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Lapsikäsitys on sidoksissa maailmankuvaan ja siitä nousevaan ihmiskäsitykseen. Ihmiskäsitys on yksilön tai yhteisön käsitys siitä, mikä on ihmisen olemus, alkuperä ja päämäärä ja mikä asema ihmisellä on suhteessa toisiin ihmisiin ja ympäristöön. Lapsikäsityksessä sanaan lapsi sisältyy myös lapsen ja lapsuuden suhde aikuiseen ja aikuisuuteen. Eri uskonnoilla ja filosofisilla suuntauksilla on erilaisia ihmiskäsityksiä samoin kuin eri tieteen- ja hallinnonaloilla. Tämä julkaisu avaa lasten kanssa työskentelevien ammattilaisten työn taustalla olevia lapsikäsityksiä ja samalla keskustelun yhteisen lapsikäsityksen etsimiseksi. Aihetta on lähestytty tarkastelemalla eri alojen lainsäädännön (varhaiskasvatus, perusopetus, sosiaali- ja terveydenhuolto) sekä kasvatusfilosofian, evankelis-luterilaisen kirkon ja eurooppalaisen the Alliance for Childhood -verkoston lapsikäsitystä. Esillä on myös Sipilän hallituksen erityisesti lapsia koskevien kärkihankkeiden lapsikäsitys. Yhteistä ainesta lapsikäsitykselle tarjoaa YK:n lapsen oikeuksien sopimus, joka määrittelee lapsen oikeudet suojeluun ja osallisuuteen. Lapsen oikeuksien sopimuksessa lapsi nähdään itsenäisenä, aktiivisena toimijana ja lapsuus itsessään tärkeänä elämänvaiheena. Sopimus nostaa esiin lapsen edun kaikkein tärkeimpänä periaatteena lasta koskevissa asioissa. Julkaisussa eri toimijoiden lapsikäsitystä tarkastellaan suhteessa lapsen oikeuksien sopimukseen. Yhteistä lapsikäsitystä tarvitaan, koska lapsikäsitys ohjaa eri alojen ammattilaisten toimintaa ja yhteistyötä perheiden kanssa. Tapoihin kohdata lapsi vaikuttavat paitsi omat oletuksemme ja arvomme, myös koulutuksemme sekä työtä ohjaava lainsäädäntö ja muut säädökset. Tällä hetkellä lapsikäsitys on pirstaleinen, ja lapsi nähdään esimerkiksi oppilaana, potilaana tai maahanmuuttajana riippuen siitä, millaista palvelua hän hakee. Lapsilähtöisen palvelujärjestelmän luomista edistää, jos eri alojen toimijoilla on yhteinen tapa käsittää lapsi ja lapsuus tai ainakin ymmärrys toinen toisensa lapsikäsityksestä. Raportin on koostanut professori Lea Pulkkinen ja sen valmisteluun ovat osallistuneet lapsi- ja perhepalvelujen muutosohjelman (LAPE) tieteellisen neuvoston jäsenet sekä asiantuntijat eri tahoilta. Pulkkisen sanoin: ”Lapsikäsitys ei ole asia, joka voidaan toimeksiannolla määrätä toteutettavaksi. Se syntyy henkilökohtaisen tiedostamisprosessin tuloksena. Tiedostamista edistävät asiasta keskustelu ja tapahtumien analyysi lapsikäsityksen näkökulmasta. Yhteiset tavoitteet löytyvät tältä pohjalta.” Raportti tukee tätä tiedostamisprosessia avaamalla keskustelun lapsikäsityksestä. Sen uskotaan edistävän ammattilaisten välisen yhteisymmärryksen syventämistä ja tukevan heidän osaamisensa uudistamista ja yhteistyötään perheiden kanssa. LAPE on yksi Juha Sipilän hallitusohjelman strategisista painopisteistä eli kärkihankkeista.
Autenttinen johtajuus on itsensä tuntemiseen pohjautuva positiivinen johtajuuden muoto, jossa yksilö pyrkii toimimaan siten, että hän on aito ja rehellinen itselleen. Autenttisessa päätöksenteossa taas korostuvat eettisyys ja omien arvojen mukainen toiminta. Tässä tutkimuksessa selvitettiin, miten autenttinen johtajuus ilmenee esimiesten kohtaamissa eettisissä ristiriitatilanteissa ja miten tilanteiden ratkaisuissa näkyy autenttisen päätöksentekoprosessin vaiheita. Tutkittavat esimiehet (n = 25) työskentelivät sekä yksityisissä että julkisissa organisaatioissa, eri johtotasoilla ja eri toimialoilla. Puolistrukturoiduilla haastatteluilla kerättyä aineistoa analysoitiin teoriaohjaavan sisällönanalyysin avulla. Tulokset osoittivat, että autenttisen johtajuuden osa-alueet (itsetietoisuus, läpinäkyvyys, tasapuolinen tiedonkäsittely, sisäistetty moraali) ja autenttisen päätöksentekoprosessin vaiheet (eettisen ristiriidan tunnistaminen, vaihtoehtojen läpinäkyvä arviointi, aikomus toimia autenttisesti) olivat tunnistettavissa eettisessä päätöksenteossa. Kuitenkin vain alle puolet esimiehistä päätyi käytännössä omien arvojensa mukaiseen toimintaan. Erot aikomusten siirtymisessä toimintaan liittyivät yksilön ominaisuuksiin sekä ympäristön olosuhteisiin. Autenttisuutta johtajien eettisessä päätöksenteossa näyttääkin lisäävän se, että esimiehen yksilölliset ominaisuudet (esim. työkokemus ja reflektiokyky) ja työpaikan olosuhteet (esim. sosiaaliset suhteet) tukevat esimiehen vapautta, kykenevyyttä ja rohkeutta toimia omien arvojensa mukaisesti.
The relation of the core components of the Effort–Reward Imbalance model (ERI; Siegrist, 1996) to goal pursuit was investigated. Goal pursuit was studied through categories of goal contents – competency, progression, well-being, job change, job security, organization, finance, or no work goal – based on the personal work goals of managers (Hyvönen, Feldt, Salmela-Aro, Kinnunen, & Mäkikangas, 2009). The study focused on the contribution of the ERI components (effort, reward, effort–reward imbalance, OVC) to goal contents, as well as on the mediating and moderating effects of goal contents between the ERI components and occupational well-being (burnout, work engagement) among young Finnish managers (N = 747, age range 23–35 years). First, multinomial regressions showed that effort, reward, and effort–reward imbalance contributed to the membership of the goal categories. Secondly, hierarchical GLM (General Linear Model) indicated that the goal categories mediated the relationship between the ERI components and occupational well-being. Effort, reward, and effort–reward imbalance had an indirect effect through goal categories on burnout and work engagement, but overcommitment only on burnout. In addition, the goal categories moderated the relationship between reward and work engagement. Taken together, psychosocial work environment contributes to the contents of personal work goals, which also function as mediators, particularly between the work environment and occupational well-being.
