I teach courses on our most common public health problems, health psychology and methods for prevention and interventions. 

Research interests

Briefly described above but also at:

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Peter_Wennberg

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

• Autistic Personality Traits and Treatment Outcome for Alcohol Use Disorders

  2021. Malin Hildebrand Karlén (et al.). Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 209 (9), 665-673

  Article

  The importance of personality traits for the outcome of psychiatric treatment, including treatment for alcohol use disorder (AUD), has been widely acknowledged. Also, research on autism spectrum disorders has evolved in recent years, emphasizing that the behavioral traits within these neuropsychiatric disorders exist on a dimension both within and outside the boundaries of psychopathology. In the present study, the relationship between personality traits associated with autistic functioning and level of alcohol use among patients before and after concluded AUD treatment was investigated. The participants (n = 165, diagnosed with AUD) were part of a longitudinal project on AUD treatment. Data from personality questionnaires (Structured Clinical Interview of Personality Disorders II and Temperament and Character Inventory) were used to assess autistic personality traits (APTs) based on behavior within Wing's triad, which were related to background and treatment outcome. The chosen APT items illustrated a personality functioning with an emphasis on social interaction and rigidity. Only certain included questions were indicative of still having a problematic drinking pattern 2.5 years after treatment entry, which adhered to phobic, obsessive-compulsive, and schizoid personality traits, as well as rigidity/stubbornness. Albeit with modest influence, the degree of APTs was associated with heavier drinking at treatment entry, and symptoms relating to social interaction and rigidity were associated with still having a problematic drinking pattern 2.5 years after treatment entry. A higher degree of such traits may result in having problems taking advice from others and establishing treatment alliance, important parts of treatment efficacy, making assessment of such traits relevant to clinicians.

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• Alcohol-attributed disease burden in four Nordic countries between 2000 and 2017

  2021. Emilie E. Agardh (et al.). Drug and Alcohol Review 40 (3), 431-442

  Article

  Introduction and Aims. The gender difference in alcohol use seems to have narrowed in the Nordic countries, but it is not clear to what extent this may have affected differences in levels of harm. We compared gender differences in all-cause and cause-specific alcohol-attributed disease burden, as measured by disability-adjusted life-years (DALY), in four Nordic countries in 2000-2017, to find out if gender gaps in DALYs had narrowed. Design and Methods. Alcohol-attributed disease burden by DALYs per 100 000 population with 95% uncertainty intervals were extracted from the Global Burden of Disease database. Results. In 2017, all-cause DALYs in males varied between 2531 in Finland and 976 in Norway, and in females between 620 in Denmark and 270 in Norway. Finland had the largest gender differences and Norway the smallest, closely followed by Sweden. During 2000-2017, absolute gender differences in all-cause DALYs declined by 31% in Denmark, 26% in Finland, 19% in Sweden and 18% in Norway. In Finland, this was driven by a larger relative decline in males than females; in Norway, it was due to increased burden in females. In Denmark, the burden in females declined slightly more than in males, in relative terms, while in Sweden the relative decline was similar in males and females. Discussion and Conclusions. The gender gaps in harm narrowed to a different extent in the Nordic countries, with the differences driven by different conditions. Findings are informative about how inequality, policy and sociocultural differences affect levels of harm by gender.

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• Adolescents with substance abuse problems in outpatient treatment

  2021. Mats Anderberg, Mikael Dahlberg, Peter Wennberg. Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs 38 (5), 466-479

  Article

  Aim: There is a lack of knowledge about how adolescents with substance abuse problems manage after taking part in treatment. It is also difficult to perform traditional follow-up studies with this group. This article presents the outcome of a prospective study of 455 adolescents who underwent outpatient treatment, based on data taken from official registers. It aims to describe and analyse indications of continued use of substance (CUS) and how various risk and protective factors predict outcomes after initiated treatment at a Maria clinic in Sweden.

  Design: The study is based on structured interviews at intake, and the data that indicated CUS were taken from several different national registers. The analyses included descriptive data and bivariate associations, logistic regressions and a CHAID analysis.

  Results: Almost two thirds of the adolescents have no indication of CUS at one-year follow-up. The ten studied risk factors independently were weak predictors of CUS and it was instead the accumulation of risk factors that were linked to a negative outcome.

  Conclusion: The majority of adolescents who start outpatient treatment for substance abuse problems return to a lesser extent in registers that may indicate a continued problem with alcohol and drugs one year later. A concentration of more than five risk factors appears to be associated with a registration. The study also provides an example of an alternative method for following up adolescents with alcohol and drug abuse problems.

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Show all publications by Peter Wennberg at Stockholm University