Paraskevi is participating, as both turor and supervisor, in the course Psy-II - Vetenskaplig Metod och Statistik. She has also  broad teaching experience in epidemiology and public health at the Stress Research Institute as well as in demography and statistics at the Department of Statistics, Stockholm University. At undergraduate level, she has been course leader in econometrics and has taught demography and analysis of survival data as well as, at Master's level, analysis of survival data. She has also been teaching demography for several years, at the University of Thessaly, Greece. 

She supervises students at the bachelor and master level in the subjects of psychology and public health science and is currently a supervisor for one doctoral student. 

Policy experience

Before moving to Sweden, Paraskevi worked as a policy expert at the Research and Development Unit of the Greece Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs. She performed labour market and population analyses and represented Greece at the European Commission's Experts Demography Group and the Social Protection Committee. Paraskevi acted as a liaison between EU institutions, universities, national stakeholders and civil society.

Externally funded project as principle investigator

The Swedish Research Council is funding Paraskevi to lead a project examining he impact of teleworking on various domains of work- and personal life, with a special focus on work-life balance, job quality and health. Paraskevi Peristera is collaborating with Constanze Leineweber and Christine Bergljottsdotter at Stockholm University, Department of Psychology. 

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

• Organizational injustice and sickness absence: The moderating role of locked-in status

  2023. Paraskevi Peristera (et al.). SSM - Population Health 23

  Article

  Organizational injustice is known to negatively affect employees' health and to increase the risk for sickness absence. The negative health effects are also known to be more pronounced in uncontrollable, strain increasing, situations at the workplace. This study tests whether locked-in status, i.e., being stuck in a non-preferred workplace, modifies the associations between injustice perceptions and frequent (>= 2 times/yr) and long (>= 8 days/yr) sickness absence. The sample contained 2631 permanent employees from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health in 2018 and 2020. Multigroup structural equation modelling was used to compare the proposed relationships between employees who are locked-in in their workplace and employees who are not. We found a positive association between higher overall organizational injustice and long sickness absence two years later, with the association being stronger for the locked-in group. Also, higher injustice was associated with more frequent sickness absence, but only for those not being locked-in.

  Employees being locked-in seem to have higher risk of long-term sickness absence which might indicate more serious health problems. Employees not being locked-in more often take short sickness absence, which could indicate a coping behaviour to handle high strain. This study adds knowledge to the role of locked-in status as a moderator in the much-studied relationship between organizational justice and health as well as to the multiple reasons underlying sickness absence.

  Read more about Organizational injustice and sickness absence

• Regional Differences in the Effects of Education on Parity Progression Ratios in Ethiopia: A Random Effect Sequential Probit Modeling Approach

  2022. Gebrenegus Ghilagaber, Paraskevi Peristera.

  Conference

  Sequential probit approach is used to model differentials in the effects of women’seducation on parity progression in Ethiopia. Since reasons to have a first childmay differ from those to have, say, a second or third child, we allow the effects ofcovariates on the progression propensities to vary between parities in the same model.Data used for illustration come from the Ethiopian Mini Demographic and HealthSurvey of 2019 in which 8885 women from 11 regions were interviewed. Resultsshow that the sequential model provides more insight than conventional modelswhen exploring the association between education and parity progression. We alsofound similarities and differences in the effects of education on parity progressionamong the regions. A random effect term to account for women’s clustering withinhouseholds was significant in a model for the entire country but disappeared whenregion was included as a covariate in the model.

