This study aim to explore how the conditions of an individual's childhood may affect their coping with trauma. The individuals represented in this study, for the purpose to explore coping with trauma, are individuals grown up under insufficient childhood conditions. This study is based on the assumption that childhood conditions, are a factor of influence on coping with trauma, in a greater extent than it is understood and given credit for in todays society. Our result shows that there is an obvious correlation between insufficient childhood conditions and destructive coping with trauma. There is a need of larger general awareness that an individuals resources for coping with trauma is affected by the conditions growing up. A larger awareness of the affect that conditions growing up, have on coping with trauma, could benefit preventive cause of actions in cases of children having insufficient conditions growing up. This can further develop into better conditions coping with trauma for the individual actually experiencing trauma. If the society pays attention to children at the right time, it could save the child from a lifelong suffering.

The objective of this thesis was to determine the association of leg length (LL), a marker of early childhood conditions, with metabolic abnormalities underlying type 2 diabetes. Utilizing data from a population at-risk for diabetes, the associations of LL with i) insulin resistance (IR) and beta-cell dysfunction and ii) a continuous metabolic syndrome risk score (MetScore) were analyzed. Results showed that shorter LL was associated with IR and beta-cell dysfunction, and that the combination of short legs and large waist (a marker of adult obesogenic conditions) was associated with the greatest IR. Height, a marker of overall childhood conditions, was found to be inversely associated with the MetScore. Therefore, both adverse childhood conditions and early-late life mismatched conditions may increase the risk for diabetes through differing pathways. Improving childhood conditions (i.e. nutritionally or economically) may be an important strategy to prevent diabetes.

The objective of this thesis was to determine the association of leg length (LL), a marker of early childhood conditions, with metabolic abnormalities underlying type 2 diabetes. Utilizing data from a population at-risk for diabetes, the associations of LL with i) insulin resistance (IR) and beta-cell dysfunction and ii) a continuous metabolic syndrome risk score (MetScore) were analyzed. Results showed that shorter LL was associated with IR and beta-cell dysfunction, and that the combination of short legs and large waist (a marker of adult obesogenic conditions) was associated with the greatest IR. Height, a marker of overall childhood conditions, was found to be inversely associated with the MetScore. Therefore, both adverse childhood conditions and early-late life mismatched conditions may increase the risk for diabetes through differing pathways. Improving childhood conditions (i.e. nutritionally or economically) may be an important strategy to prevent diabetes.

Bakgrund: Att undersöka äldres hälsa och välbefinnande med ett livscykelperspektiv ger insikter i hur tidiga livserfarenheter formar välbefinnandet senare i livet, vilket är det övergripande ramverket för denna empiriska studie. Studien betonar vikten av att förstå de komplexa faktorer som påverkar hälsa och välbefinnande hos äldre över livet från ett folkhälsoperspektiv. Med en ökande åldrande befolkning är det avgörande att adressera dessa faktorer för att främja hälsosamt åldrande. Studien utforskar äldres hälsa och välbefinnande genom ett livscykelperspektiv med en unik ansats, belyser hur samverkan mellan familjen, samhället och vetenskapen kan främja detta, med barnläkares perspektiv som en central komponent för att främja hälsa och välbefinnande under livets olika faser. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka sambanden mellan tidiga livsfaser och hälsa samt välbefinnande i äldre ålder. Genom att utforska hur barnläkares expertis inom pediatrisk utveckling och hälsa kan bidra till förståelsen av långsiktiga hälsoeffekter orsakade av barndomens förhållanden. Metod: För att besvara studiens syfte användes en kvalitativ metod med induktiv ansats. Datainsamlingen genomfördes genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem äldre barnläkare i Sverige som har minst två decenniers erfarenhet av klinisk verksamhet. Deltagarna valdes ut genom målinriktat urval. Den insamlade datan analyserades med en kvalitativ innehållsanalys med inslag av Grounded Theory. Resultat: Studien identifierar fyra huvudkategorier: Familjens och samhällets roll i barnets utveckling och hälsa, Reflektion över Barnets Utveckling och Livscykelperspektiv, Betydelsen av Tidiga Insatser och Förändring, samt Vetenskapens Ansvar i Barnets Utveckling och Hälsa. Resultaten av studien visar på barnläkares betydelsefulla insikter om livscykelperspektivet och understryker behovet av en multipel-aktörsansats genom att involvera både familjen, samhället och forskarsamhället i processen. Slutsats: Äldre barnläkares perspektiv på livscykelperspektivet ger en unik inblick i hur de sambandet barnets hälsa och välbefinnande i senare skeden av livet. Det understryks en vidgad förståelse av barns utveckling och hälsa med fokus på familjens generationsöverskridande interaktioner och samverkan. Vidare föreslås att en holistisk och multipel-aktörsansats som involverar familjen, samhället och forskargemenskapen är avgörande för att skapa gynnsamma förhållanden för barn och individer. / Background: Investigating the health and well-being of the elderly through a life cycle perspective provides insights into how early life experiences shape well-being later in life, which is the overarching framework for this empirical study. The study emphasizes the importance of understanding the complex factors affecting the health and well-being of older people over a lifetime from a public health perspective. With an increasing aging population, it is crucial to address these factors to promote healthy aging. The study explores the health and well-being of older people through a life cycle perspective with a unique approach, highlighting how the collaboration between family, society, and science can promote this, with the perspective of pediatricians as a central component for promoting health and well-being throughout the various stages of life. Aim: The purpose of this study is to investigate the connections between early life stages and health and well-being in older age. By exploring how pediatricians’ expertise in pediatric development and health can contribute to understanding the long-term health effects caused by childhood conditions. Method: To answer the study’s purpose, a qualitative method was used with an inductive design. Data collection was collected through semi-structured interviews with five senior pediatricians in Sweden who have at least two decades of clinical experience. Participants were selected through purposeful sampling. A qualitative content analysis, with elements of Grounded Theory was used to analysis the data. Results: The analysis resulted in four main categories: The Role of Family and Society in Child Development and Health, Reflection on Child Development and Life Cycle Perspective, The Importance of Early Interventions and Change, and The Responsibility of Science in Child Development and Health. The results of the study highlight the significant insights of pediatricians on the life cycle perspective and underscore the need for a multi-actor approach by involving both the family, society, and the research community in the process. Conclusion: The perspective of older pediatricians on the life cycle perspective provides a unique insight into how they connect child health and well-being in later stages of life. An extended understanding of child development and health with a focus on intergenerational family interactions and collaboration is emphasized. Furthermore, it is suggested that a holistic and multi-actor approach involving the family, society, and the research community is crucial to create favourable conditions for children and individuals.

