This paper provides the first English language report on a research project undertaken from 1960 to 1963 in three kindergartens in Stockholm, Sweden, with children from 3.6 to 6.6 years of age. The purpose was to learn more about young children's own musical culture and especially their invented songs. The study combined ethnographic and quasiexperimental approaches.The first consisted of naturalistic observations of the spontaneous musical life of the children, while the second asked children individually to sing known tunes and to invent their own songs. Parents and teachers were interviewed and rating scales were used to compare the children's musical life in different contexts. The songs were transcribed and categorized. The results imply that musical creativity is relatively independent of both singing ability, intelligence and parents' musical interest and is more an expression of a general creative attitude. The results, which were pioneering for the time, are discussed and compared with more recent research in the area. The Beginninghe year was 1960. I had been working with children and music for several years and now I had been given the opportunity to undertake research on musical -M-creativity in children of preschool age. In the 10 years that preceded my work, international interest in creativity research had been growing steadily, mainly due to J. P. Guilford's landmark Presidential Address to the American Psychological Association in 1950. Very little of this had spilled over to music education research, however, in spite of the pedagogical tradition of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and after him educators such as Pestalozzi, Froebel and others (Rainbow, 1989).

The aim of this study was to analyze the relationships between caries incidence and a number of caries-related factors in 15-18-yr-olds, in order to estimate the explanatory value of consumption of sweets under different conditions. Sixty-nine 18-yr-olds were interviewed about consumption of sweets and other sugar-containing products during the past 3 yr. Data on oral hygiene, salivary counts of mutans streptococci and lactobacilli, salivary flow rate and oral sugar clearance time were collected when the individuals were 15 and 18 yr old. Caries incidence for the 3-yr period was expressed as a percentage of the number of caries-free approximal surfaces of premolars and molars at the age of 15. Simple linear correlations between caries incidence and the different variables showed that lactobacilli count ranked first (r = 0.26), sweets second (r = 0.25), and mutans streptococci count third (r = 0.24). The r value for caries incidence and consumption of sweets increased in subgroups with combinations of poor oral hygiene, a high intake of other sugary products and a low salivary flow rate (r = 0.67-0.70). In conclusion, consumption of sweets should still be considered an important caries-related factor and particularly harmful when oral hygiene is poor and consumption of other sugary products is high.

The aim of this study was to analyze the relationships between caries incidence and each of seven caries‐related factors in a group of 15‐ to 18‐yr‐olds as well as in single and combined subgroups representing favorable or less favorable fractions of six of the factors. Sixty‐nine 18‐yr‐olds were interviewed about consumption of sweets and other sugar‐containing products during the past 3 yr and examined for oral hygiene, salivary counts of mulans streptococci and lactobacilli, salivary flow rate and oral sugar clearance time at the ages of 15 and 18. Simple linear correlations and a stepwise multiple regression analysis were used to compare ranks and explanatory values. The highest correlations were obtained for intake of sweets and intake of other sugary products, with r values increasing from 0.25 and 0.16, respectively, in the total material to 0.70 and 0.67 in less favorable fractions of oral hygiene, salivary flow rate and other sugary products in the former case, sweets in the latter. The stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that sweets and other sugary products contributed 12 percentage points to the total explanatory value, which was as low as 19%.

High concentrations of tissue plasminogen activator (t‐PA) and placental type plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI‐2) have previously been found in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) of adults. In the present study, the levels were examined in 16 children aged 8–9 yr. Sampling of GCF was performed with small disks of Millipore‐filter. t‐PA and PAI‐2 were analyzed with enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assays with low method errors. The mean concentration of t‐PA was slightly higher than in adults, while the mean PAI‐2‐concentration was slightly lower. An intraindividual study comparing healthy and inflamed sites in the children showed slightly higher concentrations in GCF from inflamed sites. No change was observed in the balance between t‐PA and PAI‐2.

The aim of the present report was to analyze sugar consumption in relation to dental caries in Sweden from 1960 to 1985. Sugar consumption is based on official statistics from the National Swedish Agricultural Board and is expressed in grams per person and day. Over this quarter-century total sugar consumption decreased approximately 5%, from 116 to 110 g/person/day. A shift occurred from direct consumption to indirect (sugar used by the food industry), the former decreasing from 76 to 50 and the latter rising from 40 to 60 g/person/day. Available epidemiologic data on dental caries in children from the National Swedish Board of Health and Welfare indicate that the frequency of caries decreased dramatically from 1960 to 1985, though comparable data were difficult to obtain for the whole 25-yr period. The conclusion from this study is that these changes in caries prevalence in Sweden cannot be attributed to a corresponding decrease in the per capita consumption of sugar and sugar-containing products. On the contrary, the intake of some products traditionally related to dental caries, such as candy and soft drinks, increased during 1960-1985.