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To assess the associations among smoking, alcohol use, and physical activity, and to assess how the health behaviors predict changes in other health behaviors from adolescence to adulthood.Subjects were the participants of the North Karelia Youth Project study from six schools in Eastern Finland. At the baseline in 1978 they were 13-year-olds (n = 903) and in the last of the six surveys in 1993 they were 28-year-olds. This study uses the data from three surveys in which the participants were 15-, 21-, and 28-year olds. The response rate was 71% in the last survey. Data were analysed by SPSS software.Smoking prevalence was highest at the age of 21 years and alcohol use at the age of 28 years. The prevalence of leisure-time physical activity did not change much over time. Smoking and alcohol use correlated positively for each survey. Smoking correlated negatively with leisure-time physical activity. The best predictors for each health behavior were the same behaviors measured before, but smoking had the strongest level of continuity. In addition, alcohol use at the age of 15 years predicted smoking at the ages of 21 years and 28 years, but smoking in adolescence did not predict alcohol use in adulthood.Smoking was associated with both alcohol use and physical activity and therefore has a central role among health behaviors. Smoking and alcohol use were particularly clearly related from adolescence to adulthood. Smoking behavior was the most constant behavior.

The U.S. Coast Guard's is part of a team that is implementing the world's largest ground-based GPS augmentation service, Nationwide DGPS (NDGPS). The U.S. Coast Guard's original responsibility was to provide DGPS coverage to all harbors and harbor approaches of the United States. The Maritime DGPS broadcast site network built to meet this requirement provided differential corrections along the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts, the Great Lakes, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the southern coast of Alaska. Two control sites were also built to monitor the performance and integrity of the individual DGPS broadcasts. As the number of users and uses of DGPS increased, the need to expand the DGPS coverage area has also increased. An agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers expanded the U.S. Coast Guard's DGPS coverage to the inland rivers of the U.S.. The NDGPS expansion effort, scheduled to have over 126 broadcast sites, is designed to provide double terrestrial DGPS coverage across the entire continental United States and Alaska and meet all surface transportation navigation requirements. Once the requirement of a NDGPS network was identified, the Department of Transportation (DOT) assembled a team from several DOT agencies to determine the best way to meet this need. This team decided the most cost effective and efficient way to create a nationwide system was to expand the U.S. Coast Guard's Maritime DGPS network. Based upon their experience with providing DGPS coverage, the U.S. Coast Guard was designated the lead agency responsible for the design, construction and implementation of the broadcast and control sites in the NDGPS expansion. This paper explains the basic operating concepts of the U.S. Coast Guard's DGPS Network: the equipment and functions of the broadcast site, control site and communication's network, and how the U.S. Coast Guard ensures the integrity of the system and differential corrections on a continuous basis. It then describes the challenges the U.S. Coast Guard is facing trying to provide a nationwide network and reviews the advantages and effort involved in converting obsolete U.S. Air Force Ground Wave Emergency Network sites into DGPS broadcast sites. Finally it reviews the U.S. Coast Guard's efforts to improve the accuracy, reliability and performance of the entire DGPS Network.