The aim of this doctoral thesis is to – from a child perspective and with children as informants – describe and analyze childhood conditions for children whose parents suffer from severe mental illness. The method used is qualitative – 28 children, 10 boys and 18 girls, 7–18 years old, were interviewed about their parents’ mental disorder; the family situation and their own personal life – in school and during free time. The analyses are based on Sociology of Childhood and Family Sociology. Previous studies have, to a great extent, focused on the risk the children run of developing mental health- and social problems and what helps them to grow up healthy. The increased risk of mental health- and social problems has been well confirmed, but also that preventive interventions can contribute to resilience in the children. Although some studies have explored children’s experiences of their parents’ mental illness and the challenges they meet, research from a childhood perspective, has so far been scarce. The results of this study reveal different degrees of emotional, physical and social exposure for the children. Their childhood conditions were related to gender, relations, communication, problem load and social situation of the family. If the parent with a mental illness was a woman, the situation for the child was often more exposed than if it was the father – most likely due to parental roles and expectations on men and women in the Swedish society at that time. Girls seemed more emotionally involved in the parents’ problems than boys, especially if the parent with a mental illness was a father. Most of the parents were divorced or had never lived together. Parental conflicts complicated the life of the children, who were expected to have maintained relationships to both parents. Lack of communication about the parent’s mental disorder in - and outside the family - was common. The children were often uninformed about the parent’s problems.  If hindered to pass information between and outside their two homes, they were left to handle difficult, sometimes dangerous, situations with the mentally ill parent, alone. The home was not always the safe place for rest and recovery, as homes are expected to be. The heavier the total problem load of the family, the more exposed was the child. Most exposed were children whose both parents had severe problems – mental illness or addiction. They were often placed in out of home care, for longer or shorter periods. The kind and degree of exposure the children experienced varied. Four kinds of childhood sceneries could be recognized: (1) the well organized childhood, where the parent’s mental health problem was mainly an emotional burden for the children; (2) the complicated childhood, where the parents conflicts and inability to protect the child made the child either too involved or too lonely in handling the problems that the parent’s mental illness caused them; (3) the problematic childhood where the parent’s mental illness was not the only problem in the family, but factors like the other parent’s drinking, siblings’ problems, social and economical difficulties added to the burden and (4) the exposed childhood where none of the parents was able to take care of the child. Knowledge and openness, about the parents’ problems, seemed to increase competence and decrease feelings of guilt and responsibility for the parent. All of the children stood forward, not as passive victims, but as competent agents in their own lives – although often more or less powerless because of their dependence of their parents and other adults around them. It was clear, though, that there is a need for professionals in adult psychiatry, social services, school and preschool, to pay attention to the children of parents with mental health problems and see to that they get the information and support they need. Keywords: Children, childhood conditions, children as agents, parental mental illness/mental disorders, mental health knowledge, exposed life situations, competence.