Browsing by Subject "minäkäsitys"

Aims. The aim of my research was to study the use of social media of 15–17 year old Finnish teenagers and what effects social media has on them. Earlier studies have shown that an average Finnish teenager uses social media approximately 15 hours during a week. It has also been studied that the social media has an effect on self-esteem. I chose social media and it’s effects on teenagers as my research subject because as a phenomenom the social media is rather young, which is why there has not been done many Finnish studies focusing on the teenagers’ social media use. My research assignment is to find out what kind of social media users teenagers are and what kind of effects social media has on their self experiences. Methods. The study was qualitative and 45 teenagers from age 15 to 17 participated in it. The data was collected with an internet questionnaire which was shared through social media, and it contained mainly open questions. The data was analysed by using qualitative data-based content analysis. Results and conclusions. Most of the teenagers used social media 3–4 hours daily or more. It was used for entertainment, for finding information, communication, current affairs, sharing one’s own life experiences and for finding inspiration, among other things. Almost half of the teenagers were bullied over social media. Appearance was also essential in the social media. Social media created ideals for appearance for teenagers and set them under critique, gave them false image of reality and made the teenagers look for the acceptance through outlooks. 31 of them had gotten positive comments on their appearance from social media and 13 had gotten negative comments. Those comments had an impact on the teenagers’ self-esteem, mood and feelings. Teenagers had also objects of identification and admiration in social media, such as videobloggers, artists, models and their own friends, and they were influenced by them. They felt that social media had many positive and negative effects on their lives. Positive effects were the rise of self-esteem, being more brave in expressing one’s own opinion, the possibilities of keeping in touch with other people and being the source of inspiration, motivation and information, among other things. The negative effects were the social media taking too much time and creating pressure, its bad effect on physical condition and sleep, distortion of self-image, the mean people and the need to be always within reach, among other things. The results of this study implicate that the social media has a comprehensive effect on the lives of the teenagers and their self experiences.

The aim of this study is to find out how much teachers’ and parents’ perceptions of student affect the students’ mathematical and verbal self-concept. The study examines how parents’ and teachers’ perceptions differ and how much impact students support for learning has. In addition to teachers’ and parents’ perceptions the study also takes into account students’ actual performance in math and reading, to see their effect on students’ self-concepts. Self-concept refers to all concepts that one has about oneself as a subject and an object. Because of self- concepts multidimensionality, this study examines verbal self-concept and math self-concept separately. The participants of this study are 1247 sixth graders from Finland, their parents and teachers. Measures in this study were teachers’ and parents’ perceptions of student as a learner, students self-concepts from math and reading, the support that student had for learning, and the actual achievement in math and reading. The methods used in this study are paired sample t-test, linear regression and multivariate. The results showed that parents had more positive perceptions about their child than teachers had, and child’s support had negative impact on both adults’ perceptions. Teachers’ and parents’ perceptions had an impact both on child’s math self-concept and verbal self-concept, when child’s actual achievement was taken in consideration. However, adding the other academic self-concept both in math and verbal removed adults’ perceptions impact in regression analysis. When multivariate analysis was used mathematical self-concept, actual achievement in reading, parents’ perception and intensified support had an effect on child’s verbal self-concept. Special support and teachers’ perception had no effect. In multivariate analysis about math self-concept all but intensified support had an effect. In conclusion, this study proved that parents’ and teachers’ perceptions have an effect both on students’ math and verbal self-concept although students themselves have the biggest impact. Also, unlike other studies, this study found positive correlation between verbal and math self-concept.