Acceptance and commitment therapy programs have rarely been used as preventive tools for alleviating stress and enhancing coping skills among adolescents. This randomized controlled trial examined the efficacy of a novel Finnish web- and mobile-delivered five-week intervention program called Youth COMPASS among a general sample of ninth-grade adolescents (n= 249, 49% females). The intervention group showed a small but significant decrease in overall stress (between-group Cohen’s d = 0.22) and an increase in academic buoyancy (d= 0.27). Academic skills did not influence the intervention gains, but the intervention gains were largest among high-stressed participants. The results suggest that the acceptance and commitment based Youth COMPASS program may be well suited for promoting adolescents’ well-being in the school context.
Objective: This case study examined reflexivity and the assimilation of problematic experiences, especially its progress within and between the Assimilation of Problematic Experiences Scale (APES) Stages 2–3, in group psychotherapy for social phobia. Method: The data consisted of all of one client's turns expressing the two voices of her main problematic experience in 12 sessions, and all replies by the therapist in direct connection to them. The client's utterances were rated on the APES. Results: A detailed analysis of 13 conversational passages revealed that progress in assimilation happened only when the client took a reflexive stance towards her inner experience or outer actions. There were a few instances when she took a reflexive stance, but no progress in assimilation could be noted. A qualitative analysis of three conversational episodes showed how therapist responsiveness facilitated the client's increased reflexivity and progress in assimilation. Conclusions: Reflexivity appears to be a necessary condition for progress in assimilation both at APES Stages 2 and 3, but the model should recognize that reflexivity can appear in diverse forms and at different levels. Therapist responsiveness and sensitivity to the client's assimilation process is crucial for a successful transition from Stage 2 to Stage 3.
This multiple case study investigated how clients construct nonagentic positions when formulating their problems in the beginning of their first psychotherapy session. The initial problem formulations of nine clients entering psychotherapy were analyzed with a detailed model drawing on discursive methodology, the 10 Discursive Tools model (10DT). We found ten problem formulation categories, each one distinguished by the tool from the 10DT model primarily used to construct nonagency. All clients gave several problem formulations from different categories and constructed nonagentic positions with a variety of discursive tools. When the resulting problem formulation categories were read in comparison with the descriptions of the client’s stance at the outset of psychotherapy as presented in two change process models, the Assimilation of Problematic Experiences Sequence and the Innovative Moments Coding System, some similarities were found. However, the 10DT model brought out much variation in the client’s nonagentic positioning in the formulations, forming a contrast with the more simplified presentations of the client’s initial nonagency given in the change process models. Therapists should pay close attention to how clients express their sense of lost agency at the outset of psychotherapy and how this positions both the client and the therapist as future collaborators in psychotherapy.
Background To conduct a comprehensive assessment of the association between aggression and academic performance in compulsory education. Method We studied aggression and academic performance in over 27,000 individuals from four European twin cohorts participating in the ACTION consortium (Aggression in Children: Unraveling gene‐environment interplay to inform Treatment and InterventiON strategies). Individual level data on aggression at ages 7–16 were assessed by three instruments (Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment, Multidimensional Peer Nomination Inventory, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) including parental, teacher and self‐reports. Academic performance was measured with teacher‐rated grade point averages (ages 12–14) or standardized test scores (ages 12–16). Random effect meta‐analytical correlations with academic performance were estimated for parental ratings (in all four cohorts) and self‐ratings (in three cohorts). Results All between‐family analyses indicated significant negative aggression–academic performance associations with correlations ranging from −.06 to −.33. Results were similar across different ages, instruments and raters and either with teacher‐rated grade point averages or standardized test scores as measures of academic performance. Meta‐analytical r ’s were −.20 and −.23 for parental and self‐ratings, respectively. In within‐family analyses of all twin pairs, the negative aggression–academic performance associations were statistically significant in 14 out of 17 analyses (r = −.17 for parental‐ and r = −.16 for self‐ratings). Separate analyses in monozygotic (r = −.07 for parental and self‐ratings), same‐sex dizygotic (r ’s = −.16 and −.17 for parental and self‐ratings) and opposite‐sex dizygotic (r ’s = −.21 and −.19 for parental and self‐ratings) twin pairs suggested partial confounding by genetic effects. Conclusions There is a robust negative association between aggression and academic performance in compulsory education. Part of these associations were explained by shared genetic effects, but some evidence of a negative association between aggression and academic performance remained even in within‐family analyses of monozygotic twin pairs.
Tutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin perhemuodon, sisaruuden ja syntymäjärjestyksen yhteyttä lapsen saamaan hyväksyntään ikätovereiden keskuudessa ensimmäisellä luokalla. Tutkittavina oli 154 keskisuomalaista lasta yhdeksältä luokalta. Lapsen sosiaalista suosituimmuutta ja näkyvyyttä arvioitiin ensimmäisen luokan keväällä pyytämällä lapsia mainitsemaan luokkatovereita, joiden kanssa he viettävät mielellään aikaansa ja joiden kanssa he vastaavasti eivät mielellään vietä aikaansa. Perhetaustasta kerättiin tietoa vanhemmilta kyselylomakkeella lasten ollessa esikoulussa. Tulokset osoittivat, että ydinperheessä elävät lapset olivat ikätovereidensa keskuudessa pidetympiä kuin uusperheissä elävät lapset. Tulokset osoittivat myös, että ainoat lapset olivat sosiaalisesti näkyvämpiä kuin lapset, joilla oli sisaruksia. Perhetekijöiden ja lapsen sosiaalisen aseman välisen yhteyden tiedostaminen voi auttaa löytämään keinoja tukea lapsia, joilla on riski joutua torjutuksi ikätoverisuhteissaan.
Purpose – Ethical culture is a specific form of organizational culture (including values and systems that can promote ethical behavior), and as such a socially constructed phenomenon. However, no previous studies have investigated the degree to which employees’ perceptions of their organization’s ethical culture are shared within work units (departments), which was the first aim of this study. In addition, we studied the associations between ethical culture and occupational well-being (i.e., burnout and work engagement) at both the individual and workunit levels. Design/methodology/approach – The questionnaire data was gathered from 2,146 respondents with various occupations in 245 different work units in one public sector organization. Ethical organizational culture was measured with the Corporate Ethical Virtues scale (CEV), including eight sub-dimensions. Findings – Multilevel structural equation modeling showed that 12–27% of the total variance regarding the dimensions of ethical culture was explained by departmental homogeneity (shared experiences). At both the within and between levels, higher perceptions of ethical culture associated with lower burnout and higher work engagement. Implications – The results suggest that organizations should support ethical practices at the work-unit level, to enhance work engagement, and should also pay special attention to work units with a low ethical culture because these work environments can expose employees to burnout. Originality/value – This is one of the first studies to find evidence of an association between shared experiences of ethical culture and collective feelings of both burnout and work engagement.
The aim of this study was to examine the situational associations of reading-related task values and efficacy beliefs with achievement emotions, and whether these associations are moderated by reading difficulties (RD). The sample comprised 128 Finnish sixth-grade students (66 with no reading difficulties [No RD], 31 with mild reading difficulties [Mild RD], and 31 with severe reading difficulties [Severe RD]) who were randomized to complete either a non-challenging or challenging reading task. Students reported their reading-related task values (attainment and interest) and efficacy beliefs right before and their achievement emotions both before and after performing the reading task. The results revealed that the associations of task values and efficacy beliefs with achievement emotions were moderated by RD and task difficulty. High attainment value was related to more positive and less negative emotions, especially for students with Severe RD. In turn, high interest value and efficacy beliefs were related to more positive emotions during the task, especially for students with No RD or Mild RD. Finally, among all students, higher interest value in the face of a non-challenging reading task and higher efficacy beliefs in the face of a challenging reading task were related to less negative emotions. The results provide a novel understanding of the role of RD in the situational associations between reading-related motivation and achievement emotions.
