Ståle Pallesen

University of Bergen | UiB · Department of Psychosocial Science

Background While research has explored the connection between addiction and personality, no systematic study has examined how substance use disorders (SUD) and behavioral addictions specifically relate to the HEXACO model of personality. This systematic review and meta-analysis aim to fill this gap by investigating the association between HEXACO pe...

Background Gambling disorder has been consistently linked to suicidal ideation and suicide attempts, but few studies have investigated the association between gambling disorder and suicide mortality. This study examined the risk of suicide mortality associated with gambling disorder compared to the general population and other patient groups. Meth...

This study explored the prospective associations between sleep patterns, mental health and registry‐based school grades among older adolescents. In the spring of 2019, 1st year high‐school students in Western Norway were invited to a survey assessing habitual sleep duration, insomnia, depression and anxiety. Sleep patterns, depression and anxiety w...

Supplementary files / Appendices for: Kristensen, J. H., Baravelli, C. M., Leino, T., Pallesen, S., Griffiths, M. D., & Erevik, E. K. (2025). Association between gambling disorder and suicide mortality: a comparative cohort study using Norwegian health registry data. The Lancet Regional Health – Europe, 48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanepe.2024.1...

Background: Insomnia is a prevalent disorder in the general population. However, access to the treatment of choice, cognitive-behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), is very limited. Accessibility increases with group delivery and the aim of this trial was to investigate the effectiveness of a low-threshold group-delivered CBT-I implemented in pr...

Background: The present study aimed to explore women's perception of men with different addictions in terms of their short- and long-term mate value. Objectives: 2,525 women (age range: 18-40, M = 28.35, SD = 6.39) were randomized to six conditions in a vignette-based experiment where a male of otherwise high mating value was described as suffering...

Aim: To explore gambling in the indigenous Sámi culture by studying thoughts, ideas and attitudes towards gambling among Sámi and people living in majority Sámi areas with knowledge of the culture. Methods: The topic was investigated in an inductive thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with 14 people (n = 13 self-reported Sámi ethnicity)...

Background and aims Unemployment rates are elevated among individuals with disordered gambling, yet the directionality of the relationship remains unclear. The present study investigated paid and unpaid unemployment as risk factors for future gambling disorder (GD). Methods The study employed a case-control design, including all adult Norwegians r...

Aim The current study aimed to explore grassroots esports in sports clubs in Norway from the perspective of volunteer esports leaders. Method and results Fifteen volunteers were recruited from grassroots esports initiatives in various sports clubs and were interviewed via online video conferencing using a pre-developed semi-structured interview gu...

Sleep loss due to short time off between shifts has been proposed as a mechanism contributing to impaired functioning in occupational settings. This laboratory crossover trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT05162105, N = 66) compared subjective sleepiness, mood, and cognitive performance on a day shift after an evening shift with only 8 h off b...

Background Global nursing shortages necessitate the identification of mitigatable factors that may reduce nursing absence and turnover. Fatigue has been shown to be associated with these issues. This study aimed to identify factors leading to development of or recovery from excessive fatigue in nurses as these can offer actionable avenues for prote...

The behavioral restrictions disrupting daily life during the COVID‐19 pandemic have profoundly impacted well‐being, and health behaviors have been advocated to prevent decline. To understand how processes related to fluctuation in well‐being unfold within individuals, analyses on the within‐person level are required. In this preregistered intensive...

Emophilia is a suggested stable phenomenon referring to how often and easily an individual falls in love (Jones, 2011). The current study investigated the psychometric properties of the Emotional Promiscuity Scale (EPS, i.e., a measure of emophilia) and its association with personality traits, romantic relationships, and unfaithfulness in a Scandin...

Background Cognitive function, including moral decision-making abilities, can be impaired by sleep loss. Blue-enriched light interventions have been shown to ameliorate cognitive impairment during night work. This study investigated whether the quality of moral decision-making during simulated night work differed for night work in blue-enriched whi...

Introduction Substance use disorder (SUD) is often considered a chronic illness in which prolonged recovery, in terms of abstinence, is uncommon. Personality has been found to predict recovery, but not much is known about its long-term predictive ability as the majority of previous studies have had short follow-up periods (≥ one year). The current...