The emotional instability and the risk of being socially excluded are growing all the time among the children and young people. The chances of physical activities improving the quality of life is an interesting and current study, as for a human being the physical activities play a big role in one's psychological well-being, and there is a good chance to prevent children's and young people's social exclusion with sports. This study was purposed to find out what kind of children take part to Helsinki's EasySport -easy access sport clubs. The study is supposed to find out if the EasySport -action is reaching the right children, which are in threat of being socially excluded or are the participating children mainly already having experience in sport clubs and sport as a hobby. I am also analyzing if participating a sport club is improving child's social interaction or if it's bringing more friendships. I also think it's very important to know the children's opinion about how this easy access action differs from a traditional sport club action and physical education at school. The study's theoretical frame of reference forms from the social exclusion and it's prevention as well as the affection of sports in psychological and social development of a person. The sport club action and physical education in relation to easy access sports are also handled in the theory part. The research questions were: What kind of children are participating the EasySport-clubs? Is the EasySport-action reaching the right children to support the prevention of the social exclusion? How do the EasySport-clubs differ from the traditional sport club action? What makes the EasySport an easy access action? Are the EasySport-clubs encouraging children's social development? The target of the research was, therefore, the children participating the Easy Sport -ball clubs. The study was carried out in form interview by visiting eight Easy Sport -ball clubs. A total of 71 children from age 7 to 13 responded to the survey. The study was conducted as a qualitative case study and the data was analyzed using content analysis. Based on the study it became clear that the children participating the EasySport-clubs are mainly boys with immigrant background. The activity supports the integration of immigrants, which is part of the prevention of the exclusion. Ball clubs also develops children's communication skills and the regular participation in the club can improve the children's quality of life and ignite the enthusiasm of exercise. The results of the operation can also be seen as contributing to children's social development and friendships. The children participating the Easy Sport -ball clubs experience the activity meaningful and different from the school sports or sport club activity, because the children have the opportunity to decide what the program includes and the activities are considered more free.

Objectives. There has been a wide range of international studies of self-esteem between students in regular classes and special classes. However, research has yielded conflicting results. Some studies report lower self-esteem levels among students in special classes, while others note no differences. Throughout the history of research on self-esteem, there have been concerns that the concept was poorly defined and there were a large number of self-esteem instruments poorly correlating with one another. The purpose of this study is to compare the self-esteem of students in special classes and in regular classes in four secondary schools in grades 7 through 9 in the city of Espoo. Along with the global self-esteem also academic, social and physical domains of self-esteem are studied. The difference in self-esteem between the students with and without special educational needs in regular classes is also studied and compared with the students in special classes. The difference in self-esteem between the genders and the grade levels is compared and the equivalence of the two self-esteem measures is analysed. Methods. The data was collected between November 2018 and February 2019 in four secondary schools in Espoo. Self-esteem was assessed with two different self-esteem measures, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem scale (RSE) and the State Self-Esteem scale (SSES) among 148 students. The participants included 97 students in regular classes and 51 students in special classes. 17 students in regular classes had special education needs. All the students in special education classes were classified as having learning disabilities. Results and Conclusions. Results indicate that there is no difference in general self-esteem between students in regular and special classes. No difference was found with either selfesteem measures. Neither was there any difference in self-esteem between the students in special classes, the students with special education needs (SEN) in regular classes and the students without special education needs (non-SEN) in regular classes. However, the students in special classes had higher global self-esteem (RSE) in the 9th grade than the students in regular classes. Differences in domain-specific self-esteem were also found. Both the students in special classes and the SEN students in regular classes scored higher in social domain of self-esteem than the non-SEN students in regular classes. The SEN students in regular classes also scored higher than the other two groups in physical domain of self-esteem. The difference in self-esteem between genders was obvious and statistically significant: the boys had higher self-esteem scores than girls with both scales. However, as different grades were compared, the only statistically significant difference between genders was found with the seventh-graders. The correlation of the two self-esteem measures was high and statistically significant.

Goals. The purpose of this research is to find out the social skills of student in special education in primary school. The starting point of the study was to understand the importance of student's social skills in primary school, as well as to find out situations that cause negative interactions. Understanding the situations and meanings will help teachers to perform better in the emergence of conflicts, and to support behaviorally challenging pupils of his growing up. Methods. The study was conducted as a case study. The study was the case of Ursula in fourth-class. Ursula's social skills aimed to find out by observing and informative discussions. Official documents relating to Ursula was used mainly for background information. The study wanted to find out other students views about Ursula with class diaries , the children of etnographic method utilizing. The study was based on the functional and ecological model in which the inclusive approach is essential. Functional and ecological evaluation serve as a good basis for the observation and analysis making payments. Positive thinking and positive support for the student's worked at the main thread of research. Results and conclusions. The results showed the student's self-esteem and self-perception was a major factor behind specific student's social skills expertise. Also, the teacher's role in supporting the student's social skills and self-perception was emphasized. The student in primary school is still with the social skills in trainee level, but this level has each student very unique. Observing the individuality, equality and open interest to students are the keys for a good student – teacher relationship of trust formation. This in turn supports the behavior and social skills in school.

