Kaikki aineistot
Lisää
Meta-study is a method for analysing the content and the process of knowledge production in a body of qualitative research. Conducting a meta-study involves four steps: (1) meta-data-analysis which involves the study of empirical findings; (2) meta-method which examines the epistemological soundness and rigour of methods; (3) meta-theory which examines the structures, assumptions, and principles underpinning the primary research studies; and (4) meta-synthesis which brings the three steps together and considers the plausibility of existing accounts, what has been neglected, and what new avenues have been opened for advancing knowledge. Qualitative researchers in sport and exercise psychology (SEP) have recently started using meta-study to examine bodies of qualitative research in various areas including positive youth development, junior-to-senior transition, athletic identity and mental toughness development. Our review shows that meta-study has been a useful method for demonstrating how methodological developments have influenced how qualitative researchers apply methods and conceptualise the phenomena of interest. However, there have been diverse applications of meta-study and, in the absence of recent updates on the method, meta-study is in danger of remaining underdeveloped or becoming outdated. Based on the review, we outline guidelines for SEP scholars to employ meta-study rigorously.
This study aimed to shed light on the initial-stage bereavement experiences of an individual bereaved by suicide, at three months from the loss of his spouse to suicide. A semi-structured in-depth interview was conducted with the individual, a man in his thirties. The data were analyzed using qualitative assimilation analysis, based on the Assimilation Model and the Assimilation of Problematic Experiences Scale (APES). The APES ratings of the interview revealed that the individual’s bereavement was associated with the earlier stages of APES (all scoring under 3.5). In addition, the swift and frequent fluctuations in the APES ratings gave indications that the bereavement was unstable and complicated. It is suggested that mental health professionals could use APES to evaluate suicide bereavement and take note of the APES evaluations in clinical interventions.
The aim of this study was to investigate whether the child-related competence beliefs of mothers are associated with the development of Finnish adolescents' self-concept of mathematics and literacy ability during their transition from primary to lower secondary school and whether these associations depend on adolescents' level of performance. The results showed that, first, adolescents' self-concept of mathematics and literacy ability decreased over time. The impact of maternal beliefs on the linear trend of the self-concept of mathematics and literacy ability was dependent on the level of students' performance. Mothers' high beliefs buffered against the decrease in adolescents' self-concept of ability in mathematics, but only among high-performing adolescents. In turn, mothers' high beliefs in adolescents' literacy ability were detrimental to the development of low-performing adolescents' self-concept of ability in literacy, whereas mothers' beliefs had no effect on the change in the self-concept of students with average or high literacy performance.
Childhood aggression and its resulting consequences inflict a huge burden on affected children, their relatives, teachers, peers and society as a whole. Aggression during childhood rarely occurs in isolation and is correlated with other symptoms of childhood psychopathology. In this paper, we aim to describe and improve the understanding of the co-occurrence of aggression with other forms of childhood psychopathology. We focus on the co-occurrence of aggression and other childhood behavioural and emotional problems, including other externalising problems, attention problems and anxiety–depression. The data were brought together within the EU-ACTION (Aggression in Children: unravelling gene-environment interplay to inform Treatment and InterventiON strategies) project. We analysed the co-occurrence of aggression and other childhood behavioural and emotional problems as a function of the child’s age (ages 3 through 16 years), gender, the person rating the behaviour (father, mother or self) and assessment instrument. The data came from six large population-based European cohort studies from the Netherlands (2x), the UK, Finland and Sweden (2x). Multiple assessment instruments, including the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL), the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and Multidimensional Peer Nomination Inventory (MPNI), were used. There was a good representation of boys and girls in each age category, with data for 30,523 3- to 4-year-olds (49.5% boys), 20,958 5- to 6-year-olds (49.6% boys), 18,291 7- to 8-year-olds (49.0% boys), 27,218 9- to 10-year-olds (49.4% boys), 18,543 12- to 13-year-olds (48.9% boys) and 10,088 15- to 16-year-olds (46.6% boys). We replicated the well-established gender differences in average aggression scores at most ages for parental ratings. The gender differences decreased with age and were not present for self-reports. Aggression co-occurred with the majority of other behavioural and social problems, from both externalising and internalising domains. At each age, the co-occurrence was particularly prevalent for aggression and oppositional and ADHD-related problems, with correlations of around 0.5 in general. Aggression also showed substantial associations with anxiety–depression and other internalizing symptoms (correlations around 0.4). Co-occurrence for self-reported problems was somewhat higher than for parental reports, but we found neither rater differences, nor differences across assessment instruments in co-occurrence patterns. There were large similarities in co-occurrence patterns across the different European countries. Finally, co-occurrence was generally stable across age and sex, and if any change was observed, it indicated stronger correlations when children grew older. We present an online tool to visualise these associations as a function of rater, gender, instrument and cohort. In addition, we present a description of the full EU-ACTION projects, its first results and the future perspectives.
The present study investigated the dynamic nature of students' daily experiences and general study engagement using intra-individual assessment. More specifically, we examined individual differences in the relationship between university students' task-specific value and situational emotions and, further, whether first-year study engagement would moderate this association during the first two years of studies. Intra-individual state assessments were conducted via mobile phone-based experience sampling method (ESM) during participants' first (N = 72) and second (N = 56) academic years, resulting in 3089 and 2912 fully completed state questionnaires. In both years, students were asked five times a day over two weeks how important they perceived their current activity and their positive and negative emotions. Using multilevel structural equation modeling, we found that, on average, a higher perception of task-specific value was associated with higher positive emotions and lower negative emotions within individuals. However, individual differences were detected in the value-emotion relations especially during the second academic year. Finally, the findings indicated that overall study engagement, measured at the beginning of the first academic year, predicted between-person differences in these within-person relationships both years.
