Stockholm university

Gunn JohanssonProfessor Emerita

Publications

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

  • Historien om svensk psykologisk forskning

    2020. .

    Book (ed)

    This volume is the result of a symposium held in April 2018 focusing on parts of the early history of Swedish academic psychology as it evolved mainly from the middle of the 20th century. Two pioneers, Gösta Ekman at Stockholm University and Gunnar Johansson at Uppsala University, were highly influential in establishing the discipline of psychology in Sweden, and the texts of this volume represent developments which can be traced back to their work in the fields of perception and psychophysics. Following Ingemar Nilsson’s introductory presentation of Johansson and Ekman, their former students and collaborators describe how their early research experiences at Uppsala and Stockholm served as a platform for their own research work and future orientation. Claes von Hofsten, Sverker Runeson, Erland Svensson and Peter Juslin describe such a develop- ment originating at Uppsala and Yvonne Wærn, Ola Svenson, Tommy Gärling, Åke Hellström and Henry Montgomery the development originating in Stockholm. Their texts exemplify widely varying research specialities and applications, ranging from infants’ perception of movement, spa- tial perception of urban environments, risk perception, decision making in air pilot performance, human-computer interaction, and traffic and nuclear safety. Finally, Karl Halvor Teigen provides a neighbour’s commentary to the Swedish development.

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  • Does job promotion affect men's and women's health differently? Dynamic panel models with fixed effects

    2017. Anna Nyberg (et al.). International Journal of Epidemiology 46 (4), 1137-1146

    Article

    Background: Higher occupational status has consistently been shown to be associated with better health, but few studies have to date examined if an upward change in occupational status is associated with a positive change in health. Furthermore, very little is known about whether this association differs by sex. Methods: Data were derived from four waves (2008-14) of the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH), a follow-up study of a nationally representative sample of the Swedish working population. The present study comprises 1410 men and 1926 women. A dynamic panel model with fixed effects was used to analyse the lagged association between job promotion on the one hand and self-rated health (SRH) and symptoms of depression on the other. This method allowed controlling for unobserved time-invariant confounders and determining the direction of causality between the variables. Multigroup comparisons were performed to investigate differences between the sexes. Results: The results showed that job promotion was associated with decreased subsequent SRH and increased symptoms of depression among both men and women. Women reported a larger relative worsening of self-rated health following a job promotion than men and men reported a larger relative worsening of depression symptoms. There was limited evidence that SRH and symptoms of depression were associated with subsequent job promotion. Conclusions: The present study indicates that a job promotion could lead to decreased SRH and increased symptoms of depression in a 2-4-year perspective. Associations appear to differ for women and men.

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  • Do Predictors of Career Success Differ between Swedish Women and Men? Data from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH)

    2015. Anna Nyberg (et al.). PLoS ONE 10 (10)

    Article

    The aim of this prospective study was to explore predictors of objective career success among Swedish women and men, focussing on gender differences. Data were drawn from the 2008 and 2010 waves of the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH) with a total of 3670 female and 2773 male participants. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for job promotion and an above-average salary increase between 2008 and 2010 were obtained through binary logistic regression analyses. Individual and organisational factors measured in 2008 were used as predictors in analyses stratified by sex. Mutual adjustment was performed for these variables, as well as for labour market sector and staff category at baseline. In both sexes, younger age predicted both job promotion and an above-average salary increase. Job promotion was also in both sexes predicted by being part of decision-making processes, having conflicts with superiors, and being eager to advance. Furthermore, promotion was predicted by, among men, being educated to post-graduate level and having an open coping strategy and, among women, working >60 hours/week. An above-average salary increase was predicted in both sexes by having a university education. Postgraduate education, having children living at home, and being very motivated to advance predicted an above-average salary increase among women, as did working 51-60 hours/week and being part of decision-making processes in men. Gender differences were seen in several predictors. In conclusion, the results support previous findings of gender differences in predictors of career success. A high level of education, motivation to advance, and procedural justice appear to be more important predictors of career success among women, while open coping was a more important predictor among men.

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  • Bridge employment, a Swedish perspective

    2014. Kerstin Isaksson, Gunn Johansson, Sofie Palm. Bridge employment, 51-69

    Chapter

    Swedish (and Nordic) patterns of work in old age display a large proportion of males and females 55+ gainfully employed, but a fairly low level of bridge employment. A partial explanation is found in the basic state pension to all with an addition based on years of work and part- vs. fulltime employment. Recently, work after 65 yrs increased, primarily among individuals with an academic education. Furthermore, women with a non-continous and part-time carreer, usually with a lower income, need to continue working in order to increase their pension. Other motivational factors and recent modification of legislative policies are discussed.