The adoption of wearable technology in competitive sports can be an advantage to performance and training. Athletes who use personalised data to quantify their performances with the possibilities of sharing with others may use wearables to reinforce the athletic identity. Despite these changes, few studies have actually examined the associations between wearables and developing athletes in their quest for professional sports. Student athletes (n = 437, age = 17y) still in high schools completed a web-based survey about their professional aspirations, athletic identity, and the association with wearables. Wearables were measured by ownership and usage of apps, fitness trackers, or sports watches. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were reported. Most high school athletes had apps (64.3%) or fitness trackers (65.2%) and over half of the athletes (58%) had aspirations for professional sport. Athletic identity was positively associated with ownership and usage of apps and fitness trackers. The OR was greater for professional sport aspiration with fitness trackers owners (OR = 2.60, CI = 1.44-4.73) and users (OR = 4.04, CI = 2.09-7.81) than athletes without fitness trackers. Wearables were common among high school athletes and it was part of their athletic identity. For professional aspiring athletes, wearables have the potential to help provide data to support suitable training and competition schedules at a time when students may be overloaded with academic pressures.
Among adolescents, many parenting practices have been associated with the initiation and development of drinking behaviors. However, recent studies suggest discrepancies in parents' and adolescents' perceptions of parenting and their links with adolescent use. In this study, we derive two independent sets of underlying parenting profiles (based on parent and adolescent reported behaviors at age 11–12 years), which were then examined in relation to adolescents' drinking behaviors at ages 14 and 17½. Results indicated that the two sets of profiles accounted for little shared variance, with those based on adolescents' reports being stronger predictors of adolescent drinking. Moreover, comparisons of drinking levels across profiles pointed to multiple parenting strategies that may effectively reduce adolescent alcohol experimentation, including simply sustaining a moderate level of awareness of adolescents' whereabouts and activities and avoiding excessive conflict and strictness.
Family violence is a global health problem incurring significant costs to both individuals and health care systems. However, family violence as a cause of trauma and other health issues is often unidentified in patients attending emergency care. Better understanding of the risk factors associated with family violence could improve the identification and treatment of victimized patients in health care settings. Little longitudinal research exists on the mental and somatic health of family violence victims currently identified in EDs and little is known about how victims of family violence differ from other help-seeking victims of interpersonal violence. A total of 345 patients were identified as victims of interpersonal violence in a mid-size Finnish ED during the period 2011-2014. A retrospective chart review was conducted to analyze their mental and somatic health two years before and two years after identification. Victims of family violence were most likely women and they were significantly older than other victim groups. Victims of family violence also presented the most varied health symptoms both before and after identification, although differences between victim groups were not as clear as in previous studies comparing victims of family violence with non-victims. Comparison with previous data demonstrated that family violence was severely under-identified at the study site, further increasing the likelihood of family violence victims revisiting health care services. More attention should thus be paid to the identification and treatment of family violence in emergency care and other health care settings.
In this study, we investigated the effects of context-related semantic anomalies on the fixation-related brain potentials of 12–13-year-old Finnish children in grade 6 during sentence reading. The detection of such anomalies is typically reflected in the N400 event-related potential. We also examined whether the representation invoked by the sentence context extends to the orthographic representation level by replacing the final words of the sentence with an anomalous word neighbour of a plausible word. The eye-movement results show that the anomalous word neighbours of plausible words cause similar first-fixation and gaze duration reactions, as do other anomalous words. Similarly, we observed frontal negativity in the fixation-related potential of the unrelated anomalous words and in the anomalous word neighbours. This frontal negativity was larger in both anomalous conditions than in the response elicited by the plausible condition. We thus show that the brain successfully uses context to separate anomalous words from plausible words on a single letter level during free reading. From the P600 response of the scalp waveform, we observed that the P600 was delayed in the anomalous word neighbour condition. We performed group-level decomposition on the data with ICA (independent component analysis) and analysed the time course and source structure of the decomposed data. This analysis of decomposed brain signals not only confirmed the delay of the P600 response but also revealed that the frontal negativity concealed s more typical and separate N400 response, which was similarly delayed in the anomalous word neighbour condition, as was the P600 response. Source analysis of these independent components implicated the right frontal eye field as the cortical source for the frontal negativity and the middle temporal and parietal regions as cortical sources for the components resembling the N400 and P600 responses. We interpret the delays present in N400 and P600 responses to anomalous word neighbours to reflect competition with the representation of the plausible word just one letter different.
Urheilijan kaksoisura tarkoittaa huippu-urheilun ja opiskelun/ koulutuksen yhdistämistä. Tämä helpottaa urheilijan siirtymistä urheilu-uralta työmarkkinoille. Vaikka kansainvälisen tutkimuksen mukaan useimmat huippu-urheilijat pitävät koulutusta tärkeänä, he useimmiten asettavat urheilu-uran etusijalle yrittäessään sovittaa harjoittelun ja kilpailemisen asettamat vaatimukset koulutusjärjestelmien vaatimuksiin ja rajoituksiin. Tutkimusten mukaan monet lahjakkaat eurooppalaisurheilijat usein joko lopettavat urheilu-uransa panostaakseen koulutukseen ja sitä kautta työllistymiseen tai viivästyttävät tutkinnon hankkimista keskittyäkseen kokonaan urheiluun. Kysymys on otettu osaksi EU:n strategista agendaa (Euroopan komissio 2011, 2012), ja myös Suomen hallitus on kiinnittänyt asiaan huomiota pyrkimällä edistämään eettiseen ja yhteiskuntavastuulliseen huippu-urheiluun ohjaavien menettelytapojen kehittämistä (Opetusministeriö 2010). Hiljattain käyttöön otetut eurooppalaisurheilijoiden kaksoisuraa koskevat linjaukset (2012) kannustavat vahvasti kansallisen tason tutkimukseen eri sosiokulttuurisiin konteksteihin sopivien suositusten luomiseksi. Tässä artikkelissa luodaan katsaus suomalaiseen kaksoisuratutkimukseen ja sen tuloksiin. Aluksi esitellään lyhyesti kokonaisvaltainen, kulttuurin huomioiva näkökulma urheilu-uraan. Seuraavaksi tarkastellaan näiden kansallisten tutkimusten tuloksia kansainvälistä tutkimustaustaa vasten. Lopuksi esitetään suosituksia siitä, mihin tulevan kaksoisuratutkimuksen kannattaisi keskittyä, ja kannustetaan kehittämään suomalaiseen kontekstiin soveltuvaa kaksoisurastrategiaa, joka auttaisi pohjustamaan ja tukemaan lahjakkaiden urheilijoiden henkilökohtaista ja ammatillista kehitystä läpi uran.