In this study, we examined whether maternal perceived job insecurity (JI) affected depressive symptoms in their adolescent children. Specifically, we tested a mediator-moderator model in which we hypothesized that maternal JI was related to adolescent depressive symptoms indirectly via maternal depressive symptoms. Most importantly, we also explored whether this indirect path was moderated by two buffering resources, i.e., maternal off-job recovery and adolescent self-esteem. There is little research on the effects of parental JI on adolescent children from the viewpoint of buffering moderators. Due to growing insecurity in the labor markets we need more information about resources that mitigate the harmful effects of JI within families. We tested the model via structural equation modeling among Finnish mother-adolescent dyads (N = 601, mothers aged 32–60 years; adolescents aged 14–18 years). Our results showed that mothers’ depressive symptoms did not mediate the relationship between mothers’ JI and adolescents’ depressive symptoms, but mothers’ JI was directly related to increased depressive symptoms among both adolescents and their mothers. Mothers’ off-job recovery and adolescents’ self-esteem buffered against mothers’ JI in relation to depressive symptoms. When off-job recovery (in mothers) and self-esteem (in adolescents) were high, the higher level of JI was not associated with increased depressive symptoms. Off-job recovery among working mothers should be improved as it has potential to protect against JI. Moreover, adolescents’ self-esteem should be boosted as it mitigates the effects of mothers’ job stress (e.g., JI) on adolescents’ well-being.
This narrative review discusses quantitative indices measuring differences between alphabetic languages that are related to the process of word recognition. The specific orthography that a child is acquiring has been identified as a central element influencing reading acquisition and dyslexia. However, the development of reliable metrics to measure differences between language scripts hasn’t received much attention so far. This paper therefore reviews metrics proposed in the literature for quantifying orthographic transparency, syllabic complexity, and morphological complexity of alphabetic languages. The review included searches of Web of Science, PubMed, PsychInfo, Google Scholar, and various online sources. Search terms pertained to orthographic transparency, morphological complexity, and syllabic complexity in relation to reading acquisition, and dyslexia. Although the predictive value of these metrics is promising, more research is needed to validate the value of the metrics discussed and to understand the ‘developmental footprint’ of orthographic transparency, morphological complexity, and syllabic complexity in the lexical organization and processing strategies.
Meaning in movement is an enduring topic in sport social sciences, but few studies have explored how sport is meaningful and for whom. The authors examined the relationships between demographic variables, meaningfulness of sport, and craftsmanship. Athletes (N = 258, 61.6% male, age ≥18) from the United Kingdom completed a demographic questionnaire, the Work and Meaning Inventory modified for sport, and the Craftsmanship Scale. Older age and individual sport significantly correlated with higher craftsmanship. Craftsmanship and religion were two independent predictors of meaningfulness, but emphasized somewhat different meaning dimensions. Meaningfulness in sport seems to be related to how athletes approach their craft, as well as their overall framework of life meaning.
Tutkimuksessa lukioikäisten nuorten kykyä yhdistää opinnot ja urheilu tarkasteltiin identiteetin näkökulmasta. Erityisesti oltiin kiinnostuneita siitä, millaisia identiteettiprofiileja nuorilla urheilijoilla on havaittavissa lukion alussa sekä miten sukupuoli, urheilulaji sekä urheilu- ja opintomenestys selittävät näitä profiileja. Tutkimus on osa ”Finnish Longitudinal Dual Career Study” -tutkimushanketta, jossa seurataan urheilulukiossa opiskelevien nuorten psykososiaalista kehitystä ja akateemista suuntautumista lukiovuosien aikana urheiluun liittyvän urakehityksen rinnalla (Ryba ym. 2016). Syksyllä 2015 suoritettuun kyselytutkimukseen osallistui 391 urheilulukion ensimmäisellä luokalla olevaa nuorta ympäri Suomen. Nuorten opiskelijaidentiteetin voimakkuutta mitattiin Student Identity Measurement scale (SIMS)- ja urheilijaidentiteetin voimakkuutta Athletic Identity Measurement scale (AIMS) -kyselylomakkeilla. Tutkimuksessa nuorilta löydettiin kolme erilaista identiteettiprofiilia: vahva urheilija- ja opiskelijaidentiteetti (34 prosenttia), selkiintymätön identiteetti (37 prosenttia) ja urheilijapainotteinen identiteetti (29 prosenttia). Urheilijapainotteinen ja selkiintymätön identiteetti olivat tyypillisempiä miehille kuin naisille, kun taas urheilijan ja opiskelijan roolin yhdistävä profiili ’vahva urheilija- ja opiskelijaidentiteetti’ oli tyypillisempää naisille kuin miehille. Sukupuolen lisäksi opintomenestys oli yhteydessä identiteettiprofiileihin: hyvä opintomenestys oli yhteydessä vahvaan urheilija- ja opiskelijaidentiteettiin, kun taas heikompi opintomenestys oli yhteydessä urheilijapainotteiseen identiteettiin.
Job insecurity is recognized as one of the most prominent job stressors for employees. Despite decades of research, the concurrent examination of both quantitative (i.e. perceived threat of job loss) and qualitative (i.e., perceived threat of losing some job features) job insecurity and the analysis of their different relationships with well-being at work have received relatively scarce attention. This study examined a moderated mediation model of the relationship between quantitative job insecurity and well-being at work. In doing so, the focus was on the mediating effects of qualitative job insecurity and the moderating effects of self-esteem in the abovementioned relationships. Drawing from Warr’s model, four indicators of well-being at work were included (i.e., vigor, emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction and psychological symptoms) offering a more detailed analysis of the consequences of job insecurity. A sample of 751 Italian employees participated in a self-report questionnaire. Results showed that qualitative job insecurity fully mediated the effects of quantitative job insecurity on outcomes. Concerning job satisfaction, the conditional indirect effect of quantitative job insecurity varied significantly on the basis of selfesteem, showing the moderating role of the latter variable. These findings provided additional evidence of the different role of job insecurity dimensions on well-being in workplaces. Moreover, the overall moderated mediation analysis provided new insights about the buffering role of selfesteem. Finally, implications for human resource management and stress management were provided.
