Solveig Petersen

Solveig Petersen is an Associate Professor in Epidemiology and Public Health at the Department of Epidemiology and Global Health, Umeå Universitet. She holds a PhD in Pediatrics and serves as a Research Fellow within the university. Her work also extends to an analyst role at the Public Health Agency of Sweden. She is the principal investigator of the SISU project, studying health in schoolchildren from Umeå.

Research Focus: Her primary research interests center on epidemiology and prevention of mental ill-health, recurrent pain, and overweight in children, both nationally and internationally. She explores the interplay between academic achievement, socioeconomic factors, and health outcomes, particularly in adolescents.

Key Contributions: She has led studies on educational inequalities in youth mortality, trends in adolescent psychosomatic complaints, and the bidirectional relationship between academic achievement and mental health. Her work frequently uses longitudinal data and large-scale surveys like HBSC (Health Behaviour in School-aged Children).

Key Projects: Her research includes analyzing the impact of school grading systems on health, determinants of declining school belonging in Sweden, and the feasibility of health-related quality-of-life instruments like CHU9D for pediatric populations.

Labs/Teams: Collaborates within the Department of Epidemiology and Global Health and works with national health agencies. Her research often involves multidisciplinary teams addressing child and adolescent health challenges.