Only abstract. Paper copies of master’s theses are listed in the Helka database (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Electronic copies of master’s theses are either available as open access or only on thesis terminals in the Helsinki University Library. Vain tiivistelmä. Sidottujen gradujen saatavuuden voit tarkistaa Helka-tietokannasta (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Digitaaliset gradut voivat olla luettavissa avoimesti verkossa tai rajoitetusti kirjaston opinnäytekioskeilla. Endast sammandrag. Inbundna avhandlingar kan sökas i Helka-databasen (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Elektroniska kopior av avhandlingar finns antingen öppet på nätet eller endast tillgängliga i bibliotekets avhandlingsterminaler. The aim of this study was to examine how depressive symptoms and cynical hostility are related to socioeconomic status (SES), smoking cessation, obesity. In spring 1992, randomly selected subjects (N=3404) aged 25 to 64, from four areas in Finland participated in a survey. Smokers from the annual Finnish health behavior surveys between 1989 and 1994 were used as another data source (N=4483). Hostility and depression have been proposed as mediators between SES and poor health. It was found that cynical hostility was less prevalent among respondents in higher SES groups but that expression of anger was reported more often among higher SES groups. Divergent results with regard to socioeconomic status require more accurate hostility concepts. SES differences in smoking prevalence is a major cause for SES differences in health. No significant differences in motivation to quit smoking between smokers in different SES groups was found in this study. However, smokers in higher SES groups were more likely to believe that they were able to quit smoking. Negative emotions such as depression and anger play an important role in addiction to smoking. Here, a cognitive aspect of depression was also related to smoking cessation. Smokers of both genders with elevated depressive symptoms had lowered self-efficacy in smoking cessation but depressed female smokers were more willing to quit smoking than other female smokers. Cynical distrust was related to lower self-efficacy in cessation. In relation to weight, depressive symptoms had moderate association with obesity and central obesity. Higher cynical distrust scores were related to higher BMI except among well-educated females. However, cynical distrust scores were not related to weight gain or loss, but depressive symptoms predicted both weight gain and loss. Increasing SES differences in smoking and obesity are important issues in public health. Psychosocial factors, such as depression and hostility, are not easy targets for the diminishment of SES differences in obesity and smoking. However, knowledge about these psychosocial factors contributes to our understanding about how to change health related behaviors. Furthermore, by examining SES differences in psychosocial factors we can increase our understanding of how psychosocial environments can influence health. Tässä väitöskirjassa tarkasteltiin miten masentuneisuus ja kyyninen vihamielisyys ovat yhteydessä sosioekonominen asemaan, tupakoinnin lopettamiseen, sekä lihavuuteen. Tutkimusaineistoina käytettiin keväällä 1992 neljältä eri alueelta satunnaisotoksella valittuja 25-64 vuotiaita henkilöitä (N=3404). Tämän lisäksi tutkimusaineistona oli tupakoitsijoita vuosien 1989-1994 aikuisväestön terveyskäyttäytymistutkimuksesta (N=4483). Vihamielisyyttä ja masentuneisuutta on esitetty välittäviksi psykososiaalisiksi tekijöiksi sosiaalisen aseman ja terveyden väliselle yhteydelle. Kyyninen vihamielisyys oli vähäisempää ylempien sosioekonomisten ryhmien jäsenille, kun taas suuttumuksen ilmaiseminen suuttuessa oli näissä ryhmissä yleisempää. Erilaiset tulokset lisäävät vaatimuksia käyttää tarkempia vihamielisyys käsitteitä. Sosioekonomisten ryhmien väliset erot tupakoinnissa ovat osoittautuneet tärkeäksi tekijäksi näiden ryhmien välisille terveyseroille. Tutkittaessa tupakoinnin lopettamiseen liittyviä asenteita havaittiin, ettei halussa lopettaa tupakointi esiintynyt merkittäviä eroja sosioekonomisten ryhmien välillä. Sitä vastoin usko tupakoinnin lopettamisen onnistumiseen oli yleisempää enemmän koulutetuilla tupakoitsijoilla. Tupakoinnin yhtenä riippuvuutta ylläpitävänä tekijänä on pidetty tupakoinnin vaikutusta kielteisten tunteiden kuten masentuneisuuden ja suuttumuksen hallintaan. Tutkimuksessa havaittiin myös masennusoireisiin liittyvien kognitiivisten tekijöiden heijastuvan tupakoitsijoilla heikompaan uskoon tupakoinnin lopettamisen onnistumisesta. Naistupakoitsijat, joilla oli masennusoireita olivat sitä vastoin halukkaampia lopettamaan tupakoinnin. Kyyninen vihamielisyys oli yhteydessä huonompaan uskoon lopettamisen onnistumisesta. Masennusoireet olivat yhteydessä sekä korkeampaan keskivartalolihavuuteen että painoindeksiin perustuvaan lihavuuteen. Kyyninen vihamielisyys oli yhteydessä korkeampaan painoindeksiin muissa ryhmissä paitsi eniten koulutetuilla naisilla. Seurantatutkimuksessa se ei kuitenkaan ennustanut painonmuutoksia, sitä vastoin masennusoireet ennustivat sekä painon nousua että laskua kolmen vuoden seurannassa. Sosiaaliryhmien väliset erot tupakoinnissa ja ylipainossa ovat lisääntymässä ja tämä pitäisi ottaa huomioon terveyden edistämisessä. Psykososiaaliset tekijät, kuten masentuneisuus ja vihamielisyys, ovat vaikeita terveysinterventioiden kohteita näiden erojen vähentämiseksi. Ne tuovat kuitenkin tärkeää lisätietoa terveyskäyttaytymisen muutoksiin tai terveyttä ylläpitäviin tekijöihin. Samoin sosioekonomisten erojen tarkastelu psykososiaalisten tekijöiden ja terveyden välisessä tutkimuksessa tuo merkittävää lisätietoa miten sosiaalinen ympäristö vaikuttaa terveyteen.