This trial presents a laboratory model investigating the effect of quick returns (QRs, <11 h time off between shifts) on sleep and pre-sleep arousal. Using a crossover design, 63 participants worked a simulated QR condition (8 h time off between consecutive evening- and day shifts) and a day-day (DD) condition (16 h time off between consecutive day...

Study objectives: To investigate the effect of a work schedule with abated quick returns (i.e., >11 hours between two shifts) on insomnia, daytime sleepiness, and work-related fatigue compared to a shift schedule maintaining the usual number of quick returns. Methods: A two-armed cluster randomized controlled trial including 66 units was conduct...

Background Although gaming problems are associated with poor mental health, few population-based studies have examined its association with self-harm and suicidality. This study investigates the association between gaming problems, non-suicidal self-harm and suicidality within the past year, stratified by sex among Norwegian full-time students. Me...

Introduction The overall prevalence of gambling problems across prison populations is currently unknown. The objective of the present study was therefore to quantitatively synthetize prevalence estimates of gambling problems in prison populations using a random effects meta-analytic model and to investigate if the estimates were moderated by time f...

Objectives To explore whether changes in work schedule, number of night shifts and number of quick returns were related to changes in headache frequencies. Methods A longitudinal study with questionnaire data from 2014 (baseline) and 2017 (follow-up) on work schedule (day only, shift work without nights and shift work with nights), number of night...

Background The COVID-19 pandemic and other life events may trigger worries and psychological distress. These impacts may lead to unhealthy behaviors, such as tobacco smoking, but the degree of such associations is unclear. The current three-wave longitudinal study examines changes in tobacco smoking in Norway between 2020 and 2022 and their associa...

This study aimed to investigate the relationships between symptoms of study addiction and their relationships with dimensions of study engagement. We used two samples in which study addiction was measured with the Bergen Study Addiction Scale and study engagement was measured with the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for Students. The samples comprise...

A qualitative study on DSWPD

Objectives Body size and shape are sexually dimorphic in humans, with men being characterized with larger upper bodies, while women typically having broader pelvises. Such sexually dimorphic traits, quantified as shoulder to hip ratio (SHR) in men and waist to hip ratio (WHR) in women, serve as cues of an individual’s genetic fitness, reproductive...

Background The preset study aimed to explore whether work schedules and sleep disorders predict the onset of headache. Methods A longitudinal study was conducted with questionnaire data from 2014 (baseline) and 2017 (follow-up) on work schedule, number of night shifts, number of quick returns, insomnia, shift work disorder (SWD), restless legs syn...

Plain Language Summary Smartphones have arguably become a common necessity in modern society. While it can be used for many practical purposes, its many features increase the risk of overuse, a key element in behavioural addiction. The present study examined withdrawal-related symptoms during a smartphone restriction period, lasting 72 hours. The p...

Gambling problems have consistently been linked to suicidality, including suicidal ideation, attempts, and suicide. However, the magnitude of the relationship has varied significantly across studies and the potential causal link between gambling problems and suicidality is currently unclear. A meta-analytic literature review was conducted to (a) sy...

Objective The present study investigates the longitudinal relationship between problematic gambling (PG) and the five factor model’s personality traits using autoregressive cross-lagged models. Methods The data used in the current study was collected by a national survey in 2013 (n = 10,081) and a follow-up study (n = 5,848) in 2015. PG was measur...

The behavioral restrictions and changes disrupting daily life related to the COVID-19 pandemic were theorized to affect well-being. To understand how processes related to fluctuation in well-being unfold within individuals, analyses on the within-person level are required. In this preregistered intensive longitudinal study, 1709 individuals from th...

The present study represents the first meta-analysis and systematic review on the prevalence of workaholism. It also investigated if sample size, representativeness, and instrument moderated the prevalence estimates. The analysis was pre-registered at PROSPERO (CRD42023395794). We searched Web of Science, PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, PsychInfo. BASE, Me...

Objectives The aims were to explore multidimensional sleep health and the different dimensions of sleep health in the adult Norwegian population in relation to sex, age, education, circadian preference, and chronic insomnia. Methods A representative sample of 1028 Norwegians, aged 18 + years completed a cross-sectional web-based survey. Sleep heal...