My Master's thesis is a qualitative study, the purpose of which is to find out how teachers working in pre-primary and in the early stages of basic education the importance of self-esteem and how they recognise the differences between healthy and weak self-esteem in children. I will also try to find out what methods are they using to support the development of children's healthy self-esteem and what they perceive as potentially damaging factors for children's self-esteem in the learning environment in both pre-primary and early- elementary education. I want answers to these questions because self-esteem has a significant impact on a child's development and life. I collected research data from seven teachers who work in different preschools and early-elementary schools. By Early-elementary school I mean the first and second grade of elementary school. The research material was collected using thematic interviews. The interviews were conducted during October and November 2022. I analysed my research data using the phenomenographic method of analysis. The research shows that all interviewed teachers were aware of the basics of self-esteem formation. They were able to distinguish between healthy and poor self-esteem based on children's behaviour and felt that supporting healthy self-esteem was an important part of their daily work. According to the interviewed teachers, healthy self-esteem promotes among other things a better future for children and affects learning and motivation. The teachers felt that strength-based teaching, positive interaction and creating a safe environment are the best ways to promote children's self-esteem. They also emphasized the importance of professional support and cooperation because it enables providing the necessary help to children, which also increases the teachers' own competence and well-being at work. Although supporting healthy self-esteem is important, challenges related to working conditions and the teacher's own problems can prevent teachers from supporting each child in a way that would promote the development of children's healthy self-esteem. Every teacher interviewed cited a negative atmosphere as a barrier to children's self-esteem development. In addition, challenges faced by teachers that have a negative impact on professionalism, such as fatigue and teachers' personal problems, were perceived to have a negative impact on children's self-esteem. Lack of resources, time pressure on teachers, and neglecting children's challenges were also identified as significant problems.

Objectives. The underlying and starting point of this thesis is the idea of the importance, appreciation and self-esteem of girls. The study's research task is to make the girls' perception of themselves visible in the contexts of the school, Icehearts afternoon activities and art projects. The focus is on girls' own selves, but also on the girls' perception of themselves as girls, what is it like to be a girl in everyday social communities. The theoretical background of the study deals with peer relationships, gender and peer relationships, self, self-esteem, art-based working methods in research and in work with children and young people. The study also includes girls and girls' history, as well as gender roles, especially in school. Methods. Six fifth-grade girls from the Icehearts girls' team, founded in Vantaa, participated in the study. The study went together with the art project with the girls. The research material was collected through observations, survey forms and group interviews. The written material has been interpreted as narratives. Some of the answers are also shown in the graphs, and the results of the group interviews in the form of a mind map. Results and Conclusions. Narrative research does not aim at objective or generalizable knowledge, but it aims to produce local, subjective and personal information. Girls' evaluations of themselves are presented separately for each girl in their own chapters. Based on girls' replies, friends and Icehearts appeared to be important to them. The way the contexts of this research, school, Icehearts and art project, effect on the girls' selfs cannot be precisely specified. According to studies, the self is still changing during adolescence. This can be seen also in this study: selfs turned out to be variable and contextual.Girls' perceptions of themselves as girls are put together in mind maps. The girls in this study made a clear distinction between girls' and boys' behavior, "being". The traditional roles of a boy and a girl were present at least on one level. Being a girl was, however, seen very positively. The girls didn't think being a girl would cause limitations in their future lives.

Anorexia nervosa is a severe and chronic mental disorder with high relapse and mortality rate. It still has relatively poor prognosis and the rates of recovery vary a lot largely depending on the way recovery is defined and specific criteria used. Studies show that recovery of anorexia nervosa is composed of changes in different areas of life and in this review I study physical, psychological, behavioral, social and functional components of recovery. I also study different definitions of recovery and how these definitions and emphasis on certain components affect treatment and research. Physical and behavioral symptoms of anorexia nervosa are clearly observable and considering this fact, it is interesting to know how psychological factors receive attention in treatment process. Within the eating disorder literature most studies focus on weight gain and improvement in eating disorder symptomatology. And in treatment those areas are the first priority. Because of life-threatening nature of the illness and the positive effect of early treatment response on prognosis this emphasis is most important. However, considering the high relapse rate of anorexia nervosa, physical condition and behavioral changes do not indicate complete recovery and other components should also be included in the definition of recovery and paid attention to in treatment. Besides, there is evidence that certain mental changes and insight into the illness allow for recovery in other components. And although physical factors are usually stressed, anorexia nervosa can alternatively be seen as a disorder of impaired identity development and disturbed sense of self. Assessment of psychological changes is challenging and information is usually derived from qualitative studies and patient’s own experiences. While qualitative approach usually is more time consuming, the detailed information they provide could be used to enrich data of empiricist methods. Nowadays, there is a lot of knowledge about risk and predisposing factors of anorexia nervosa, but limiting understanding of mechanisms of change and recovery. In order to develop more effective treatment in the future, understanding of key processes of recovery should be increased and at the same time in treatment, all components of recovery should be taken in to consideration to achieve full recovery.