Aims: To examine whether consonant smokers (who say they would not like to quit) differ from dissonant smokers (who would like to quit) in other forms of health-related behaviour and socioeconomic background. Methods: The participants included 2,709 male and 1,774 female smokers (aged 25-64 years old) from six annual population-based samples, examined between 1989 and 1994 via a mailed questionnaire. Results : Consonant male smokers were more likely to be heavy drinkers, use mostly butter on bread, and to not eat vegetables. Particularly in the middle educational and income groups, consonant male smokers were more likely to be heavy drinkers. Consonant female smokers were more often heavy drinkers and more sedentary than dissonant female smokers. If a male smoker belonged to the lower income group he was more likely to be a consonant smoker. Conclusions: Consonant male smokers had more adverse health behaviours compared to dissonant smokers, but nearly half of them did not have any other adverse health behaviours. However, a negative attitude towards smoking cessation was associated with other adverse health behaviours. There were no socioeconomic differences in willingness to quit smoking among female smokers and those differences between male smoker groups were small. Factors other than motivation to quit should be targeted to diminish socioeconomic differences in smoking cessation.

The aim of this paper is to examine whether depression, assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory, is related to smoking cessation motivation and self-efficacy. In a population sample of 1,547 Finnish men and 1,856 Finnish women, aged between 25-64 years, there were 34% male and 21% female current smokers. The current smokers had higher mean depression scores than former or never smokers. The higher depression scores were related to greater motivation to quit smoking among female smokers [OR = 1.51 (1.15-1.97)]. In addition, higher depression scores were related to lower smoking cessation self-efficacy, especially among male smokers [OR = .63 (.45-.90)]. Depression scores were not related to whether a smoker had had previous cessation attempts. Our results suggest that depression is related to lower smoking cessation self-efficacy while smokers with higher depression scores seem to be more motivated to quit smoking.

Objective We examined how education and gender moderate the association of obesity with cynical hostility and depression. Method Body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), years of education, cynical hostility (CynDis), depression (Beck Depression Inventory) were examined in a cross-sectional study of 1,547 men and 1,814 women, aged 25–64. Results Education moderates the positive association between cynical distrust and obesity among women in a such way that cynical distrust was not related to BMI or WHR among highly educated women. Depression had a positive association with WHR after age and education among both genders and among women with BMI. Bivariate associations between psychological factors and obesity measures were similar among men and women. Discussion The results suggest the importance of examining socioeconomic status (SES) together with psychological factors related to obesity. © 2000 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 27: 106–109, 2000.

Background. The higher morbidity and mortality due to cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in lower social classes has been shown repeatedly in Finland. Lower socioeconomic groups also have a more adverse CVD risk factor profile. The association between socioeconomic factors and risk of CVD is only partly explained by the traditional risk factors. Fibrinogen may be of particular importance as an underlying mechanism that mediates this association. Material and methods. The association of socioeconomic status (SES), as measured by years of education and family income with coronary risk factors was studied among a random population-based sample (N = 2365) of Finnish men and women aged 45 to 64. Subjects were studied in three parts of Finland ; North Karelia, the Helsinki area, and South-West Finland, in connection with a larger cardiovascular monitoring programme. Years of education was divided into four categories (≤7, 8-9, 10-12, ≥13) and family income into quartiles. The coronary risk factors studied were serum total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure, prevalence of hypertension, smoking, body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio, prevalence of obesity, alcohol use and the following haemostatic factors : plasma fibrinogen, factor VII coagulant activity (factor VII :C), factor VII antigen (factor VII :Ag) and plasminogen. Results. Adjusting for age and area of residence, both men and women of low SES tended either to have more adverse risk factor levels or there was no association. The only exception was proportion of heavy drinkers, which was higher among higher social class women. The inverse associations of SES were especially strong and consistent with smoking among men, and with BMI in both sexes. Of the haemostatic factors studied, plasma fibrinogen was inversely associated with SES in both sexes. The association disappeared after adjustment for smoking among men but not among women. Among women, plasma factor Vll :Ag was inversely associated with income. No other statistically significant associations of haemostatic factors with SES were observed. Conclusions. Low SES groups had more adverse levels of most of the CVD risk factors. Haemostatic factors appeared to be associated with SES especially among women.