LNU Publications

Since the late 1960s, the Swedish Level of Living Survey (LNU) has provided valuable insights into how living conditions and welfare have changed in Sweden. Over the years, LNU data have been used in numerous doctoral theses and scientific articles. Below is a selection of publications and books based on these data.

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Scientific articles

Augustsson, E., Keller Celeste, R., Fors, S., Rehnberg, J., Lennartsson, C. & Agahi, N. (2025). Friends and trends: Friendship across life phases and cohorts. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 135.
DOI: 10.1016/j.archger.2025.105872

Boye, K. (2025). Paid leave to care for sick children: The limitations and opportunities at work. Community, Work & Family, 28(3), 337–362.
DOI: 10.1080/13668803.2023.2295229

Mood, C. & Kjellsson, S. (2025). Divergent incomes, divergent lives? A multidimensional assessment of disparities in the level of living during Sweden’s income equality U-turn, 1968–2010. Mens & Maatschappij, 100(2), 179–200.
DOI: 10.5117/MEM2025.2.004.MOOD

Naurin, E., Markstedt, E., Schneider, M. C., Lizotte, M.-K. & Stolle, D. (2025). The effects of parental leave on attitudes toward the state. Politics & Gender, 21(4), 824–846.
DOI: 10.1017/S1743923X25000054

Nilsen, C., Finkel, D., Sindi, S. & Kåreholt, I. (2025). Different stressors across the life course have different paths to impact cognitive and physical aging. Advances in Life Course Research, 63.
DOI: 10.1016/j.alcr.2025.100661

Rödenhake, E., Fritzell, J., Rostgaard, T. & Agahi, N. (2025). Varför återhämtar sig vissa äldre personer efter förluster och andra inte? Äldre i Centrum: Vetenskapligt supplement, 5(1), 37–53.
DOI: 10.52585/icvs.v5i1.22

2024

Agahi, N., Augustsson, E., McGarrigle, C., Rostgaard, T. & Fritzell, J. (2024). Psychosocial resilience surrounding age-typical losses among older adults in Sweden: Group-based trajectories over a 25-year period. Frontiers in Public Health, 12.
DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1434439

Almstedt Valldor, A. (2024). Field of study, political attitudes, and support for the radical right in Sweden and Europe. Social Science Research, 124.
DOI: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2024.103091

Augustsson, E., Fors, S. & Agahi, N. (2024). 20-year trends in the social participation of the oldest old. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 53(7), 721–730.
DOI: 10.1177/14034948241261720

Bihagen, E., Shahbazian, R. & Kjellsson, S. (2024). Later and less? New evidence on occupational maturity for Swedish women and men. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 89.
DOI: 10.1016/j.rssm.2023.100884

Cecchini, V. & Agahi, N. (2024). Does losing family members in midlife matter for late-life mental and cognitive health? A longitudinal study of older Swedes spanning 30 years. Aging & Mental Health, 28(10), 1401–1409.
DOI: 10.1080/13607863.2024.2341877

Grönlund, A. & Öun, I. (2024). Shackled by double disadvantage? Gender, segregation and immigrants’ occupational attainments. Acta Sociologica, 68(1), 83–101.
DOI: 10.1177/00016993231219133

2023

Wahlström, J., Magnusson, C., Brolin Låftman, S. & Svensson, J. (2023). Parents’ drinking, childhood hangover? Parental alcohol use, subjective health complaints and perceived stress among Swedish adolescents aged 10–18 years. BMC Public Health, 23, 162.
DOI: 10.1186/s12889-023-15097-w

2022

Eyjólfsdóttir, H. S., Agahi, N., Fritzell, J. & Lennartsson, C. (2022). Physical functioning as a predictor of retirement: Has its importance changed over a thirty-year period in Sweden? European Journal of Ageing, 19, 1417–1428.
DOI: 10.1007/s10433-022-00725-y

Nilsen, C., Celeste, R. K., Lennartsson, C., McKee, K. J. & Dahlberg, L. (2022). Long-term risk factors for old-age social exclusion in Sweden: A 30-year longitudinal study. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 103.
DOI: 10.1016/j.archger.2022.104760

Palmtag, E.-L. (2022). Like ripples on a pond: The long-term consequences of parental separation and conflicts in childhood on adult children’s self-rated health. SSM – Population Health, 18.
DOI: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2022.101100

Sindi, S., Kiasat, S., Kåreholt, I. & Nilsen, C. (2022). Psychosocial working conditions and cognitive and physical impairment in older age. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 104.
DOI: 10.1016/j.archger.2022.104802

Syk, E. (2022). Development of job quality in Sweden 1968–2010. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 82.
DOI: 10.1016/j.rssm.2022.100745