Aims. The aim of this study was to research the factors affecting self-concept in the first years of elementary school. The hypothesis behind the study was that the most influential factors behind a child's self-concept are parents' attitude towards school, support from teachers and difficulties in learning. The development of an academic self-concept in the first years of elementary school is crucial for the entire academic career and life. This is why the importance of the development of a pupil´s self-concept is mentioned in the aims of both the general curriculum and also in individual subject curriculum. In Finland, not a lot of research has been done to clarify the factors affecting the development of self-concept. The aim of this study was to summarize the existing research on the matter and to evaluate it in the form of a literal review. Methods. The method used in this research was a systematic literal review. Altogether ten studies that were done between 2010 and 2017 affiliating the subject was found using the most common databases of the library of the university of Helsinki. The studies that were found were systematically collected and also analysed in descriptive manner. Results and conclusions. The results of this research were in favour of the hypothesis since the themes, such as parents attitude towards school, teachers support and difficulties in learning, were constantly highlighted in the results. In addition, the themes affecting the development of self-concept such as the child´s gender, temperament and communication skills, were substantial. The purpose of this study was to give elementary school teachers tools to recognize the factors supporting and harming the development of self-concept. In the future, it is my plan to continue this research via a qualitative interview study which aims to investigate the factors affecting academic self-concept.

Tämän kirjallisuuskatsauksen tavoitteena oli selvittää miten lukivaikeus vaikuttaa minäkäsityksen muodostumiseen. Aihe on tärkeä, koska luku- ja kirjoitustaito ovat keskeisimpiä koulussa opeteltavia taitoja, joilla on kouluttautumisen sekä työllistymisen kannalta merkittävä rooli, joten niissä suoriutuminen myöskin vaikuttaa merkittävästi oppilaan minäkäsitykseen. Minäkäsityksellä on yhteys oppilaan koulumenestykseen. Positiivinen minäkäsitys vaikuttaa myönteisesti minäpystyvyysuskomuksiin ja itsetuntoon. Negatiivisemman minäkäsityksen omaavat yksilöt ovat taipuvaisempia vetäytymään sosiaalisista tilanteista sekä keskittymään omiin heikkouksiinsa. Tämän kirjallisuuskatsauksen tavoitteena oli selvittää miten lukivaikeuksisten oppilaiden yleinen ja akateeminen minäkäsitys muodostuu sekä miten keskeiset vuorovaikutussuhteet vaikuttavat minäkäsityksen muodostumiseen. Tämä tutkielma toteutettiin kuvailevana kirjallisuuskatsauksena. Aineistoksi löytyi englannin-kielistä kirjallisuutta Euroopasta, suomenkielistä kirjallisuutta ei ollut saatavilla. Kirjallisuus, joka tutkielmaan valikoitui, käsittelee minäkäsityksen ja lukivaikeuden yhteyttä. Tutkielmaan sisällytettiin myös kirjallisuutta, jossa käsitellään yleisesti oppimisvaikeuksia ja niiden vaikutusta minäkäsitykseen, sillä niiden tulokset ovat linjassa lukivaikeutta käsittelevien tutkimus-ten kanssa. Tutkimukset olivat varsin yksimielisiä siitä, että lukivaikeuksisilla oppilailla on mitatusti alhaisempi akateeminen minäkäsitys. Yhtä selviä tuloksia ei ollut liittyen yleiseen minäkäsitykseen, vaikka enemmistö tutkimuksia osoittaa, ettei lukivaikeuksisilla oppilailla ole mitatusti alhaisempi yleinen minäkäsitys, osassa tutkimuksia päädyttiin eriäviin tuloksiin. Tutkimukset osoittivat, että iso osa lukivaikeuksisista oppilaista kohtaa negatiivisia asenteita vuorovaikutussuhteissaan liittyen heidän lukivaikeuteensa sekä kykyihin akateemisilla osa-alueilla. Opettajien ja vanhempien tuella ja ymmärryksellä havaittiin olevan merkittävä vaikutus positiivisen minäkäsityksen muodostumisen tukemisessa. Jotta lukivaikeuksisten oppilaiden tuki olisi mahdollisimman kokonaisvaltaista, täytyy oppilaiden positiivisen minäkäsityksen muodostumiseen panostaa.