This issue of Nordic Psychology has a number of really interesting articles to lighten up the dark Winter months. The articles cover important and interesting themes like autism and the experience of loneliness, the use of psychological skills among elite athletes, the psychological wellbeing of West African migrants, sexual abuse and family violence among Icelandic adolescents, and the effect of Yoga exercises.
In the first article of this issue “Understanding loneliness and social relationships in autism. The reflections of autistic adults,” Mette Elmose Andersen explored how autistic adults understand the concept of loneliness through an interview study with 25 autistic adults. The results showed that the understanding of loneliness in autistic adults was quite similar to that of persons without autism. However, being autistic was a central frame of reference for the autistic adults in describing the wishes and needs as well as the actual experience of social relationships. The study concluded that raising autism awareness in general and supporting the understanding of self and others in autistic individuals is important to prevent the social discrepancies associated with the experience of loneliness. In the second article of this issue “Relationship Between Elite Athletes’ Psychological Skills and their Training in those Skills,” Jose Saavedra, Eyþór Einarsson and Hafrun Kristjansdottir investigated how differences in psychological skills among elite athletes depended on sex and psychological skills training and the possibility of predicting the use of psychological skills training. Three hundred and ninety-six members of youth and senior national teams in basketball, equestrian sports, football, golf, handball, and weightlifting participated in the study. The results of the study showed that was possible to correctly identify 59% of the cases as to whether or not the participant used psychological skills training. In the third article of this issue ““It’s paradise there, I saw it on TV”: psychological wellbeing, migratory motivators, and expectations of return among West African migrants,” Guido Veronese, Alessandro Pepe, Loredana Addimando, Giovanni Sala, and Marzia Vigliaroni investigated the complex set of reasons that had led returning West African migrants in the Agadez and Nyamey regions (Niger) to leave their homes and move toward other countries, as well as their expectations concerning their return to their home country and the implications of return for their subjective well-being. The study applied a quali-quantitative exploratory methodological approach. The results showed that the more migrants encounter hardship and deprivation in the destination country, the more their subjective wellbeing can be undermined, and consequently, the more their expectations about return were catastrophic. Familial and personal aspirations surrounding the migratory project appeared to increase these migrants’ sense of failure and despair on returning home without the economic and personal resources to support themselves and their families. In the fourth article of this issue “Sexual abuse, family violence/conflict, substance use, religion and spirituality among Icelandic adolescents,” Rannveig Sigurvinsdottir, Bryndís Björk Ásgeirsdóttir, and Inga Sigfusdottir examined the relationships of sexual abuse and family violence/conflict with substance use, as well as the buffering effects of religion spirituality. Population survey data from Icelandic adolescents (N = 7365) were analyzed using hierarchical linear regression. The results showed that sexual abuse and family violence/conflict related to greater substance use and spirituality and PPR were connected to less substance use, but religious participation related to greater use of drugs and cigarettes. Both spirituality and the effects of religion buffered the relationships between sexual abuse and family violence/conflict and cigarette use. In the fifth and final article of this issue “Effects of hatha yoga on self-reported health outcomes in a randomized controlled trial of patients with obstructive pulmonary disorders,” Marian Papp, Malin Nygren-Bonnier, Janni Gillerius, Per Wändell, and Petra Lindfors investigated the effects of Yoga among patients with chronic conditions in a randomized controlled pilot-study. The results showed that in both the yogic exercises program (YE) and in conventional training program (CTP), effects on anxiety were weak. Decreased stress was found in the CTP only. Separate analyses of each intervention showed consistently and increasing sleep quality in the YE-group between baseline and the 6-month follow-up, and decreasing subjective health complaints between baseline and the 12-week follow-up. For CTP, statistically significant effects emerged for both stress and subjective health complaints between baseline and the two follow-ups. Overall, comparisons showed more consistent effects of CTP, but for stress only.
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