Selvitystyön tehtävänä oli koota tutkimukseen ja toimiviin käytänteisiin perustuvaa tietoa joustavan koulupäivän hyvinvointivaikutuksista sekä tehdä kehittämisehdotuksia siitä, miten joustava koulupäivä on tarkoituksenmukaista rakentaa kytkien kokonaisuuteen myös aamu- ja iltapäivätoiminnan. Selvitystyö on johtanut havaintoon vahvasta koulupäivän muutospaineesta. Painetta tulee (1) YK:n lapsen oikeuksien yleissopimuksesta, joka korostaa lapsen oikeutta tulla kuulluksi ja yhtäläisten mahdollisuuksien tarjoamista kulttuuri-, taide-, virkistys- ja vapaa-ajan toimintoihin, (2) Euroopan komission suosituksesta investoida lapsiin heidän hyvinvointinsa edistämiseksi, (3) Euroopan muissa maissa tapahtuneesta kehityksestä, (4) Suomen hallituksen tavoitteista antaa oppilaalle mahdollisuus harrastuksiin koulupäivän yhteydessä, (5) uudistetuista perusopetuksen opetussuunnitelman perusteista, (6) innostuksesta, jolla kerhotoiminnan lisääminen ja koulupäivän rakenteen muutoskokeilut on otettu vastaan koulujen ja vanhempien keskuudessa ja (7) yhteistyökumppaneiden halukkuudesta osallistua kerhotoiminnan järjestämiseen. Tutkimustulokset koulussa järjestetyn oppiaineiden ulkopuolisen toiminnan merkityksestä oppilaiden hyvinvoinnille ovat varauksetta positiivisia koulumenestyksen, oppilaan persoonallisen kehityksen ja yhteisön kannalta. Uudistuksen voidaan ennustaa parantavan oppilaiden kiinnittymistä ja samalla tyytyväisyyttä kouluun, millä on myönteinen yhteys koulumenestykseen. Suomalaisten oppilaiden tyytyväisyys kouluun on kansainvälistä tasoa heikompaa ja koulumenestyksessä on laskusuunta. Koulupäivään tarvitaan kannustavia lähi-ihmissuhteita ja monipuolista toimintaa oppilaiden innostuksen virittämiseksi oppimiseen ja halukkuuteen osallistua oman tulevaisuuden rakentamiseen.
Psychosis is a challenging phenomenon for professionals. In the need-adapted approach (NAA), therapy meetings constitute a deliberate effort to meet the challenges by bringing all the main parties together within a common discussion. The aims of this study are to analyze and evaluate psychiatrists' experiences of the treatment processes in psychosis. A qualitative multiple case study approach has been used. Between August 2007 and January 2009, co-research interviews (CR-Is) and stimulated-recall interviews (STR-Is) with 10 psychiatrists from 3 different parts of Finland were videoed and transcribed verbatim. The material was analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The difficult emotions of the professionals and the critical views expressed had a prominent role. It was almost impossible to proceed with the treatment until the memories of coercive acts had been addressed. There were fewer harmful effects in outpatient than in inpatient care. If the client-centered principles of NAA were not followed, the CR-Is functioned primarily as critical evaluations of the treatment processes. The STR-Is helped the psychiatrists to find words for difficult experiences. For the sake of both practice and research, the experiences of staff in the treatment of psychosis should be taken into account. For better prediction of failure, routine measures to obtain feedback could be included in NAA.
Psykoosi-ilmiön epäyhtenäisyys on vaikeuttanut tarkoin määriteltyjen hoitomenetelmien kehitystä. Psykososiaalisen näkökulman avulla voidaan hahmottaa psykoosi-ilmiön ja sen määritelmien suhteellinen luonne. Tästä näkökulmasta psykoosiksi tulkittavia ilmiöitä ei voida tyhjentävästi kategorisoida, samaistaa biologisiin mekanismeihin tai hoitaa kontekstista eli henkilön elinpiiristä irrotettuna psykopatologiana. Näkökulman laajentaminen auttaa kehittämään tutkimus- ja hoitokäytäntöjä integratiivista lähestymistapaa käyttäen.
The present study examined to what extent sixth-grade students' academic buoyancy and temperament contributed to their school-related stress. A total of 845 students rated their school-related stress at the beginning and end of the school year and their academic buoyancy at the beginning of the year. Parents rated students' effortful control and negative affectivity. The results showed that high academic buoyancy, high effortful control, and low negative affectivity at the beginning of the school year were related to lower school-related stress at the end of the school year, after controlling for gender, GPA, and previous level of stress. Effortful control and negative affectivity had no significant interaction effect with academic buoyancy on students' school-related stress. The findings of the study suggest that interventions aiming at supporting students' academic buoyancy may also decrease their feelings of school stress. In particular, students with high negative affectivity or low effortful control may need training in stress management skills.
Trait emotional intelligence (EI) is a noteworthy psychological resource in nursing. However, its effects on well-being and job performance are inconsistent. Thus, we explored the latent beneficial and risk profiles of trait EI among 461 Japanese eldercare nurses. Latent profile analysis revealed six latent profiles. In addition, multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) showed that the profile with the highest overall scores on the trait EI dimensions was associated with the most beneficial outcomes (better well-being, higher job performance). In contrast, the profiles with lower overall scores on the trait EI dimensions showed negative outcomes. Moreover, a disproportional profile, characterised by higher interpersonal EI and lower situational EI, also showed poorer outcomes. The findings indicate that trait EI is associated with subjective well-being and job performance, depending both on the overall levels of trait EI and on the dimensionality of the sub-factors within the different trait EI profiles.
The objective of this work was to examine the connections between problematic digital gaming and various health-related behavior characteristics in a population of vocational school students. Data collection was performed (N = 1335) via an online survey in vocational school units in northern Finland. The survey incorporated the Internet Gaming Disorder Test (IGD10) as well as self-reported measures including questions on socio-demographics, information on the living arrangements of participants, gaming habits, and health-related behaviors. Eightyfour percent (n = 773) of the respondents (an average age of 17.5 years [SD = 4.4]) played digital games regularly. Male gender, daily game use, having no close friends, self-perceived underweight status and monthly drug use were all significantly and positively associated with problematic gaming scores. Engagement in digital game playing was especially associated with participants who lived with a friend or friends or in a blended family structure engagement. These findings have implications for counselors and researchers working on the health-related behaviors of vocational school students.
Abstract. Change blindness refers to the inability to detect visual changes if introduced together with an eye-movement, blink, flash of light, or with distracting stimuli. Evidence of implicit detection of changed visual features during change blindness has been reported in a number of studies using both behavioral and neurophysiological measurements. However, it is not known whether implicit detection occurs only at the level of single features or whether complex organizations of features can be implicitly detected as well. We tested this in adult humans using intact and scrambled versions of schematic faces as stimuli in a change blindness paradigm while recording event-related potentials (ERPs). An enlargement of the face- sensitive N170 ERP component was observed at the right temporal electrode site to changes from scrambled to intact faces, even if the participants were not consciously able to report such changes (change blindness). Similarly, the disintegration of an intact face to scrambled features resulted in attenuated N170 responses during change blindness. Other ERP deflections were modulated by changes, but unlike the N170 component, they were indifferent to the direction of the change. The bidirectional modulation of the N170 component during change blindness suggests that implicit change detection can also occur at the level of complex features in the case of facial stimuli.