  Read more about Regional Differences in the Effects of Education on Parity Progression Ratios in Ethiopia

• Sequential Probit Modelling of Regional Differences in the Effects of Education on Parity Progression Ratios in Ethiopia

  2022. Gebrenegus Ghilagaber, Paraskevi Peristera. Modern Biostatistical Methods for Evidence-Based Global Health Research, 21-40

  Chapter

  Read more about Sequential Probit Modelling of Regional Differences in the Effects of Education on Parity Progression Ratios in Ethiopia

• Work–Life Enrichment and Interference Among Swedish Workers: Trends From 2016 Until the COVID-19 Pandemic

  2022. Emma Brulin, Constanze Leineweber, Paraskevi Peristera. Frontiers in Psychology 13

  Article

  The COVID-19 pandemic has altered workers' possibilities to combine work and private life. Work and private life could either interfere with each other, that is, when conflicting demands arise, or enrich, that is, when the two roles are beneficial to one another. Analyzing data from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health through individual growth models, we investigated time trends of interference and enrichment between work and private life from 2016 through March to September 2020, which is during the first wave of the pandemic. The sample included workers who had remained in the same workplace throughout the study period and worked at least 30% of full time, reaching 5,465 individuals. In addition, we examined trends in level of interference and enrichment across gender and industries. Results showed that Life-to-work interference increased over time in the Swedish working population, but neither did work-to-life interference nor enrichment. We observed only marginal differences across gender. Also, in the industries of fine manufacturing and real-estate activities, a decrease in interference, work-to-life interference, and life-to-work interference, respectively, was observed. In the human health and social care industry, an increase in interference and life-to-work interference was seen. Our conclusion is that overall changes to the possibilities to balance work and private life have occurred for workers in Sweden during the first period of the pandemic. Further studies are needed to study development time trends throughout the pandemic and across different occupations.

  Read more about Work–Life Enrichment and Interference Among Swedish Workers

• Does Exposure to High Job Demands, Low Decision Authority, or Workplace Violence Mediate the Association between Employment in the Health and Social Care Industry and Register-Based Sickness Absence? A Longitudinal Study of a Swedish Cohort

  2022. Anna Nyberg (et al.). International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19 (1)

  Article

  Background: The aim of this paper was to investigate if job demands, decision authority, and workplace violence mediate the association between employment in the health and social care industry and register-based sickness absence. Methods: Participants from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health who responded to questionnaires in 2006–2016 (n = 3951) were included. Multilevel autoregressive cross-lagged mediation models were fitted to the data. Employment in the health and social care industry at one time point was used as the predictor variable and register-based sickness absence >14 days as the outcome variable. Self-reported levels of job demands, decision authority, and exposure to workplace violence from the first time point were used as mediating variables. Results: The direct path between employment in the health and social care industry and sickness absence >14 days was, while adjusting for the reverse path, 0.032, p = 0.002. The indirect effect mediated by low decision authority was 0.002, p = 0.006 and the one mediated by exposure to workplace violence was 0.008, p = 0.002. High job demands were not found to mediate the association. Conclusion: Workplace violence and low decision authority may, to a small extent, mediate the association between employment in the health and social care industry and sickness absence.

  Read more about Does Exposure to High Job Demands, Low Decision Authority, or Workplace Violence Mediate the Association between Employment in the Health and Social Care Industry and Register-Based Sickness Absence? A Longitudinal Study of a Swedish Cohort

• How consistently does sleep quality improve at retirement? Prospective analyses with group-based trajectory models

  2021. Paraskevi Peristera (et al.). Journal of Sleep Research

  Article

  Growing evidence indicates that retiring from paid work is associated, at least in the short-term, with dramatic reductions in sleep difficulties and more restorative sleep. However, much is still not known, in particular how universal these improvements are, how long they last, and whether they relate to the work environment. A methodological challenge concerns how to model time when studying abrupt changes such as retirement. Using data from Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (n = 2,148), we studied difficulties falling asleep, difficulties maintaining sleep, premature awakening, restless sleep, a composite scale of these items, and non-restorative sleep. We compared polynomial and B-spline functions to model time in group-based trajectory modelling. We estimated variations in the individual development of sleep difficulties around retirement, relating these to the pre-retirement work environment. Reductions in sleep difficulties at retirement were sudden for all outcomes and were sustained for up to 11 years for non-restorative sleep, premature awakening, and restless sleep. Average patterns masked distinct patterns of change: groups of retirees experiencing greatest pre-retirement sleep difficulties benefitted most from retiring. Higher job demands, lower work time control, lower job control, and working full-time were work factors that accounted membership in these groups. Compared to polynomials, B-spline models more appropriately estimated time around retirement, providing trajectories that were closer to the observed shapes. The study highlights the need to exercise care in modelling time over a sudden transition because using polynomials can generate artefactual uplifts or omit abrupt changes entirely, findings that would have fallacious implications.