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  • Department of Psychology

    2014. Gunn Johansson. Faculty of Social Sciences Stockholm University 1964-2014, 187-199

    Chapter

    This chapter gives a brief presentation of the department of psychology during fifty years with a focus on features characteristic of the psychology discipline and its development in Stockholm university. Major themes concern strong research areas over the five decades, the growth in volume of education, and the emergence of training of professional psychologists.

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  • Att köra buss i storstad

    2013. Gunn Johansson, Leif R W Rydstedt, Gary W Evans. Arbetsmarknad & Arbetsliv 19 (4), 27-35

    Article

    Arbetet som bussförare i citytrafik har under lång tid utgjort en ändamålsenlig modell för forskning om stressrelaterad ohälsa. Artikeln beskriver orsaker till detta, ger en kort översikt över forskningen samt presenterar åtgärder som vidtagits utifrån forskningsresultaten. Gunnar Aronsson genomförde tidigt studier av lokaltrafikens psykosociala arbetsmiljö och skapade på så sätt ett förtroende inom branschen för de kunskaper och insikter stressforskningen kunde bidra med för att förbättra arbetsförhållandena.

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  • Arbets- och organisationspsykologi

    2012. Gunnar Aronsson (et al.).

    Book

    Boken anlägger ett brett perspektiv på individen i arbetslivet som spänner över både arbets- och organisationspsykologi. Författarna tar upp de ramar som modernt arbetsliv skapar och hur individen rör sig innanför dessa. De beskriver arbetets roll i livet, samspelet på arbetsplatsen och vilken betydelse det kan ha för individen. Likaså behandlas fenomen som organisationsförändringar, ledarskap och motivation. Författarna har en gedigen erfarenhet av undervisning och forskning inom ämnet vilket gör boken både pedagogiskt upplagd och uppdaterad inom de senaste rönen. Boken är skriven för studerande i psykologi och beteendevetenskapliga utbildningar samt i företagsekonomi med organisationsinriktning. Boken är även lämplig för HR-specialister, chefer och andra med intresse av hur samspelet mellan individ och organisation bidrar till att skapa hållbara arbetsvillkor och effektiva organisationer.

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  • Liv och arbete i det sena 1900-talet

    2012. Gunn Johansson. Kungl. Vitterhets historie och antikvitets akademiens årsbok, 215-225

    Chapter

    This chapter reviews the early development of what has been called the Stockholm school of biopsychosocial stress research. This development was facilitated by world-leading endocrinological research at the Karolinska Institute, later rewarded by a Nobel prize to Ulf von Euler. Pioneering work by psychologist Marianne Frankenhaeuser and public health sicentist Lennart Levi explored the interaction between the hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline on the one hand and cognitive behavior and emotional reactions on the other. Studies of the etiology of stress-related ill health followed, and later research programs have used experimental designs, field studies, surveys, and epidemiological methods for the identification of determinants and consequences of work-related stress.

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  • The Effects of Urban Bus Driving on Blood Pressure and Musculoskeletal Problems

    2012. Gunn Johansson (et al.). Psychosomatic Medicine 74 (1), 89-92

    Article

    Objective: Work settings with high levels of stress are consistently associated with poor health outcomes. This study examines the longitudinal relationships between the number of hours of driving a bus in a city and blood pressure and musculoskeletal problems. Methods: A prospective longitudinal design coupled with multilevel random coefficient modeling was used to examine the relationship among exposure to a job with high level of stress, urban bus driving, blood pressure, and musculoskeletal problems. Baseline blood pressure and musculoskeletal symptoms of men and women (n = 88) were assessed before they began driving a bus in central Stockholm. The number of hours of driving per week, blood pressure, and musculoskeletal symptoms were tracked for a period of 5 years. Multilevel random coefficient modeling techniques were used to model how individual trajectories of health effects were affected by the number of hours of driving, after statistically controlling for baseline preworking health measures. Results: Controlling for sex and baseline health outcomes, the average number of hours of bus driving per week predicted higher diastolic blood pressure (B = 0.069, standard error = 0.034, p =.042) and more frequent musculoskeletal symptoms (B = 0.013, standard error = 0.003, p < .001). Conclusions: The findings provide evidence for a positive association between the number of hours of bus driving and blood pressure and musculoskeletal problems. These findings are discussed in exposures to potentially toxic physical and psychosocial work-related factors.

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  • Work without boundaries

    2011. Michael Allvin (et al.).

    Book

    Translated and adapted from a Swedish original, Work without Boundaries: Psychological Perspectives on the New Working Life tackles the human impact of the changing nature of work. It brings together strands of research from a variety of disciplines including work psychology, occupational health psychology, social psychology, and psychobiology. Written by two leading international researchers and writers in this field, Work without Boundaries delivers new levels of understanding in the field and charts the way forward for future research.

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Show all publications by Gunn Johansson at Stockholm University