Objectives In adolescence, personally meaningful autobiographical memories begin to integrate into cultural narrative structures to form a life story. We examined how and to what extent adolescent Finnish athletes narrate and integrate significant life events in sport and education into their identities and future narratives in order to delineate the different styles of athletes’ career construction. Design Longitudinal qualitative study. Method Ten female and eight male, elite junior athletes, aged 15–16 at baseline, participated in individual conversational interviews. The resulting interview data were analyzed using narrative analysis. Results Thirteen of 18 adolescent athletes drew primarily on the performance narrative plot to construct their life story and five of 18 athletes could not project into the future beyond their athletic selves. We identified three styles of athletes’ career construction. Employing musical terminology as a metaphor, the contrapuntal style entwines sport and education as harmonically related life-themes; monophonic style draws on a prominent athletic life-theme; and dissonant style is underpinned by discord of sport and education. We did not detect direct associations between narrative types (performance, discovery and relational) and career construction styles. We show the dominant style development within an exemplary story. Conclusion Exploration of the future and possible selves are critical for developing meaningful (dis)continuity of a dual career pathway from adolescence to adulthood. We conclude that dual career discourse is gaining traction in directing young athletes’ future thinking; however, a broader repertoire of exemplary success stories which allow athletes to imagine achieving excellence in diverse ways would enable them to channel action.
Driver sleepiness contributes to traffic accidents. However, sleepiness in urban public transport remains an understudied subject. To fill this gap, we examined the sleepiness, sleep, and on-duty sleepiness countermeasures (SCMs) in 23 tram drivers working morning, day, and evening shifts for three weeks. Sleepiness was measured using Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS). Nocturnal total sleep time (TST) was measured with wrist actigraphy. SCMs and naps were self-reported with a smartphone application. Caffeine and napping were considered effective SCMs. Severe sleepiness (KSS ≥ 7) was observed in 22% of shifts with no differences between shift types. Rest breaks were associated with slight reductions in sleepiness. TST between days off averaged 7 h but was 1 h 33 min and 38 min shorter prior to morning and day shifts, respectively. The use of effective SCMs showed little variance between shift types. These results highlight the need for fatigue management in non-night-working tram drivers.
Tämä tutkimus on osa Jyväskylän yliopiston psykologian laitoksen tutkijoiden toteuttamaa ja Suomen Akatemian rahoittamaa TIKAPUU - Alakoulusta yläkouluun -tutkimushanketta. Tässä tutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin seitsemäsluokkalaisten nuorten [n = 377] toiminnanohjauksen pulmien ja kaverisuhteiden välisiä yhteyksiä. Nuorten pulmia toiminnanohjauksessa tarkasteltiin opettajien täyttämällä Keskittymiskyselyllä. Lisäksi tarkasteltiin nuorten kavereiden määrää, läheisen ystävyyssuhteen laatua ja nuorten asemaa vertaisryhmässä. Kavereiden määrää mitattiin laskemalla niiden luokkakavereiden lukumäärä, joiden kanssa nuoret kertoivat viettävänsä mieluiten aikaa. Ystävyyssuhteen laatua mitattiin läheisyyttä ja konflikteja koskevilla väittämillä, joita nuoren piti arvioida suhteessa omalla luokalla olevaan parhaaseen ystävään. Nuorten asemaa vertaisryhmässä tutkittiin sosiometrisen kyselyn avulla. Korrelaatioanalyysien tulokset osoittivat, että Keskittymiskyselyn summapisteet olivat yhteydessä kaverisuhteiden kaikkiin puoliin. Opettajan arvioimat toiminnanohjauksen pulmat olivat yleisempiä seitsemäsluokkalaisilla pojilla kuin tytöillä. Monimuuttujaisen kovarianssianalyysin tulokset osoittivat, että niillä nuorilla, joilla oli toiminnanohjauksen pulmia, oli muita nuoria vähemmän kavereita, ja he kokivat enemmän vertaisten hyljeksintää. Sen sijaan toiminnanohjauksen pulmat eivät olleet yhteydessä ystävyyssuhteen laatuun tai vertaisryhmän hyväksyntään. Tulokset antavat uutta tietoa suomalaisnuorten toiminnanohjauksen pulmien ja kaverisuhteiden välisistä yhteyksistä. Tulevaisuudessa tarvitaan lisää aiheeseen liittyvää tutkimusta, jotta saataisiin lisää tietoa ja osattaisiin tukea nuoren myönteisiä kaverisuhteita.
Visual attention-related processes include three functional sub-processes: alerting, orienting, and inhibition. We examined these sub-processes using reaction times, event-related potentials (ERPs), and their neuronal source activations during the Attention Network Test (ANT) in control children, attentional problems (AP) children, and reading difficulties (RD) children. During the ANT, electroencephalography was measured using 128 electrodes on three groups of Finnish sixth-graders aged 12–13 years (control = 77; AP = 15; RD = 23). Participants were asked to detect the direction of a middle target fish within a group of five fish. The target stimulus was either preceded by a cue (center, double, or spatial), or without a cue, to manipulate the alerting and orienting sub-processes of attention. The direction of the target fish was either congruent or incongruent in relation to the flanker fish, thereby manipulating the inhibition sub-processes of attention. Reaction time performance showed no differences between groups in alerting, orienting, and inhibition effects. The group differences in ERPs were only found at the source level. Neuronal source analysis in the AP children revealed a larger alerting effect (double-cued vs. non-cued target stimuli) than control and RD children in the left occipital lobe. Control children showed a smaller orienting effect (spatially cued vs. center-cued target stimuli) in the left occipital lobe than AP and RD children. No group differences were found for the neuronal sources related to the inhibition effect. The neuronal activity differences related to sub-processes of attention in the AP and RD groups suggest different underlying mechanisms for attentional and reading problems.
This study examined the role of temperament type and gender of adolescents and teachers in adolescents’ well‐being in school. The sample consisted of 677 Finnish students and 56 classroom teachers. Parents rated adolescent temperament and teachers rated their own temperament in autumn of Grade 6. Self‐reports of school well‐being among adolescents were obtained in autumn and the fall of Grade 6. The results showed that being a girl and having resilient temperament type predicted higher school well‐being. In turn, boys with undercontrolled temperament, who were otherwise at risk for decreased school well‐being, particularly benefited from having a female teacher with resilient temperament. Overall, the results suggest that both adolescent temperament type and gender play important roles in adolescents’ well‐being in school.