Studies of singletons suggest that right-handed individuals may have higher levels of testosterone than do left-handed individuals. Prenatal testosterone levels are hypothesised to be especially related to handedness formation. In humans, female members from opposite-sex twin pairs may experience elevated level of prenatal exposure to testosterone in their intrauterine environment shared with a male. We tested for differences in rates of left-handedness/right-handedness in female twins from same-sex and opposite-sex twin pairs. Our sample consisted of 4736 subjects, about 70% of all Finnish twins born in 1983–1987, with information on measured pregnancy and birth related factors. Circulating testosterone and estradiol levels at age 14 were available on 771 and 744 of these twins, respectively. We found significantly (p = .006) lower prevalence of left-handedness in females from opposite-sex pairs (5.3%) compared to females from same-sex pairs (8.6%). The circulating levels of neither testosterone nor estradiol related to handedness in either females or males. Nor were there differences in circulating testosterone or estradiol levels between females from opposite-sex and same-sex twin pairs. Birth and pregnancy related factors for which we had information were unrelated to handedness. Our results are difficult to fully explain by postnatal factors, but they offer support to theory that relates testosterone to formation of handedness, and in a population-based sample, are suggestive of effects of prenatal testosterone transfer.
A person-oriented approach was applied to identify profiles of study engagement and burnout (i.e., exhaustion, cynicism, inadequacy) in higher education in a large and representative sample of 12,394 higher education students at different phases of their studies in universities and polytechnics in Finland. Four profiles were identified: Engaged (44%), engaged-exhausted (30%) inefficacious (19%) and burned-out (7%). The engaged students had the most positive engagement accompanied with the least burnout symptoms compared to other groups. The engaged-exhausted students experienced emotional exhaustion simultaneously with academic engagement. The inefficacious group had heightened experience of inadequacy as a student. The burned-out students showed very high cynicism and inadequacy and very low academic engagement compared to the other groups. Of these groups, the engaged students tended to be in the earlier stages in their studies, whereas the burned-out and inefficacious students had been studying the longest. The pattern suggests that students starting out with high engagement and that burnout becomes more common later in the academic career. Supporting demands-resources model, the covariates reflecting the demands were higher and those reflecting resources were lower among the burned-out and inefficacious students compared to the engaged students.
The aim of the present study was to validate the Finnish version of the Parental Burnout Assessment (PBA) using data from 1,688 Finnish parents (91\% mothers) living in Finland with at least one child living at home. Confirmatory factor analyses supported the theoretical four-factor structure of the PBA – emotional exhaustion in one’s parental role, contrast with previous parental self, feelings of being fed up with one’s parental role, and emotional distancing from one’s children. Internal consistency for the total scale was excellent (Cronbach’s alpha ≥ 0.90) and for the subscales from acceptable (alpha ≥ 0.70) to excellent. The results further demonstrated strict factorial invariance of PBA across genders and educational status groups. Finally, the PBA and its four subscales correlated as expected with the three criteria variables (depressive symptoms, sleep disruptions, and self-esteem), the latent factors of all three criteria variables being still clearly unique and separate constructions from parental burnout factors.
The aim of this study was to describe gender-specific career paths of Swedish professional handball players. A reanalysis of Ekengren et al. (2018) career interviews with nine male and nine female players led to creating two composite vignettes using the athletes’ own words, accounted for typical features in the male and female players’ career paths. Seven themes were identified in the analysis of the men’s transcripts and eight themes derived from the women’s transcripts. Further, the themes of both vignettes were aligned with career stages described in our previous study (Ekengren et al. 2018). The male players’ vignette is interpreted as a performance narrative congruent with elite handball culture that promotes performance success and profitable professional contracts. The female players’ vignette is more holistic, embracing handball, studies, motherhood, and how they ought to be as Swedish women. Recommendations for future research are provided.
Background: Adolescence has been identified as a critical period with regard to the initiation and early escalation of alcohol use. Moreover, research on familial risk and protective processes provides independent support for multiple domains of parental influence on adolescent drinking; including parents’ own drinking behaviors, as well as the practices they employ to socialize their children. Despite this prevalence of findings, whether and how these distinct associations are related to one another is still not entirely clear. Methods: The present study used data from 4,731 adolescents and their parents to test the nature of associations between (a) parents’ frequencies of alcohol use and intoxication, and lifetime alcohol‐related problems, (b) adolescents’ perceptions of the parenting that they receive, and (c) adolescents’ prevalence of alcohol use and intoxication at 14 and 17½ years of age. As such, multiple mediation modeling was used to assess whether parental alcohol use behaviors influence adolescent alcohol use directly, or if they operate through indirect associations with various aspects of parenting that subsequently influence adolescent use. Results: Examination of simple associations demonstrated that maternal and paternal alcohol use behaviors were positively linked with adolescent use behaviors at 14 and 17½ years of age. Likewise, several parenting behaviors were independently associated with both parental and adolescent drinking. Examined collectively, multivariate path analyses indicated that associations between parents’ and adolescents’ alcohol‐related behaviors were mediated, in part, by adolescents’ perceptions of the parenting that they received, especially at 14 years of age. Furthermore, perceived parental monitoring and discipline had unique mediating capabilities, net the effects of all other parenting behaviors. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that parenting is an important mediator of the association between parental and adolescent drinking practices. An important area for future research will be to study how adolescents can avoid alcohol‐related problems despite being reared within a risk laden parenting environment and/or having parents who drink frequently.
Recent empirical and theoretical work suggests that there is a close relationship between visual working memory (WM) and visuospatial attention. Here, we investigated whether visuospatial attention was involved in maintaining object representations in visual WM. To this end, the alpha lateralization and contralateral delay activity (CDA) were analyzed as neural markers for visuospatial attention and visual WM storage, respectively. In the single-task condition, participants performed a grating change-detection task. To probe the role of visuospatial attention in maintaining WM contents, two color squares were presented above and below the fixation point during the retention interval, which remained visible until the detection display was present. In the dual-task condition, participants were required to maintain lateralized gratings while staring at the center-presented color squares, to detect possible subsequent color change. With this task, sustained visuospatial attention that guided to individual memory representations was disrupted. The behavioral data showed that, the insertion of secondary task significantly deteriorated WM performance. For electrophysiological data, we divided the retention interval into two stages, the early stage and late stage, bounded by the onset of the secondary task. We found that CDA amplitude was lower under the dual-task condition than the single-task condition during the late stage, but not the early stage, and the extent to which CDA reduced tracked the impaired memory performance at the individual level. Also, alpha lateralization only could be observed in the single-task condition of the late stage, and completely disappeared in the dual-task condition, indicating the disruption of visuospatial attention directed to memory representations. Individuals who experienced greater visuospatial attention disruption, as indicated by the alpha lateralization, had lower maintenance-associated neural activity (CDA), and suffered greater impairment of memory performance. These findings confirm that sustained visuospatial attention continues improving visual WM processing after the initial encoding phase, and most likely participates in this process by supporting the maintenance of representations in an active state.