Witteveen, D. & Westerman, J. (2022). Structural change shapes career mobility opportunities: An analysis of cohorts, gender and parental class. Work, Employment and Society, 37(1), 97–116.
DOI: 10.1177/09500170211044305

2021

Kjellsson, S. (2021). Do working conditions contribute differently to gender gaps in self-rated health within different occupational classes? Evidence from the Swedish Level of Living Survey. PLOS ONE, 16(6).
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0253119

Korpi, T. & Tåhlin, M. (2021). On-the-job training: A skill match approach to the determinants of lifelong learning. Industrial Relations Journal, 52(1), 64–81.
DOI: doi.org/10.1111/irj.12317

Magnusson, C. (2021). Flexible time – but is the time owned? Family-friendly and family-unfriendly work arrangements, occupational gender composition and wages. Community, Work & Family, 24(3), 291–314.
DOI: 10.1080/13668803.2019.1697644

Westerman, J. (2021). Should I learn or should I turn? Implications of job mobility for subsequent learning at work. European Sociological Review, 37(6), 935–951.
DOI: 10.1093/esr/jcab018

2020

Palmtag, E. -L. (2020). Does It Matter Anymore? A Study of Childhood Characteristics and Separated Families' Contacts in Adulthood. Family Relations.
DOI: 10.1111/fare.12498

Bygren, M., Gähler, M., & Magnusson, C. (2020). The Constant Gap: Parenthood Premiums in Sweden 1968–2010. Social Forces.
DOI: 10.1093/sf/soaa097

Shaw, B. A., Dahlberg, L., Nilsen, C., & Agahi, N. (2020). Trends in the Mortality Risk of Living Alone during Old Age in Sweden, 1992–2011. Journal of aging and health 32, no. 10: 1399-1408.
DOI: 10.1177/0898264320930452

Pandey, N., Darin-Mattsson, A., & Nilsen, C. (2020). Working conditions mediate the association between social class and physical function in older age in Sweden: a prospective cohort study. BMC Public Health, 20(1), 1-11.
DOI: 10.1186/s12889-020-09431-9

Fritzell, J., Lennartsson, C., & Zaidi, A. (2020). Trends and Inequality in the New Active Ageing and Well-Being Index of the Oldest Old: A Case Study of Sweden. Journal of Population Ageing, 1-18.
DOI: 10.1007/s12062-020-09264-9

Celeste, R. K., Eyjólfsdóttir, H. S., Lennartsson, C., & Fritzell, J. (2020). Socioeconomic life course models and oral health: a longitudinal analysis. Journal of Dental Research, 99(3), 257-263.
DOI: 10.1177/0022034520901709

Baumann, I., Eyjólfsdóttir, H. S., Fritzell, J., Lennartsson, C., Darin-Mattsson, A., Kåreholt, I., & Agahi, N. (2020). Do cognitively stimulating activities affect the association between retirement timing and cognitive functioning in old age? Ageing & Society, 1-25.
DOI: 10.1017/S0144686X20000847

Witteveen, D. (2020). Encouraged or Discouraged? The Effect of Adverse Macroeconomic Conditions on School Leaving and Reentry. Sociology of Education, 0038040720960718.
DOI: 10.1177/0038040720960718

2019

Agahi, N., Dahlberg, L., & Lennartsson, C. (2019). Social integration and alcohol consumption among older people: A four year follow-up of a Swedish national sample. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 196, 40-45.
DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2018.12.011

Eyjolfsdottir, H. S., Baumann, I., Agahi, N., Fritzell, J., & Lennartsson, C. (2019). Prolongation of working life and its effect on mortality and health in older adults: Propensity score matching. Social Science & Medicine, 226, 77-86.
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.02.026

Nilsen, C., Andel, R., Darin-Mattsson, A., & Kåreholt, I. (2019). Psychosocial working conditions across working life may predict late-life physical function: A follow-up cohort study. BMC Public Health, 19(1), 1125.
DOI: 10.1186/s12889-019-7473-y

2018

Eyjólfsdóttir, H., Baumann, I., Agahi, N., Fritzell, J., & Lennartsson, C. (2018). Prolongation of working life and physical functioning in old age in Sweden. Revue d'Épidémiologie et de Santé Publique, Volume 66, Supplement 5, page S344.
DOI: 10.1016/j.respe.2018.05.289

Halldén, K., Säve-Söderbergh, J., & Rosén, Å. (2018). Gender of the immediate manager and women’s wages: The importance of managerial position. Social Science Research, 72: 115-33.
DOI: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2017.10.008

