title: Health-related quality of life in indigenous Sami schoolchildren in Sweden.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in indigenous Sami schoolchildren in Sweden and its associations with sex, age, enculturation and ethnicity-related negative treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study population was comprised of all children in grades 6-12 (ages 12-18 years) who attended specific Sami school programmes in Sweden. HRQOL was measured by the Kidscreen-52 self-report form, which was filled in at school (n = 121).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The indigenous Sami children in Sweden experienced lower HRQOL than Swedish children in general, with regard to their school situation, financial resources, parents' relations, physical well-being and social support from peers. In Sami children, functioning and well-being generally decreased by older age group and girls reported lower physical well-being, more negative feelings and more negative self-perception than boys. Finally, more than half of the Sami children had experienced ethnicity-related negative treatment, and these children reported a robustly lower functioning and well-being compared with those without this experience.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In some aspects of HRQOL, indigenous Sami schoolchildren with an explicit ethnic identity experienced less favourable functioning and well-being than Swedish children in general, which is worrisome. A high degree of ethnicity-related negative treatment may partly explain this lower HRQOL in Sami children.
authors.affiliation: Division of Psychiatry, Department of Clinical Sciences, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Lotta
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Omma
authors.forename: Solveig
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Petersen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D044382:Population Groups / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011287:Prejudice; D011788:Quality of Life; D012737:Sex Factors; D013548:Sweden
keywords: Sami; adolescent; discrimination; indigenous; well-being