An infant's ability to process auditory signals presented in rapid succession (i.e. rapid auditory processing abilities [RAP]) has been shown to predict differences in language outcomes in toddlers and preschool children. Early deficits in RAP abilities may serve as a behavioral marker for language‐based learning disabilities. The purpose of this study is to determine if performance on infant information processing measures designed to tap RAP and global processing skills differ as a function of family history of specific language impairment (SLI) and/or the particular demand characteristics of the paradigm used. Seventeen 6‐ to 9‐month‐old infants from families with a history of specific language impairment (FH+) and 29 control infants (FH−) participated in this study. Infants’ performance on two different RAP paradigms (head‐turn procedure [HT] and auditory‐visual habituation/recognition memory [AVH/RM]) and on a global processing task (visual habituation/recognition memory [VH/RM]) was assessed at 6 and 9 months. Toddler language and cognitive skills were evaluated at 12 and 16 months. A number of significant group differences were seen: FH+ infants showed significantly poorer discrimination of fast rate stimuli on both RAP tasks, took longer to habituate on both habituation/recognition memory measures, and had lower novelty preference scores on the visual habituation/recognition memory task. Infants’ performance on the two RAP measures provided independent but converging contributions to outcome. Thus, different mechanisms appear to underlie performance on operantly conditioned tasks as compared to habituation/recognition memory paradigms. Further, infant RAP processing abilities predicted to 12‐ and 16‐month language scores above and beyond family history of SLI. The results of this study provide additional support for the validity of infant RAP abilities as a behavioral marker for later language outcome. Finally, this is the first study to use a battery of infant tasks to demonstrate multi‐modal processing deficits in infants at risk for SLI.
Developmental dyslexia (DD) is a learning disorder affecting the ability to read, with a heritability of 40–60%. A notable part of this heritability remains unexplained, and large genetic studies are warranted to identify new susceptibility genes and clarify the genetic bases of dyslexia. We carried out a genome-wide association study (GWAS) on 2274 dyslexia cases and 6272 controls, testing associations at the single variant, gene, and pathway level, and estimating heritability using single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data. We also calculated polygenic scores (PGSs) based on large-scale GWAS data for different neuropsychiatric disorders and cortical brain measures, educational attainment, and fluid intelligence, testing them for association with dyslexia status in our sample. We observed statistically significant (p < 2.8 × 10−6) enrichment of associations at the gene level, for LOC388780 (20p13; uncharacterized gene), and for VEPH1 (3q25), a gene implicated in brain development. We estimated an SNP-based heritability of 20–25% for DD, and observed significant associations of dyslexia risk with PGSs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (at pT = 0.05 in the training GWAS: OR = 1.23[1.16; 1.30] per standard deviation increase; p = 8 × 10−13), bipolar disorder (1.53[1.44; 1.63]; p = 1 × 10−43), schizophrenia (1.36[1.28; 1.45]; p = 4 × 10−22), psychiatric cross-disorder susceptibility (1.23[1.16; 1.30]; p = 3 × 10−12), cortical thickness of the transverse temporal gyrus (0.90[0.86; 0.96]; p = 5 × 10−4), educational attainment (0.86[0.82; 0.91]; p = 2 × 10−7), and intelligence (0.72[0.68; 0.76]; p = 9 × 10−29). This study suggests an important contribution of common genetic variants to dyslexia risk, and novel genomic overlaps with psychiatric conditions like bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and cross-disorder susceptibility. Moreover, it revealed the presence of shared genetic foundations with a neural correlate previously implicated in dyslexia by neuroimaging evidence.
Purpose Sleep restriction is increasingly common and associated with the development of health problems. We investigated how the neuroendocrine stress systems respond to prolonged sleep restriction and subsequent recovery sleep in healthy young men. Methods After two baseline (BL) nights of 8 h time in bed (TIB), TIB was restricted to 4 h per night for five nights (sleep restriction, SR, n = 15), followed by three recovery nights (REC) of 8 h TIB, representing a busy workweek and a recovery weekend. The control group (n = 8) had 8 h TIB throughout the experiment. A variety of autonomic cardiovascular parameters, together with salivary neuropeptide Y (NPY) and cortisol levels, were assessed. Results In the control group, none of the parameters changed. In the experimental group, heart rate increased from 60 ± 1.8 beats per minute (bpm) at BL, to 63 ± 1.1 bpm after SR and further to 65 ± 1.8 bpm after REC. In addition, whole day low-frequency to-high frequency (LF/HF) power ratio of heart rate variability increased from 4.6 ± 0.4 at BL to 6.0 ± 0.6 after SR. Other parameters, including salivary NPY and cortisol levels, remained unaffected. Conclusions Increased heart rate and LF/HF power ratio are early signs of an increased sympathetic activity after prolonged sleep restriction. To reliably interpret the clinical significance of these early signs of physiological stress, a follow-up study would be needed to evaluate if the stress responses escalate and lead to more unfavourable reactions, such as elevated blood pressure and a subsequent elevated risk for cardiovascular health problems.
Recent studies on gaze behaviours in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have utilised “live eye tracking.” Such research has focused on generating quantitative eye tracking measurements, which provide limited (if any) qualitative contextual details of the actual interactions in which gaze occurs. This article presents a novel methodological approach that combines live eye tracking with qualitative interaction analysis, multimodally informed conversation analysis. Drawing on eye tracking and wide-angle video recordings, this combination renders visible some of the functions, or what gaze “does,” in interactional situations. The participants include three children with ASD and their adult co-participants during body-movement gaming sessions. The article demonstrates how quantitative eye tracking research can be extended qualitatively using a microanalytic interaction analysis to recontextualise the gaze shifts identified. The findings in this article show that the co-participants treat a child’s gaze shifts differently depending on when these occur in a stream of other action. The study suggests that introducing this qualitative dimension to eye tracking research could increase its ecological validity and offer new insight into gaze behaviours in ASD.
The present special issue includes single and multiple case studies which report on the phenomenon of ‘paradoxical’ outcomes in psychotherapy, operationalized as discordant outcome assessments within the same case. In an attempt to find ground for my published response, I endeavored to juxtaposition the cases from the different studies, and by doing that gain an overview of the contributions and arguments. As a result of that exercise, I suggest three different types of paradoxical outcome with different pathways and implications. Discussing the concept of ‘illusory mental health’ as a possible explanation for paradoxical outcome, I suggest that self-ratings within a nonclinical range, given by respondents assessed as psychologically distressed, could be perceived as ‘genuine’ markers of a tolerable level of coping and symptom relief, not only as an indication of a defensive attitude. I conclude that it might be more advantageous to relate ‘paradoxical’ outcomes to aspects of the therapeutic process, rather than to psychological dispositions of the clients.