Magnusson, C., & Nermo, M. (2018). From childhood to young adulthood: the importance of self-esteem during childhood for occupational achievements among young men and women. Journal of Youth Studies, 21: 1392-1410.
DOI: 10.1080/13676261.2018.1468876

Tåhlin, M., & Westerman, J. (2018). Youth employment decline and the structural change of skill. European Societies, 20: 1-30.
DOI: doi.org/10.1080/14616696.2018.1552981

Wells, L., & Östberg, V. (2018). Parental education differentially predicts young adults' frequency and quantity of alcohol use in a longitudinal Swedish sample. SSM Population Health, 6: 91-97.
DOI: doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2018.09.001

Doctoral theses

Almstedt Valldor, A. (2025). Essays on the Links Between Vertical and Horizontal Social Stratification, Political Attitudes, and Radical Right Support: Evidence from Sweden and Europe. Stockholm University.

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Syk, E. (2025). Quantifying (ine)quality: Job quality over half a century in Sweden and Europe. Stockholm University.

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Palmtag, E.-L. (2023). Breaking down break-ups: Studies on the heterogeneity in (adult) children’s outcomes following a parental separation. Stockholm University.

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Westerman, J. (2020). Motives matter. Intrinsic motivation in work learning and labor market performance. Stockholm University.

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Kjellsson, S. (2018). Sick of Work? Questions of Class, Gender and Self-Rated Health. Stockholm University.

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Books

Boye, K., & Westerman, J. (red.). (2026). Välfärd och livsvillkor. Perspektiv på samtida samhällsbilder. Liber.

Evertsson, M., & Magnusson, C. (red.). (2014). Ojämlikhetens dimensioner. Uppväxtvillkor, arbete och hälsa i Sverige. Liber.

Bygren, M., Gähler, M., & Nermo, M. (red.). (2004). Familj och arbete. Vardagsliv i förändring. SNS förlag.

Fritzell, J., & Lundberg, O. (red.). (1994). Vardagens villkor. Levnadsförhållanden i Sverige under tre decennier. Bromberg.

le Grand, C., Szulkin, R., & Tåhlin, M. (red.) (1993). Sveriges arbetsplatser. Organisation, personalutveckling, styrning. SNS förlag.

Åberg, R., & Erikson, R. (red.). (1984). Välfärd i förändring. Levnadsvillkor i Sverige 1968-1981. Prisma i samarbete med Institutet för social forskning.

Johansson, S. (1970). Om levnadsnivåundersökningen. Allmänna förlaget.

Book chapters

Grönlund, A., & Magnusson, C. (2024). “Workplace flexibility and the dilemmas of family-friendly choice: A new perspective on the puzzling gender inequality in Sweden”. I Making and Breaking Gender Inequalities in Work, red. Rönnmar, M., & Hayter, S. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Magnusson, C., & Tåhlin, M. (2023). “Skills, class and gender”. I A Research Agenda for Skills and Inequality, red. Tåhlin, M. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Westerman, J., & Syk, E. (2023). “Skills and structural change”. I A Research Agenda for Skills and Inequality, red. Tåhlin, M. Edward Elgar Publishing.

le Grand, C., & Tåhlin, M. (2019). ”Arbete i Sverige från 1970-tal till 2010. Ojämlikhetens omvandling i skärningspunkten mellan klass och genus”. I Arbete och välfärd – Ledning, personal och organisationsmodeller i Sverige, red. Sandberg, Å. Studentlitteratur.

Mood, C., & Jonsson, J.O. (2019). ”Den nya fattigdomen”. I Det nya Sverige, red. Björkman, J., & Hadenius, P. Riksbankens jubileumsfond i samarbete med Makadam förlag.

Reports

Tåhlin, M. (2019). Polariseringsmyten. Försvinner verkligen de medelkvalificerade jobben? Stockholm: Arena Idé.

Lennartsson, C., Fors, S., Heap, J., & Sundberg, L. (2019). Skillnader i psykisk ohälsa bland äldre personer. En genomgång av vetenskaplig litteratur samt en epidemiologisk studie. Folkhälsomyndigheten.

Jonsson, J.O., Östberg, V., Brolin Låftman, S. & Evertsson, M. (2001). Barns och ungdomars välfärd (SOU 2001:55). Fritzes.

Fritzell, J., & Lundberg, O. (1993). Ett förlorat eller förlovat årtionde? Välfärdsutvecklingen mellan 1981 och 1991. Institutet för social forskning.

Bilder av välfärden. Levnadsförhållanden i Sverige 1968-1981. (1987). Institutet för social forskning.

Last updated: 2026-11-10

Source: Swedish Institute for Social Research