We investigate the impact of the global financial crisis (GFC) on the personal values of youth and young adults (age 16–35 years) from 16 European countries. Using time series cross-sectional data from seven waves (2002–2014) of the European Social Survey, we examined (1) whether the GFC led to value shifts between cohorts of young people and (2) whether welfare state provision moderate the expected value shifts. Multilevel analyses showed that, following the GFC, the importance of security, tradition, benevolence, and, to a lesser extent, conformity values increased. In contrast, hedonism, self-direction, and stimulation values decreased. In line with our moderation hypothesis, power, and, to a lesser extent, achievement values increased following the GFC in countries low on welfare expenditures but decreased in countries high on welfare expenditures. Contrary to expectations, increases in tradition and benevolence values were more pronounced in high-welfare countries.
During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis, different personality characteristics may have influenced parental well-being in different ways. In the present study, we combined variable and person-oriented approaches and examined relationships between resilience, parental burnout, and perfectionism during the lockdown. We first used structural equation modeling to assess the paths between variables. We then used latent profile analysis to examine different profiles of parents based on resilience, perfectionism, and symptoms of parental burnout. Finally, we examined how these profiles differ in terms of relevant background variables. The results showed that resilience predicted parental burnout negatively even after controlling for multidimensional perfectionism. Parents’ age, children's age, children's special needs, and the increase in time spent with children due to lockdown contributed independently to burning out as a parent. Three profiles were found: a resilient profile, perfectionist profile, and burned-out profile. Resilient parents were likely to be men, older, and with less financial difficulties than parents in the other two profiles, and less likely to spend increased time with their children due to lockdown than the burned-out parents. Perfectionist parents, in turn, had older children than the burned-out parents did. These results suggest that resilience may help parents overcome burnout at times of crisis.
How the gender of the therapist affects the treatment of intimately violent men has been little researched. In this study we examined the positions that batterers construct for a female therapist in batterers' group treatment. The data consisted of five videotaped therapy groups for male batterers. Three positions of a woman were constructed: woman in general; woman as spouse and woman personally as herself. These positions were often based on a constructed difference between men and women. The female therapist repositioned herself to diminish the difference constructed between the genders and to make fear of the spouse visible.
Nature connectedness is an important factor underlying proenvironmental behavior. Only little is known on the aspects that influence nature connectedness in younger children. The study participants included 150 children at mean age of 6.5 years. Eighty-five of them attended nature-preschool that offers on average 13.1 h/week, and 65 of them typical preschool that offers on average 1.7 h/week, of their education in nature. Nature connectedness was measured with the connection to nature index. The regular visits to nature during preschool were associated with a higher sense of responsibility for nature (p = 0.013). The regular visits to nature during preschool, sex, parent's nature connectedness, or socioeconomic status (SES) were, however, not associated with overall nature connectedness. Children with lower SES scored higher in the enjoyment of nature than the children with higher SES (p = 0.029). Offering the children regular nature experiences in preschool may be beneficial for developing responsibility toward nature. Incongruent with previous studies, overall nature connectedness was high in all the children, regardless of the time they spent in nature during preschool.
The present study examined training effects in dyslexic children on reading fluency and the amplitude of N170, a negative brain-potential component elicited by letter and symbol strings. A group of 18 children with dyslexia in 3rd grade (9.05 ± 0.46 years old) was tested before and after following a letter-speech sound mapping training. A group of 20 third-grade typical readers (8.78 ± 0.35 years old) performed a single time on the same brain potential task. The training was differentially effective in speeding up reading fluency in the dyslexic children. In some children, training had a beneficial effect on reading fluency (‘improvers’) while a training effect was absent in others (‘non-improvers’). Improvers at pre-training showed larger N170 amplitude to words compared to non-improvers. N170 amplitude decreased following training in improvers but not in non-improvers. But the N170 amplitude pattern in improvers continued to differ from the N170 amplitude pattern across hemispheres seen in typical readers. Finally, we observed a positive relation between the decrease in N170 amplitude and gains in reading fluency. Collectively, the results that emerged from the present study indicate the sensitivity of N170 amplitude to reading fluency and its potential as a predictor of reading fluency acquisition.
This research addresses the profiles of nature exposure and outdoor activities in nature among Finnish employees (N = 783). The profiles were formed on the bases of nature exposure at work and the frequency and type of outdoor activities in nature engaged in during leisure time. The profiles were investigated in relation to work engagement and burnout. The latent profile analysis identified a five-class solution as the best model: High exposure (8%), Versatile exposure (22%), Unilateral exposure (38%), Average exposure (13%), and Low exposure (19%). An Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was conducted for each well-being outcome in order to evaluate how the identified profiles related to occupational well-being. Participants with a High, Versatile, or Unilateral exposure profile reported significantly higher work engagement in the dimensions of vigor and dedication than did the participants with a Low exposure profile. The participants with the High exposure profile also reported lower burnout in the dimensions of cynicism and professional inadequacy than the participants with the Low exposure profile. Nature exposure during the workday and leisure time is an under researched but important aspect in promoting occupational well-being.
So far, the field of business ethics lacks validated measures for assessing virtues at the organizational level. The aim of this study is to investigate the measurement invariance of a shortened Corporate Ethical Virtues scale. In this manner, we contribute to validating an instrument that is both psychometrically sound and efficient to use. We conducted two survey studies of two independent groups (managers and school psychologists). Confirmatory factor analysis supported the eight‐factor model of the scale, and we found it to be invariant in two different occupational groups. The managers gave higher appraisals of ethical culture than the psychologists did in seven out of the eight dimensions. We found that despite the contextual differences, the shortened scale measures the eight dimensions of organizational ethical virtues, as intended. Thus, the use of this more compact scale can be recommended for future studies, which will hopefully stimulate more research on ethical culture in various work contexts.
Background: Animal research suggests a programming effect of prenatal stress in the fetal period, resulting in disruptions in behavioural and neuromotor development. Physiological changes that mediate these effects include alterations in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and in testosterone levels. This human study focuses on changes related to these physiological systems after prenatal stress exposure. Methods: We examined the potential effect of prenatal stress associated with the Chernobyl disaster in an ongoing genetic epidemiological study in Finland. One birth cohort of twins (n = 121 twin pairs) was exposed in utero to maternal stress, and their saliva cortisol and testosterone levels at age 14 were compared with twins (n = 157 twin pairs) born one year later. Results: Cortisol levels in both sexes and testosterone levels among females were significantly elevated after prenatal exposure to maternal stress from the second trimester onwards, compared to reference groups of non-exposed adolescents. Exposure explains 3% of variance (p<0.05) in cortisol levels and 18% of variance in testosterone levels (p<0.001). No significant differences were found for exposure from either first or third trimester onwards. Conclusion: Our results suggest that prenatal exposure to maternal stress in the second trimester of pregnancy may have resulted in prenatal programming of physiological systems relating to cortisol and testosterone levels.