  Read more about How consistently does sleep quality improve at retirement? Prospective analyses with group-based trajectory models

• Psychosocial Working Conditions for Women and Men in Industries with Different Types of Production and Gender Composition

  2021. Anna Nyberg (et al.). Gendered Norms at Work, 35-61

  Chapter

  The chapter aims to contribute to the understanding of increased gender differences in sickness absence and health by applying a structural approach, and by analysing and describing the development of and differences in psychosocial working conditions in differently gendered industries. Some psychosocial work factors are expected to vary by differently gendered industries, and others are expected to vary by differently gendered industries and gender combined. Descriptive and comparative data of psychosocial working conditions for women and men in Sweden from the 1990s and onwards are presented. The results show that job demands and decision authority have developed more negatively in female-gendered industries for both genders since the early 1990s, although more negatively for women. Job demands are furthermore higher and decision authority lower in these industries among both men and women. Gender-based and sexual harassment, on the other hand, show a pattern between gendered industries and gender combined, such that more harassment occurs for men in female-gendered industries and for women in male-gendered industries. The results are discussed in relation to contextual and gender perspectives.

  Read more about Psychosocial Working Conditions for Women and Men in Industries with Different Types of Production and Gender Composition

• A comparison of the B-spline group-based trajectory model with the polynomial group-based trajectory model for identifying trajectories of depressive symptoms around old-age retirement

  2020. Paraskevi Peristera (et al.). Aging & Mental Health 24 (3), 445-452

  Article

  Objectives: The life event of retirement may be associated with changes in levels of depressive symptoms. The use of polynomial group-based trajectory modelling allows any changes to vary between different groups in a sample. A new approach, estimating these models using B-splines rather than polynomials, may improve modelling of complex changes in depressive symptoms at retirement.

  Methods: The sample contained 1497 participants from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH). Polynomial and B-spline approaches to estimating group-based trajectory models were compared.

  Results: Polynomial group-based trajectory models produced unexpected changes in direction of trajectories unsupported by the data. In contrast, B-splines provided improved insights into trajectory shapes and more homogeneous groups. While retirement was associated with reductions in depressive symptoms in the sample as a whole, the nature of changes at retirement varied between groups.

  Conclusions: Depressive symptoms trajectories around old age retirement changed in complex ways that were modelled more accurately by the use of B-splines. We recommend estimation of group-based trajectory models with B-splines, particularly where abrupt changes might occur. Improved trajectory modelling may support research into risk factors and consequences of major depressive disorder, ultimately assisting with identification of groups which may benefit from treatment.

  Read more about A comparison of the B-spline group-based trajectory model with the polynomial group-based trajectory model for identifying trajectories of depressive symptoms around old-age retirement

• Is interpersonal justice related to group and organizational turnover? Results from a Swedish panel study

  2020. Constanze Leineweber (et al.). Social Science and Medicine 265

  Article

  Rational: Research on the relationship between organizational justice and turnover has mainly focused on turnover intentions rather than behavior, and the role of health in this relationship has been widely ignored.

  Objective: In his study, we hypothesized that interpersonal justice perceptions and self-rated health impact on later group (changing work groups while staying in the organization) and organizational turnover (changing organizations). The main effect of self-rated health on group and organizational turnover, as well as its moderating influence on the relationship between interpersonal justice perceptions and turnover, was investigated. Finally, we investigated whether group and organizational turnover are related to changes in subsequent interpersonal justice perceptions.