Based on prior theory and research (Ciarrochi & Heaven, 2009; Eagly & Wood, 1999), we hypothesized that the link between empathy and friendship would be moderated by sex: Girls will nominate empathic boys as friends, whereas boys will not tend to nominate empathic girls. We collected measures of empathy, friendship social support, and close friendship nominations in grade 10 across 1,970 students in 16 schools (Mage = 15.70, SD = .44; males = 993, females = 977). Multilevel models revealed that boys high in cognitive empathy attracted an average of 1.8 more girl friendship nominations than did their low empathy counterparts, whereas empathic girls did not attract a greater number of opposite-sex friends. In addition, the more friendship nominations a boy received from either boys or girls, the more they felt supported by their friends; the number of friendship nominations received by girls, in contrast, had no effect on their felt support by friends. Regardless of the quantity of friendship nominations, empathy was linked to more supportive friendships for both males and females. These results inform a contextual understanding of the role of empathy in selecting and maintaining friendships.
Little is yet known of how personal identity processes of exploration and commitment develop beyond adolescence and how they interact with developmental tasks of young adulthood. Employing the DIDS (The Dimensions of Identity Development Scale; commitment making, identification with commitment, exploration in breadth, exploration in depth and ruminative exploration) in a longitudinal sample of Finnish young adults (measurement at age 24 and 29; N = 854, 63% women), the results of this study suggested 1) that identity commitment and exploration levels, in general, decrease over time, 2) that success in developmental tasks but not sex moderate this development, and 3) that among developmental tasks, parenthood is the strongest predictor of changes in identity processes over time. The results support a view of personal identity as a dynamic process moderated by contextual factors beyond adolescence and have practical implications for social security provision in an increasingly precarious labour market. Political decisions that support young adults’ trust in the future and a sense of continuity by strengthening different forms of social security are called for. A debate on values related to success is also needed to lessen the emotional costs of uncertainty.
Working life is becoming more mentally demanding and intense due to technological acceleration. The present study explored employees’ experiences of different mental job demands (MJDs) and their outcomes (job burnout, job performance, and meaning of work). We focused on intra- and inter-individual variations and possible harmful combinations of MJDs, which we explored via latent profile analysis (LPA). To identify harmful combinations of MJDs, we also investigated how the profiles of MJDs related to the outcomes of interest. The study was based on a diverse sample of Finnish employees (n = 4,583). LPA showed that both intra-individual and inter-individual variation characterized MJDs as we identified five latent profiles of MJDs. The most harmful profile, which predicted the most negative outcomes (particularly job burnout), was characterized by employees’ scoring high on all MJDs. A profile characterized by low learning demands and moderate level of other MJDs was also a harmful combination in terms of outcomes. In contrast, a profile characterized by moderate level of learning demands and low level of other MJDs did not relate to negative outcomes. Altogether, the findings suggest that different MJDs may co-occur implying risks to employee well-being and performance. However, MJDs simultaneously form a complex spectrum that may differ within and between individuals.
This study examined young adults’ perspectives on the concept of the sacred. Altogether, 334 young Finnish adults aged 19–35 were studied through a self-report questionnaire. The participants’ personal conceptions, reflections and experiences of the sacred were assessed with open-ended questions. Answers were classified in a data-determined content analysis using a thematic analytical approach. In addition, the study examined how these understandings of the sacred were related to subjective religiosity and how the definitions vary across gender. The findings suggest that the conceptions of the sacred mainly concentrate on individuality and personal issues, including personal opinion, rest and peace, but also close social relationships and the church as an institution. By differentiating the conceptions of the sacred, this study reflects cultural interpretations of what the sacred means and integrates the concept in the theory of young adulthood as a life course phase and in the sociology of youth.
Tutkimuksessa selvitettiin, millaisia työn intensifikaation eli työn kiihtymisen profiileja voidaan tunnistaa johtajilla ja miten eri profiilien johtajat eroavat toisistaan työhyvinvoinnin ja työnkuvan vaihtoajatusten suhteen. Kyselytutkimuksen otos poimittiin Professoriliiton, Tieteentekijöiden liiton, Suomen Ekonomien ja Tekniikan Akateemisten jäsenrekistereistä. Tutkituista johtajista (N=705) yli puolet (56 %) oli miehiä. Löysimme K-keskiarvojen klusterianalyysin avulla viisi profiilia: 1) Riskiprofiili (voimakas työn intensifikaatio, 31 %), 2) suotuisa profiili (työn- ja urasuunnittelun vaatimukset lisääntyneet kohtuullisesti, 19 %), 3) haitta- ja haastestressoriprofiili (työtahti ja tieto- ja taitovaatimukset lisääntyneet, 20 %), 4) alhainen profiili (vähäinen työn intensifikaatio, 22 %) ja 5) haasteeton profiili (ei työn intensifikaatiota, 8 %). Riskiprofiilin sekä haitta- ja haastestressoriprofiilin johtajat raportoivat eniten työuupumusta. Haitta- ja haastestressoriprofiilin johtajilla oli eniten toiveita päästä vähemmän vaativiin johtotehtäviin. Suotuisan profiilin johtajilla oli paljon työn imua ja vähän työnkuvan vaihtoajatuksia. Yhteenvetona voidaan todeta, että puolet johtajista kuului työn intensifikaation suhteen vaativiin ryhmiin (1 ja 3), joissa ilmeni muita ryhmiä enemmän työuupumusta sekä toiveita vähemmän vaativista johtotehtävistä.
Background: In the Need-Adapted approach (NAA) therapy meetings are a deliberate effort to bring all meaningful parties and views to a common discussion prior to decisions; this constitutes a challenge for psychiatrists’ agency. Aims: To describe how psychiatrists see their agency in NAA. Methods: Using videos of co-research interviews, stimulated-recall interviews of 10 interviewees were conducted and transcribed verbatim. The material was analyzed via an adapted dialogical-narrative analytical method. Results: Institutional forces were experienced as having an enormous impact on psychiatrists’ agency, especially in the inpatient setting, reducing professional creativity. In the outpatient setting, psychiatrists who also attended hospital care were the most able to follow the principles of NAA. Those who only took part in outpatient treatment tended to adopt the position of medical consultants. Conclusions: The ability of psychiatrists to have agency in the language used with the clients is an underrated issue. The interview methods used in the research could be utilized in practice.
Few studies have explored the disclosure of child physical abuse although child sexual abuse disclosure has been widely studied and debated for years. The present study explores the characteristics of child physical abuse disclosures and compares them to previously published findings on child sexual abuse disclosure from the same data. The data consist of a representative sample of 11,364 sixth and ninth graders. Participants responded to a wide variety of questions concerning experiences of violence, including child physical abuse and child sexual abuse, in the Finnish Child Victim Survey conducted in 2013. Within this sample, the prevalence of child physical abuse was 4.1%. Children reporting abuse experiences also responded to questions regarding disclosure, reactions encountered during disclosure, and potential reasons for nondisclosure. Findings show that most of the children who disclosed physical violence had disclosed to their mother. The overall disclosure rate of child physical abuse was 74%. However, only 42% had disclosed to adults, and even fewer had reported their experiences to authorities (12%). The most common reason for nondisclosure was that the youth did not consider the experience sufficiently serious to report (53%). These findings were largely in line with the child sexual abuse disclosure rates in our previous study. Analyses of variables associated with disclosing to an adult indicate that the strongest factors predicting disclosure to an adult are younger age, female gender, no previous experiences of child physical abuse, and parents knowing who their child spends her or his spare time with. Implications for further research and practice are discussed.
