · Social Psychology (7 works) · Biostatistics (6 works)