Background: Sleep disturbances are a common health problem. New and more accessible alternatives are needed to improve the availability of psychological treatments for insomnia. - Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of a self-help Acceptance and Commitment Therapy-based web-intervention for sleep disturbances. - Method: Participants (N = 86) reporting symptoms of insomnia were randomly assigned to an Internet-delivered ACT (iACT, n = 43) or a control condition (WLC, n = 40) and assessed with standardized self-report measures related to sleep (ISI, BNSQ, ESS, DBAS), psychological symptoms (BDI-II, SCL-90), life satisfaction, and ACT-related processes (AAQ-2, FFMQ, and WBSI) at pre- and post-measurement, and at 6-month follow-up (iACT group only). Participants in the study condition received a 6-week Internet intervention based on the processes of ACT, enhanced with weekly automated email-based reminders. No therapist support was offered during the intervention. - Results: Hierarchical linear modeling analysis showed significant differences between the treatment and the control group in sleep quality and duration (BNSQ), sleep-related dysfunctional cognitions (DBAS), and severity of depressive symptoms (BDI-II) from Pre to Post-measurement in favor of the intervention group. The intervention showed also significant positive impact on thought suppression (WBSI), but no effect on general psychological flexibility and mindfulness. The between group effect sizes at Post were moderate or small (d = 0.21–0.53). In the iACT group, changes achieved in sleep quality and duration, symptom measures and suppression of thoughts during the intervention were maintained during the 6-month follow-up period. - Conclusions: We conclude that unguided Internet-delivered Acceptance and Commitment Therapy can be effective in treating symptoms of insomnia and offers a useful addition to existing treatment options.
Background Task avoidance is a significant predictor of literacy skills. However, it remains unclear whether the relation between the two is reciprocal and whether it is affected by the type of literacy outcome, who is rating children's task avoidance, and the children's gender. Aim The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine the cross-lagged relations between teacher and parent ratings of children's task avoidance and different literacy skills. Sample One hundred and seventy-two Greek children (91 girls, 81 boys) were followed from Grade 1 to Grade 3. Methods Children were assessed on reading accuracy, reading fluency, and spelling to dictation. Parents and teachers rated the children's task-avoidant behaviour. Results Results of structural equation modelling showed that the cross-lagged relations varied as a function of the literacy outcome, who rated the children's task avoidance, and children's gender. Earlier reading and spelling performance predicted subsequent parent-rated task avoidance, but parent-rated task avoidance did not predict subsequent reading and spelling performance (with the exception of spelling in Grade 3). Teacher-rated task avoidance and reading fluency/spelling had a reciprocal relationship over time. In addition, the effects of teacher-rated task avoidance on future spelling were significantly stronger in boys than in girls. Conclusions This suggests that poor reading and spelling performance can lead to subsequent task avoidance in both classroom and home situations. The fact that task avoidance permeates across different learning environments is alarming and calls for joint action from both parents and teachers to mitigate its negative impact on learning.
A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted during the first COVID-19 wave, to examine the impact of COVID-19 on mental health using an anonymous online survey, enrolling 9565 individuals in 78 countries. The current sub-study examined the impact of the pandemic and the associated lockdown measures on the mental health, and protective behaviors of cancer patients in comparison to non-cancer participants. Furthermore, 264 participants from 30 different countries reported being cancer patients. The median age was 51.5 years, 79.9% were female, and 28% had breast cancer. Cancer participants reported higher self-efficacy to follow recommended national guidelines regarding COVID-19 protective behaviors compared to non-cancer participants (p < 0.01). They were less stressed (p < 0.01), more psychologically flexible (p < 0.01), and had higher levels of positive affect compared to non-cancer participants. Amongst cancer participants, the majority (80.3%) reported COVID-19, not their cancer, as their priority during the first wave of the pandemic and females reported higher levels of stress compared to males. In conclusion, cancer participants appeared to have handled the unpredictable nature of the first wave of the pandemic efficiently, with a positive attitude towards an unknown and otherwise frightening situation. Larger, cancer population specific and longitudinal studies are warranted to ensure adequate medical and psychological care for cancer patients.
The aim of this paper was to investigate the associations between mindfulness and acceptance (MAA) skills and burnout-related ill-being at work (ILLB) after eliminating the impact of worksite (WS) and general well-being in life (WELLB) factors. The results were derived from data on employees (n = 168) of varying professional backgrounds, who experienced relatively high levels of burnout. Analyses were conducted using structural equation modelling (SEM) and the Cholesky decomposition method, since these allow for the investigation of multiple measures and multiple factors in relation to one another. In relation to ill-being at work, the analyses revealed a general MAA factor as well as a specific cognitive fusion factor. After controlling for WS factors, MAA factor shared a 38% variance and the fusion factor a 22% variance with burnout-related ILLB. The results also indicated that cognitive fusion had a strong and unique association with ILLB, even after controlling for WS factors, general well-being, and general MAA skills. Overall, these findings support the view that skills related to psychological flexibility play an important role in enhancing well-being at work.
Objectives The present study aimed to examine what kind of burnout profiles exist among student-athletes based on their sport and school burnout symptoms. Moreover, it was investigated whether athletes' expectations of success in sport and school, on the one hand, and parental expectations, on the other hand, were predictors of the likelihood of the athlete to show a certain profile, after taking into account the effects of gender, grade point average, type of sport, and level of competition. Design and methods The participants were 391 student-athletes (51% females) from six different upper secondary sport schools in Finland, and 448 parents (58% mothers). The athletes filled in questionnaires about burnout and success expectations at the beginning of the first year of upper secondary school. At the same time point, parents were asked to answer a questionnaire on their success expectations for their child. Structural equation modeling and latent profile analysis were used to analyze the data. Results Four burnout profiles were identified: well-functioning, mild sport burnout, school burnout, and severe sport burnout. Athletes' and parents' expectations of success seemed to protect against burnout in the same domain, but this protection did not extend to the other domain. Moreover, high success expectations in one domain seemed to increase the risk for burnout in another domain. Conclusions Burnout needs to be investigated within and across context in order to gain a holistic understanding of student-athletes' wellbeing.
