The purpose of this study is to see how adolescent students in high school formulate their thoughts of death and if a belief in transcendent existence affects their thoughts. The study was done on two separate schools, one municipal school and one private religious school, in minor cities in Sweden. The method used was qualitative inquiries and the amount of participants was four from each school, eight in total. The result of the study showed that six out of eight participants had a belief of a transcendent existence, three from the municipal school and three from the religious private school. The result also showed that the participants from the municipal school that had a belief in an transcendent existence also had a belief in a form of “afterlife”, this was however not reflected on the students in the religious private school where result showed that one out of four had a belief in a form of “afterlife” and three view death as the final stage of existence.

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Background: Mental ill-health among adolescents is one of the most increasing public health problems in Sweden. Particularly girls suffer from mental and psychosomatic symptoms. The National Board of Health and Welfare recommend the DISA method as a preventive measure. Problem: Investigations has been done of the DISA method, but further investigations needs to be done. Aim: The aim of the study was partly to investigate how participants in DISA groups in two counties understand the method and its eventual effect and partly how their mood change, to contribute with knowledge to the development of the DISA method. Methods: A questionnaire and the self-report CES-D scale were collected from a population of 154 participants. A statistical analysis with Paired-Samples T Test carried out to examine if the difference between the sum of points of the group from the first and the last completing of the self-report CES-D scale was statistical guaranteed. Results: The participants were most satisfied with the group size and the rules. They were less satisfied with the mood diary and the homework. They wanted to talk less about negative thoughts and wanted it to be voluntary to participate in a DISA group. The participants got better insight and understanding of mental health and mental ill health. It is statistical significant that the average sum of points of the participants got lower the last time they completed the self-report CES-D scale compared to the first time. Conclusion: There are many indicators who points out that DISA is a well functioning depression preventive method.

Opportunities to be and remain healthy are unequally distributed across socioeconomic groups and emerge and widen throughout childhood and adolescence. This thesis seeks to answer if social relationships are one of the mechanisms that operate in the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and health among Swedish adolescents, using the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC) survey round 2009/10. It also aims to clarify which aspect of social relationships – its structure or function - matters more for health. Network structure includes its size and frequency of contact, and network function refers to resources received from those in the network, such as social support. The research questions guiding the thesis are: (1) Is higher socioeconomic status associated with higher self-rated health and wellbeing among Swedish adolescents? (2) Does the structure and the function of the child’s social relationships mediate in the associations in question 1? (3) Which aspect of social relationships (structure or function) mediates the associations in question 1 to the largest extent? Research questions are addressed by a mediation analysis using regression models to explore which indicators of social relationships mediate the associations between SES and health and wellbeing. Results showed a positive association between SES and health and wellbeing, and mainly three significant mediators were found which indicated that children with higher SES receive higher social support from their parents and peers and have a larger network which in turn lead to better health and wellbeing. Finally, results indicated that it is the function of social relationships rather than the structure that mediates to the largest extent.