Thank you for participating in the Young in Norway Study!
You participated in the first round of the Young in Norway Study in 1992. Since then, you have completed questionnaires in 1994, 1999, 2005, and 2020/2021. Thus, we have followed you and several thousand other participants all the way from your teenage years. The study is not only unique in Norway, but has also attracted attention in an international context.
In addition to completing questionnaires, many of you have consented to linkages to register data. Many of you have also provided a saliva sample that we will use in further research. The study has been approved by the Data Protection Officer at Oslo Metropolitan University and by the Regional Committees for Medical and Health Research Ethics South East A (REC South East A, reference number 25462).
The Questionnaire
You are one of 12,000 participants who took part in the first round of the Young in Norway Study, back in 1992. Since then, you have completed questionnaires in 1994, 1999, 2005, and 2020/2021. In the last data collection wave in 2020/2021, more than 2,200 people participated, 86% of the invited. You have contributed to give more knowledge about everyday life in the 40s. We asked about work, family and romantic relations, friends, exercise, mental health and use of alcohol and other substances. As we collected data during the COVID-19 pandemic, we also asked about how you experienced the pandemic.
As before, your data will be treated confidentially. All information will be processed without name or other directly identifiable information. A code links data you have provided to a list of participants. The list is securely stored by the Norwegian Centre for Research Data (NSD). This means that we can analyze data without knowing who is hiding behind the numbers.
Register Data
In 2005, we asked participants to consent to link questionnaire data to data from various administrative registers, and we performed such linkages for those who consented. Since 2006, we have linked data from Statistics Norway’s events database FD-Trygd, the Sanctions Database, the Norwegian Prescription Database, income data, education data, demographic data, and conscription data. We will continue to perform such linkages in the future.
Saliva Samples
In 2020/21, we asked participants to provide a saliva sample, and many of you consented. The saliva sample is used to obtain genetic information, by conducting genome-wide sequencing studies. This will give us information about the interplay between genetic factors and environmental factors during the lifespan. Genetic information from the study will also be used in other research projects that aim to uncover the risk of future disease. We will also conduct so-called polygenic studies where we examine combinations of many gene variants to find vulnerabilities for the development of different conditions. We will not investigate already known disease-causing rare gene variants that can provide information about the risk of disease for specific persons.
Do you want information about participation, or do you have other questions? Do not hesitate to contact us on t.v.soest@psykologi.uio.no or by phone +47 997 82 078.