Work-related resources can be positive antecedents of employee work engagement (WE) and creativity. Although trait emotional intelligence (EI) and social support may be crucial resources in nursing, their relationships with WE and creativity remain unclear. Hence, with special focus on the role of trait EI, we examined this relationship by applying the job demands-resources (JD-R) model. The participants were 489 eldercare nurses in Japan (female: n = 401; male: n = 88; age = 39.5 ± 11.0 years). The results showed positive associations between EI and the other studied variables. Furthermore, moderated mediation analyses revealed that higher trait EI enhanced the positive association among the triad of social support, WE, and creativity. The findings provide additional evidence that, in nurses, trait EI may be a noteworthy personal resource for creativity in the relationship between social support and WE.
Public speaking is an important skill for university students to learn and practice as they progress through education and into their careers. However, individuals often avoid facing public speaking, as they lack the skills to cope with the anxiety that arises when speaking in front of others. The current study aimed to investigate the relationship between public speaking anxiety, distress tolerance, and psychological flexibility. A sample of 95 college students completed psychological flexibility measures and self-ratings of public speaking anxiety before and after a public speaking challenge. A behavioral index of public speaking distress tolerance (i.e., speech duration) was also recorded. The results showed that self-reported public speaking anxiety correlates significantly with a number of aspects of psychological flexibility (i.e., openness to experiences, self-perspective skills, and cognitive fusion). These findings suggest that openness to experiences is a key factors in developing interventions to cope with self-reported public speaking anxiety for undergraduate students. However, if we want to increase speech duration as a behavioral index of distress tolerance, training skills related to behavioral awareness and valued actions might be more relevant. The results are discussed in terms of their relevance to the development of public speaking interventions for university students.
The brain as a proactive system processes sensory information under the top-down influence of attention and prediction. However, the relation between attention and prediction remains undetermined given the conflation of these two mechanisms in the literature. To evaluate whether attention and prediction are dependent of each other, and if so, how these two top-down mechanisms may interact in sensory processing, we orthogonally manipulated attention and prediction in a target detection task. Participants were instructed to pay attention to one of two interleaved stimulus streams of predictable/unpredictable tone frequency. We found that attention and prediction interacted on the amplitude of the N1 ERP component. The N1 amplitude in the attended/predictable condition was larger than that in any of the other conditions. Dipole source localization analysis showed that the effect came from the activation in bilateral auditory areas. No significant effect was found in the P2 time window. Our results suggest that attention and prediction are dependent of each other. While attention might determine the overall cortical responsiveness to stimuli when prediction is involved, prediction might provide an anchor for the modulation of the synaptic input strengths which needs to be operated on the basis of attention.
This study examined how nine clients discursively constructed non-agency in their first session of individual psychotherapy. With open reading and linguistic analysis of the transcribed first sessions, combined with theory-based considerations, we created a model of discursive means for ascribing agentic and non-agentic positions, the 10 Discursive Tools model (10DT). There was large variability in how the tools functioned to create the impression of problematic agency, and the clients could not be classified according to their tool use patterns. The study shows the potential of the 10DT model for the detailed examination of presentations of “not-being-able” produced by psychotherapy clients.
Representing visibly present stimuli is as limited in capacity as representing invisible stimuli in visual working memory (WM). In this study, we explored whether concurrently representing stimuli within view affects representing objects in visual WM, and if so, whether this effect is modulated by the storage states (active and silent state) of memory contents? In experiment 1, participants were asked to perform the change-detect task in a simultaneous-representing condition in which WM content and the continuously-visible stimuli in view were simultaneously represented, as well as a baseline condition in which only the representations of visual WM content were maintained. The results showed that the representations in visual WM would be impaired when the continuously-visible stimuli in view were concurrently represented, revealed by the reduced CDA amplitude and the lower behavior performance. In experiment 2, a dual-serial retro-cue paradigm was adopted to guide participants to maintain memory items in two different storage states, and the results revealed that simultaneously representing the continuously-visible stimuli and the WM content would only impair the WM representations in the active state. These evidences demonstrated that only the visual WM representations that were maintained in the active state would definitely share the limited resources with the representations of continuously-visible information, and further supported the dissociation between the active state and silent state of visual WM storage.
Although parental burnout has been acknowledged as a unique psychological condition that can have serious consequences to families, most research so far has been conducted with mothers. The present study investigated how the descriptions of parenting-related demands and resources differ between burned-out and non-burned-out fathers. Furthermore, we examined what kinds of support or services fathers need to increase their wellbeing as parents. The participants were 10 fathers with the highest level of parental burnout symptoms, and 14 fathers with the lowest level of parental burnout symptom, out of 158 fathers who answered the questionnaire. The qualitative open-ended answers were analyzed using hierarchical thematic analysis and the accounts of the burned-out and non-burned-out fathers were compared. Furthermore, quantitative answers regarding parenting-related stress-factors were compared between the two groups. The results showed that burned-out fathers experienced more parenting-related demands than the non-burned-out fathers and reported needing financial, practical, and social support. Compared to non-burned-out fathers, the burned-out fathers reported more often being dissatisfied with the society, having difficulties integrating work and family life, and being strained by everyday life with children. The reported resources were similar with both burned-out and non-burned-out fathers and consisted mainly of happiness regarding their children. The results can be used in generating services and support for fathers to increase their wellbeing as parents.
his study examined the relationship between trait emotional intelligence (EI) and variation in psychological (positive affect: PA, negative affect: NA) and psychophysiological (salivary alpha-amylase: sAA) indicators among Japanese employees over 3 consecutive days (working day 1, non-working day, working day 2). The analyses revealed that higher trait EI was associated across the days with higher PA, but not with NA. Moreover, diurnal sAA levels were lower in the high trait EI group than in the low trait EI group on the intervening non-working day, and this difference between the EI groups continued to show a tendency to significance on working day 2. The results indicate that higher EI may be related to the preservation of higher levels of PA and lower levels of sympathetic activity in recovery in the naturalistic condition.