  Methods: Swedish panel data from permanent workers answering at up to five consecutive time points were used, and multilevel structural equation models were calculated.

  Results: Results showed that low interpersonal justice perceptions increase the risk of subsequent organizational, but not group, turnover. Lower levels of self-rated health predicted group, but not organizational, turnover. The effect of interpersonal justice perceptions on organizational turnover differed depending on self-rated health. Among those with poorer self-rated health, the negative association between interpersonal justice perceptions and organizational turnover was less pronounced. We also found that organizational turnover associated positively and group turnover negatively with changes in interpersonal justice perceptions.

  Conclusion: In conclusion, perceiving interpersonal justice decreases the risk of organizational turnover, but the association is less pronounced among employees with poor self-rated health.

  Read more about Is interpersonal justice related to group and organizational turnover? Results from a Swedish panel study

• Multicohort study of change in job strain, poor mental health and incident cardiometabolic disease

  2019. Linda L. Magnusson Hanson (et al.). Occupational and Environmental Medicine 76 (11), 785-792

  Article

  Objectives Several recent large-scale studies have indicated a prospective association between job strain and coronary heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Job strain is also associated with poorer mental health, a risk factor for cardiometabolic disease. This study investigates the prospective relationships between change in job strain, poor mental health and cardiometabolic disease, and whether poor mental health is a potential mediator of the relationship between job strain and cardiometabolic disease.

  Methods We used data from five cohort studies from Australia, Finland, Sweden and UK, including 47 757 men and women. Data on job strain across two measurements 1-5 years apart (time 1 (T1)-time 2 (T2)) were used to define increase or decrease in job strain. Poor mental health (symptoms in the top 25% of the distribution of the scales) at T2 was considered a potential mediator in relation to incident cardiometabolic disease, including cardiovascular disease and diabetes, following T2 for a mean of 5-18 years.

  Results An increase in job strain was associated with poor mental health (HR 1.56, 95% CI 1.38 to 1.76), and a decrease in job strain was associated with lower risk in women (HR 0.70, 95% CI 0.60-0.84). However, no clear association was observed between poor mental health and incident cardiometabolic disease (HR 1.08, 95% CI 0.96-1.23), nor between increase (HR 1.01, 95% CI 0.90-1.14) and decrease (HR 1.08, 95% CI 0.96-1.22) in job strain and cardiometabolic disease.

  Conclusions The results did not support that change in job strain is a risk factor for cardiometabolic disease and yielded no support for poor mental health as a mediator.

  Read more about Multicohort study of change in job strain, poor mental health and incident cardiometabolic disease

• Socio-economic predictors of depressive symptoms around old age retirement in Swedish women and men

  2019. Anna Nyberg (et al.). Aging & Mental Health 23 (5), 558-565

  Article

  Objectives: To estimate trajectories of depression around old age retirement in Swedish women and men and examine if socio-economic status predicted the trajectoriesMethods: The analytic sample comprised 907 women and 806 men from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health. B-spline smoothers and group-based trajectory modelling were used to identify groups of individuals with similar trajectories of depressive symptoms around retirement. Multinomial regression analyses were conducted to investigate if socio-economic factors were associated with odds of belonging to trajectory groups with higher depression scores.Results: Four depressive symptoms trajectories were identified in both genders, all showing similar symptom levels across the retirement transition. Low levels of depressive symptoms were observed in the three largest groups. In the last trajectory group among women (2.5%) depression scores were moderate to severe and among men (3.3%) depression scores were persistent moderate. Higher educational level and lower subjectively rated social status were associated with higher odds of belonging to trajectory groups with higher levels of depressive symptoms in both genders. Conclusion: Retirement transition was not associated with symptoms of depression. Higher educational level and lower subjective social status may predict higher depressive symptom levels the years around old age retirement.

  Read more about Socio-economic predictors of depressive symptoms around old age retirement in Swedish women and men

Show all publications by Paraskevi Peristera at Stockholm University