Cognitive assessment in natural group settings facilitates data collection but poses threats to the validity. In this study, tablet‐based working memory (WM) tasks, the counting span, and reading span were used in predicting 12‐year‐old children's (N = 837) scholastic skills and fluid intelligence in a classroom with environmental noise. WM tasks had excellent internal consistency, correlated with scholastic skills, and accounted for more of the variance in cognitive performance (grade point average, fluid intelligence, scholastic skills) compared with individually administered (n = 190) digit span task. Furthermore, the multilevel analysis revealed that compared with the classrooms with no noise, when naturally occurring speech or nonspeech types of environmental noises were present during assessment, WM scores or the reliability estimates were not lower. In contrast, when both types of noises were present, the relationships between some of the WM and achievement scores were even stronger. Thus, assessments in natural classroom contexts may promote revealing the individual differences in WM.
Yksilön asenteet eivät ole satunnaiset. Sen sijaan ihmiset omaksuvat tiettyjä asennekokonaisuuksia – poliittisia ideologioita, joita eri sosiaaliset ryhmät ylläpitävät. Esimerkiksi maahanmuuton kannatus tai vastustus tuo useimmiten mukanaan tukun muita asenteita sosiaali-, talous- ja turvallisuuspolitiikasta. Tavanomainen muuttujakeskeinen lähestymistapa asenteisiin ei kuitenkaan tavoita tätä. Tässä tutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin nuorten aikuisten (N=744, ikä 18-29, M = 24,65) poliittisia asenteita henkilösuuntautuneesta näkökulmasta, toisin sanoen mitä latentteja ryhmiä (vrt. ideologioita) asenteista muodostuu ja miten vastaajat siirtyvät niiden välillä pitkittäisseurannassa. Asenteet maahanmuutosta, sosiaalietuuksista, tuloeroista, ympäristön huomioimisesta ja puolustusvoimien vahvuudesta muodostivat neljä asenneprofiilia: (1) vihervasemmistolaiset, (2) markkinaliberaalit, (3) populistit ja (4) oikeistokonservatiivit. Naiset ja miehet sijoittuivat odotetusti epätasaisesti eri profiileihin. Odotusten vastaisesti tosin, kaikkein parhaiten toimeentulevat, terveimmät ja keskiverto-koulutustason omaavat suhtautuivat kaikkein kielteisimmin maahanmuuttoon. Asenneprofiilien välillä ei tapahtunut merkittäviä siirtymiä yhdeksän kuukauden seurantajakson aikana. Tulokset kyseenalaistavat julkisuudessa ylläpidettyjä mielikuvia mm. enemmistön maltillisuudesta maahanmuttokysymyksissä, Perussuomalaisista kansan syvien rivien puolueena sekä yhteydestä syrjäytyneisyyden ja maahanmuuttovastaisuuden välillä.
Aim To study the psychometric properties, reliability, and validity of the FinDiab quality of life questionnaire (FDQL), a strength‐oriented quality of life (QOL) questionnaire for children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes (T1D). Methods Participants were 215 youths with T1D (aged 10–17 years). They completed FDQL and comparison questionnaires (KINDL‐R and SDQ). Demographic and disease measures were collected from the participants’ medical records. The questionnaire’s psychometric properties were investigated. Construct validity was studied through principal component analysis using Promax rotation, reliability with alphas, and criterion and convergent validity with correlations between sum scale, subscales, demographic and disease factors, and comparison measures. Results FDQL demonstrated an adequate range of measurement and feasibility. The four‐factor solution was found to be optimal, resulting in the subscales of flexibility with diabetes, well‐being, social relations, and health behavior. The sum scale correlated significantly with glycemic control and the psychosocial and QOL comparison measures. Construct, criterion, and convergent validity of the subscales were also good. Children under 14 years of age reported better QOL than older adolescents. Conclusion FDQL is a practical QOL assessment method focusing on strengths. The questionnaire has good validity and reliability and is easy to use as a clinical tool.
Our purpose was to study the frequency of behavioral-emotional problems among children identified with a learning disability (LD). The data comprised 579 Finnish children (8–15 years) with reading disability (RD-only), math disability (MD-only), or both (RDMD) assessed at a specialized clinic between 1985 and 2017. We analyzed percentages of children with behavioral-emotional symptoms reaching clinical range (i.e., z score ≥1.5 SDs) and the effects of the LD type, gender, and context (home vs. school) on them. Furthermore, we analyzed the effect of the severity of LD and gender on the amount of behavioral-emotional symptoms reported by teachers and parents. Alarmingly high percentages of children, irrespective of LD type, demonstrated behavioral-emotional problems: more than 37% in Affective, Anxiety, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) problems. Contextual variation was large, as more problems were reported by teachers than by mothers. The unique effects of gender and LD type were rare, but the results raised concern for those with MD-only, especially boys. The results underscore the need to draw attention to the importance of assessing children with LD for behavioral-emotional problems and emphasize the importance of teachers’ awareness of behavioral-emotional problems among students with LD and cooperation among child, teacher, and parents in assessment and support planning.
Background Working memory, as a complex system, consists of two independent components: manipulation and maintenance process, which are defined as executive control and storage process. Previous studies mainly focused on the overall effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on working memory. However, little has been known about the segregative effects of tDCS on the sub-processes within working memory. Method Transcranial direct current stimulation, as one of the non-invasive brain stimulation techniques, is being widely used to modulate the cortical activation of local brain areas. This study modified a spatial n-back experiment with anodal and cathodal tDCS exertion on the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), aiming to investigate the effects of tDCS on the two sub-processes of working memory: manipulation (updating) and maintenance. Meanwhile, considering the separability of tDCS effects, we further reconfirmed the causal relationship between the right DLPFC and the sub-processes of working memory with different tDCS conditions. Results The present study showed that cathodal tDCS on the right DLPFC selectively improved the performance of the modified 2-back task in the difficult condition, whereas anodal tDCS significantly reduced the performance of subjects and showed an speeding-up tendency of response time. More precisely, the results of discriminability index and criterion showed that only cathodal tDCS enhanced the performance of maintenance in the difficult condition. Neither of the two tDCS conditions affected the performance of manipulation (updating). Conclusion These findings provide evidence that cathodal tDCS of the right DLPFC selectively affects maintenance capacity. Besides, cathodal tDCS also serves as an interference suppressor to reduce the irrelevant interference, thereby indirectly improving the working memory capacity. Moreover, the right DLPFC is not the unique brain regions for working memory manipulation (updating).
Depression is associated with bias in emotional information processing, but less is known about the processing of neutral sensory stimuli. Of particular interest is processing of sound intensity which is suggested to indicate central serotonergic function. We tested weather event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to occasional changes in sound intensity can dissociate first-episode depressed, recurrent depressed and healthy control participants. The first-episode depressed showed larger N1 amplitude to deviant sounds compared to recurrent depression group and control participants. In addition, both depression groups, but not the control group, showed larger N1 amplitude to deviant than standard sounds. Whether these manifestations of sensory over-excitability in depression are directly related to the serotonergic neurotransmission requires further research. The method based on ERPs to sound intensity change is fast and low-cost way to objectively measure brain activation and holds promise as a future diagnostic tool.