The aim of the present study was to investigate longitudinal associations between formal home numeracy activities and children’s arithmetic fluency skills. Children were followed during the transition from the end of kindergarten (T1; Mage = 6.87 years) to the beginning of Grade 1 (T2), and again at the end of the Grade 1 (T3). Participants were Lithuanian children (n = 341) and their parents. At each time point, parents reported the frequency of the formal home numeracy activities they engaged in with their children; the children completed addition and subtraction tasks at the same three time points. Using a cross-lagged analysis, we found that parents adjusted the frequency of their home numeracy activities in response to children’s arithmetic performance. The frequency of home numeracy activities, however, did not predict changes in arithmetic skills. Finally, maternal education was found to be related to children’s arithmetic skills rather than to home numeracy activities.
Continuity in individual differences from socioemotional behavior in middle childhood to personality characteristics in middle adulthood was examined on the assumption that they share certain temperament-related elements. Socioemotional characteristics were measured using teacher ratings at ages 8 (N = 369; 53% males) and 14 (95% of the initial sample). Personality was assessed at age 42 (63% of the initial sample; 50% males) using a shortened version of the NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI); the Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP); and the Adult Temperament Questionnaire (ATQ). Three models were tested using structural equation modeling. The results confirmed paths (a) from behavioral activity to adult Extraversion and Openness (NEO-PI), sociability (KSP), and surgency (ATQ); (b) from well-controlled behavior to adult conformity (KSP) and Conscientiousness (NEO-PI); and (c) from negative emotionality to adult aggression (KSP). The paths were significant only for one gender, and more frequently for males than for females. The significant male paths from behavioral activity to all indicators of adult activity and from well-controlled behavior to adult conformity started at age 8, whereas significant female paths from behavioral activity to adult sociability and from well-controlled behavior to adult Conscientiousness started at age 14.
Effects of domestic violence are reflected in victims' physical, psychological, and sexual health as well as in victims' subjective evaluations of health or subjective well-being. The principal aim of this study was to study the extent to which the consequences of domestic violence are reflected in patients' subjectively evaluated well-being, life management, and sense of security in an emergency department, a maternity department, and a reception unit of a psychiatric hospital. A questionnaire on the effects of domestic violence was administered to 530 patients. 61 patients reported either current or previous domestic violence that affected their current well-being and life management. Domestic violence was reported to have an effect on subjective well-being and sense of security: the more recent or frequent the experience of violence was, the greater was considered its impact on well-being and sense of security. Routine inquiry can uncover hidden cases of abuse and hence would be of great benefit in the healthcare context. Early identification of abuse victims can prevent further harm caused by violence.
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating role of goal conflict in the relationship between the contents of managers’ personal work goals and occupational well-being (burnout and work engagement). Eight goal categories (organization, competence, well-being, career-ending, progression, prestige, job change, and employment contract) described the contents of goals. Goal conflict reflected the degree to which a personal work goal was perceived to interfere with other life domains. Design/methodology/approach – The data were drawn from a study directed to Finnish managers in 2009 (n=806). General linear models were conducted to investigate the associations between goal content categories and occupational well-being and to test whether goal conflict moderates the relationship between goal content categories and occupational well-being. Findings – Career-ending goals related to significantly higher burnout than progression goals. Participants with organization, competence, or progression goals reported the highest goal conflict, whereas participants with well-being, career-ending, or job change goals reported lower goal conflict. Goal conflict was found to have a moderating role: in a high-goal conflict situation, participants with organizational, competence, and progression goals reported lower occupational well-being, whereas participants with job change goals reported higher occupational well-being. Originality/value – The research highlights that both the contents and appraisals (e.g. goal conflict) of personal work goals should be taken into account when investigating the relationship between personal goals and well-being at work.
Objective The aim of the study was to facilitate the understanding and interpretation of multiple aspects of working with mothers by examining Finnish mothers' mothering discourses and the interplay among these discourses. Background According to relational dialectics theory, discourses are systems of meaning that are coproduced in interaction. Although discursive research on motherhood has identified various discourses, research on the interplay among competing motherhood discourses is in its infancy. Method Qualitative questionnaire data from 479 Finnish mothers of infants were analyzed using contrapuntal analysis. Mothers' responses to three open-ended questions were analyzed inductively. Emerging themes were identified so as to represent different motherhood discourses, and the power struggle among discourses was addressed. Results Four discourses were identified. In the Equality discourse, parenting was presented as ideally shared between co-parents, and equality between family members and various family forms was promoted. In the Familistic discourse, traditional stay-at-home mothering, good housekeeping, and the unity of the family were emphasized. In the Intensive Mothering discourse, the importance of the mother to her child was highlighted. In the Balance discourse, the needs of all family members were presented as equally important, and flexibility in parenting choices was promoted. The results demonstrated discursive struggles within mothers' answers, suggesting that contemporary Finnish motherhood is a contested terrain of competing ideologies. Conclusion The findings suggest that Finnish mothers' mothering discourses are multivocal and often competing. The results contribute to the current understanding of motherhood ideologies and provide new insights to be utilized in counseling and clinical practice.
Physical activity has positive effects on brain health and cognitive function throughout the life span. Thus far, few studies have examined the effects of physical activity on white matter microstructure and psychomotor speed within the same, population-based sample (critical if conclusions are to extend to the wider population). Here, using diffusion tensor imaging and a simple reaction time task within a relatively large population-derived sample (N = 399; 18–87 years) from the Cambridge Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience (Cam-CAN), we demonstrate that physical activity mediates the effect of age on white matter integrity, measured with fractional anisotropy. Higher self-reported daily physical activity was associated with greater preservation of white matter in several frontal tracts, including the genu of corpus callosum, uncinate fasciculus, external capsule, and anterior limb of the internal capsule. We also show that the age-related slowing is mediated by white matter integrity in the genu. Our findings contribute to a growing body of work, suggesting that a physically active lifestyle may protect against age-related structural disconnection and slowing.