Background The study investigated ethnicity as a risk factor for gambling disorder (GD), controlling for demographics, citizenship, and years of residency in Norway. Methods The sample comprised 65,771 individuals from a national patient registry (n = 35,607, age range 18–88 years) and a national social insurance database in Norway (n = 30,164, ag...

Background While ample research has examined the connections between addiction and personality in general, there has yet to be a systematic study that investigates how various substance use disorders (SUD) and behavioural addictions are related to the dimensions of the HEXACO model of personality. This systematic review and meta-analysis aim to add...

Sportswashing is defined as individuals, groups, companies, or countries/regimes’ involvement in sports to improve their own reputation and/or to distract from or normalize wrongdoing. This cross-sectional survey is the first empirical study on sportswashing in relation to gambling. The sample consisted of United Kingdom residents who reported past...

Background Untangling the association between gambling disorder (GD) and income is complex. Financial strain is often a consequence of GD. At the same time GD is more prevalent in the context of poverty, suggesting income may be a risk marker for GD. Aims The aim of the present study was to investigate whether income is a risk marker for GD and wh...

Purpose of review: The present umbrella review systematically searches and synthesizes recent (2021-2023) systematic reviews and meta-analyses (SRMA) on androgen administration in humans. Recent findings: Results from 19 SRMA are synthesized. Four themes were identified: market for androgens, prevalence of androgen abuse, psychological effects o...

Problematic overstudying has been conceptualized as a potential addictive disorder and an early form of work addiction. Previous studies have shown that it is a different phenomenon from healthy learning engagement and is associated with considerable functional impairments. A valid, reliable, and convenient screening measure is warranted to provide...

Pain-reducing effects of music listening are well-established, but the effects are small and their clinical relevance questionable. Recent theoretical advances, however, have proposed that synchronizing to music, such as clapping, tapping or dancing, has evolutionarily important social effects that are associated with activation of the endogenous o...

Purpose of review: To investigate the prevalence and correlates of androgen dependence among users. A meta-analysis, meta-regression analysis, and qualitative synthesis were conducted based on a systematic literature search in Google Scholar, ISO Web of Science, PsycNET, and PubMed. Recent findings: Twenty-six studies were included in the review a...

Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic and infection control measures caused changes to daily life for most people. Heavy alcohol consumption and physical inactivity are two important behavioral risk factors for noncommunicable diseases worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic, with its social distancing measures, home office policies, isolation, and quarantin...

Introduction: Gambling can cause negative consequences affecting finances, work/study, physical and mental health, relationships, law abidingness, and the community. Although existing measures enable investigations of gambling harms, there is still a need for a brief measure covering the full range of gambling related harms. Methods: We validate...

Introduction: Previous research has established co-occurrence between substance use disorders (SUDs) and gambling disorder (GD). Less well understood is the temporal sequencing of onset between these disorders, and in particular whether SUD is a risk factor for GD. The present study examined the temporal order between registered diagnoses of SUD a...

Aim To investigate whether pain, sleep duration, insomnia, sleepiness, work-related factors, anxiety, and depression associate with excessive fatigue in nurses. Background Fatigue among nurses is a problem in the context of ongoing nursing shortages. While myriad factors are associated with fatigue not all relationships are understood. Prior studi...

Background Marital status is a robust correlate of disordered gambling, but few studies have examined the direction of this association. Methods The present study used a case–control design by including all adults receiving their first gambling disorder (GD) diagnosis between January 2008 to December 2018 (Norwegian Patient Registry, n = 5,121) an...

Background Insomnia is common in the general population and is a risk factor for ill-health, which highlights the importance of treating insomnia effectively and cost-efficiently. Cognitive-behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is recommended as first-line treatment due to its long-term effectiveness and few side-effects, but its availability is...

The present study explored the associations between school start time and sleep habits among older adolescents, and whether these associations depended on circadian preference. The sample comprised 4010 high school students aged 16–17 years who completed a web‐based survey on habitual school start time, sleep, and health. The survey included the Mu...

Introduction The use of hearing protection devices (HPDs) has been an intervention of choice in many workplaces such as in the construction industry for quite some time due to impractical effects of engineering and administrative interventions. Questionnaires for assessment for HPDs use among construction workers have been developed and validated i...

Aim Orthorexia Nervosa (ON) describes a pathological obsession with proper and high-quality nutrition that is necessary to research further in order to elucidate its prevalence and correlates which may bear implications for prevention and treatment. The aim of this study was to review studies that report the prevalence of ON in people who exercise,...

The aim of the study was to explore the relationship between personality and nightmares, particularly nightmare frequency and nightmare distress. A distinction between the two concepts has been developed to account for the clinical impact of nightmares. It is conceived that these phenomena may be influenced by personality. Specifically, we wanted t...

Background Insomnia is common in the general population and is a risk factor for ill-health, which highlights the importance of treating insomnia effectively and cost-efficiently. Cognitive-behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is recommended as first-line treatment due to its long-term effectiveness and few side-effects, but its availability is...

Nightmares are highly prevalent and distressing for the sufferer, which underlines the need for well-documented treatments. A comprehensive literature review and meta-analysis of the effects of different pharmacological placebo-controlled randomized clinical trials, covering the period up to 1 December 2022, was performed. Searches were conducted i...

Several studies have investigated attitudes toward gambling using the Attitudes Towards Gambling Scale (ATGS), however, their findings have not previously been synthesized or systematically reported. Thus, we conducted a systematic literature review on studies employing the ATGS to summarize the current evidence. Database searches were conducted in...

Background Previous research has suggested empirically based gambling loss limits, with the goal of preventing gambling related harm in the population. However, there is a lack of studies relating gambling loss limits to individual factors such as income. The current study examines whether gambling loss limits should be income-specific. Materials...

(1) Background: The inclusion of Internet Gaming Disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-5) led to a rapid development of assessment instruments based on the suggested diagnosis. However, previous studies suggest that some of the symptoms in the diagnosis reflect engagement in gaming rather than a disorder or add...

The present study investigates the personality characteristics of a cohort of patients with Substance Use Disorders. The included participants (n = 123) were recruited from specialized treatment for addictions in Norway. The personality scores in the current sample were compared to the Norwegian norm sample with t-tests. Age and gender differences...

Individual preferred timing of sleep and activity patterns, known as circadian preference, ranges from definitely morning types to definitely evening types. Being an evening type has been linked to adverse sleep and mental health outcomes. This study aimed to explore the associations between circadian preference and self-reported sleep, depression,...

Background and aims Lower-risk recommendations for avoiding gambling harm have been developed as a primary prevention measure, using self-reported prevalence survey data. The aim of this study was to conduct similar analyses using gambling company player data. Methods The sample ( N = 35,753) were Norsk Tipping website customers. Gambling indicato...

Environmental stressors such as repeated social defeat may initiate powerful activation of sub-conscious parts of the brain. Here, we examine the consequences of such stress (induced by resident-intruder paradigm) on the pituitary gland. In male stressed vs. control rats, by RNA- and bisulfite DNA sequencing, we found regulation of genes involved i...

In this study, the use of measures to control gambling were investigated. Data from gamblers (N = 5,878) participating in a cross-sectional survey in 2019 based on random sampling from the Norwegian Population Registry, were analysed. The survey included questions about use of eight measures, which comprised the dependent variables. Questions about...

Background Blue-depleted light environments (BDLEs) may result in beneficial health outcomes for hospital inpatients in some cases. However, less is known about the effects on hospital staff working shifts. This study aimed to explore the effects of a BDLE compared with a standard hospital light environment (STLE) in a naturalistic setting on nurse...

Background: This study aimed to investigate whether different types of changes in the work schedule of nurses working rotating shifts during the COVID-19 pandemic were associated with sleep duration, sleep quality, and turnover intention. Methods: Cross-sectional questionnaire data from 694 nurses participating in the SUrvey of Shift work, Sleep...

Background Shift work, i.e., non-standard work hours, has been associated with both short- and long-term sickness absence. However, findings are inconsistent and inconclusive. Thus far, no comprehensive meta-analytic synthesis on the relationship between shift work and sickness absence has been published. The aims of the planned systematic review a...

The use of physical activity in the treatment and follow-up of people receiving opioid substitution therapy is an understudied area of research. Therefore, the objective of this systematic review was to synthesize the currently available research on the role of physical activity in opioid substitution therapy and proper adaptions for the group. A...