In order to understand why some children are vulnerable to difficulties in their language development and their acquisition of reading skill, the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Dyslexia followed 200 Finnish children from birth to school age. Half of these children had a family history of reading problems and were considered at risk for dyslexia; the other half were not at risk. A novel analysis, mixture modeling, revealed four subgroups with differential developmental trajectories to early reading. The subgroups who showed either a “dysfluent trajectory” (n = 12; 11 at risk vs. 1 control) or a “declining trajectory” (n = 35; 24 vs. 11) contained more children with familial risk for dyslexia. The subgroup showing an “unexpected trajectory” contained equal numbers of at-risk and non-risk children (n = 67; 33 vs. 34). The subgroup displaying a “typical trajectory” (n = 85, 38 vs. 47) contained more children born without dyslexia risk. This differential development of skills revealed that there are at least three troubled routes along which a child may ultimately encounter difficulties in reading acquisition. The most explicit routes are characterized by problems in either phonological awareness, naming speed, or letter knowledge—problems that increase in severity with age.
We examined frequency of adult‐age reading disability (RD) and its childhood predictors among 48 adults (20 to 39 years) with documented childhood RD, and contrasted their cognitive skills, education, and employment with 37 matched controls. Among individuals with childhood RD, more than half had improved in their reading fluency to the level where the set criterion for adult‐age RD was not met anymore. More fluent rapid naming, less severe childhood RD, and multiple support providers in childhood together predicted improvement of reading fluency. More fluent naming differentiated the childhood RD participants whose reading fluency had improved by adult‐age from those participants whose RD persisted to adult‐age. All the individuals with childhood RD performed weaker than the controls in adult‐age working memory, processing speed, and verbal skills. Educational level among both RD groups was lower than that among the controls. Unemployment of individuals with persistent adult‐age RD (31.6%) was higher than that of individuals with improved adult‐age RD (13.8%) or that of the controls (8.1%). According to our findings, rapid naming is one evident factor differentiating individuals with persisted RD from those with ameliorated reading fluency. Also, better adult‐age reading fluency has significance for adult‐age employment among individuals with childhood RD.
The changes in emotions, subjective fear of childbirth, and personal goals were examined during a group intervention to treat fear of childbirth (FOC). The objective was to gain a more detailed understanding of the changes occurring during the group intervention of FOC. The changes in emotions, subjective FOC, and personal goals were studied in primiparous pregnant women with severe FOC participating in a group intervention (n = 105). The group intervention contained six sessions during pregnancy and one after childbirth. At every session, the participants filled in a questionnaire regarding their experiences of current positive and negative emotions and the subjective FOC. The participants also set and reported their personal goals in their preparation for childbirth and parenthood. The negative emotions decreased from the beginning of the intervention. The change became significant after the fourth session. The amount of positive emotions increased but became statistically significant only after the delivery. The subjective FOC decreased significantly from the beginning of the intervention. Personal goals shifted from being mainly self-related to being mostly related to parenthood. The group intervention decreased FOC and promoted changes in emotions and personal goals that foster emotional preparedness for childbirth. It seems that the decrease in FOC was made possible through gaining a better capacity to regulate emotions, especially negative emotions. As negative emotions and fear decreased, personal goals simultaneously changed in the direction known to be adaptive for the new life situation as a parent of a newborn.
Human infants are able to detect changes in grammatical rules in a speech sound stream. Here, we tested whether rats have a comparable ability by using an electrophysiological measure that has been shown to reflect higher order auditory cognition even before it becomes manifested in behavioral level. Urethane-anesthetized rats were presented with a stream of sequences consisting of three pseudowords carried out at a fast pace. Frequently presented “standard” sequences had 16 variants which all had the same structure. They were occasionally replaced by acoustically novel “deviant” sequences of two different types: structurally consistent and inconsistent sequences. Two stimulus conditions were presented for separate animal groups. In one stimulus condition, the standard and the pattern-obeying deviant sequences had an AAB structure, while the pattern-violating deviant sequences had an ABB structure. In the other stimulus condition, these assignments were reversed. During the stimulus presentation, local-field potentials were recorded from the dura, above the auditory cortex. Two temporally separate differential brain responses to the deviant sequences reflected the detection of the deviant speech sound sequences. The first response was elicited by both types of deviant sequences and reflected most probably their acoustical novelty. The second response was elicited specifically by the structurally inconsistent deviant sequences (pattern-violating deviant sequences), suggesting that rats were able to detect changes in the pattern of three-syllabic speech sound sequence (i.e., location of the reduplication of an element in the sequence). Since all the deviant sound sequences were constructed of novel items, our findings indicate that, similarly to the human brain, the rat brain has the ability to automatically generalize extracted structural information to new items.
This longitudinal study aims to test the concept of transition preparedness in the context of educational transitions. The study investigates how adolescents’ transition preparedness, conceptualized as their self-efficacy beliefs and their inoculation against setbacks, before an educational transition affect the adolescents’ school value and effort related to educational goals after the transition through the effects on achievement goal orientations. Student data from three waves of a longitudinal study are used, first collected in 2004 (before the students’ transition from comprehensive school to upper secondary education) and then collected twice after the transition. The students included in the analyses are those who participated at all three measurement points (N = 588; 49.5% girls; age MT1 = 15.01, SD = 0.13). Longitudinal structural equation modeling revealed that adolescents’ self-efficacy beliefs (Time 1) positively predicted school value and effort (Time 3) through their effect on mastery goal orientation (Time 2). Furthermore, self-efficacy moderated the relation between performance-approach goal orientation (Time 1) on school value (Time 2). Results are discussed in terms of their relevance for enhancing adolescents’ adaptive motivational development across educational transitions.
School bullying is associated with externalizing and internalizing problems, but little is known about whether reading difficulties also play a part. We asked how, in Grades 1 and 2, word reading skills and externalizing/internalizing problems predict the degree to which students are involved in bullying in Grade 3. Using a sample of 480 Finnish children (M age = 7 years 2 months at the beginning of the study), developmental profiles were identified using mixture modeling based on reading skills, as well as externalizing and internalizing problems. In Grade 3, one fifth of the students were involved in bullying as victims, bullies, or bully/victims. Poor readers with externalizing/internalizing problems were most involved as bullies and bully/victims but not as victims. Average readers with externalizing/internalizing problems were also involved in bullying, whereas students with only reading difficulties were not. Skilled readers displayed little externalizing/internalizing problems and were not involved in bullying.