Browsing by Subject "pitkittäistutkimus"

Introduction: Abundant proportion of added sugar in the diet of children predisposes to overweight and impairs the overall quality of the diet. In particular, the consumption of sugar-sweetened soft drinks has been linked to the increased incidence of overweight and obesity in children and more recently to the increased incidence of fatty liver. However, with respect to consumption of other foods rich in added sugar the research data is insufficient. As the growing number of population is becoming overweight/obese the prevalence of fatty liver is increasing in children as well, and it is important to find out the significance of added sugar intake in childhood with respect to the risk of fatty liver in adulthood. Objective: The objective of this study is to determine the main sources and consumption of added sugar in the diets of 3-18 year-old children and to examine the stability of the consumption from childhood to adulthood. In addition, the objective is to examine the association between the consumption of foods containing added sugar and the risk of fatty liver in the longitudinal setting. Materials and methods: The data used in this thesis is based on the ongoing Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns study collected during 1980-2011. The study population is comprised of the diet records of 3597 3-18 year-old children and adolescents participated in 1980. In addition, liver ultrasound was performed in 2011 for determining fatty liver prevalence. Indicator foods which best explain the variation in the intake of added sugar were determined by linear regression analysis and converted into monthly portions. The stability of sugar intake was studied by dividing the data into quarters and examining the proportion of people staying in the same group. The long-term average use of indicator foods was compared in the fatty liver classes with T-test, which illustrates the cumulative intake of added sugar and its possible link to the risk of fatty liver. In addition, the probability of fatty liver with respect to the consumption categories of indicator foods was analysed with logistic regression analysis. Finally, the relation of each indicator foods and total energy intake was examined with trend analysis. Results: In this thesis, the indicator foods selected were sweets, ice cream, soft drinks, yogurt and sweet bakery products. In all the study years, the use of these foods explained the variation in the intake of added sugar from one third to three quarters. There were also clear stability (tracking) observed in the use of these foods. However, the long-term use of these foods was not connected to the risk of fatty liver in a cumulative manner. The average number of portions per month in healthy subjects was 44.6 (SD 16.9) and in fatty liver patients 43.1 (SD 17.4), and the difference between groups was not statistically significant (p 0.133). However, individually examined the use of soft drinks significantly increased the probability of fatty liver (OR 2.24 [95% CI 1.45–3,44]) when compared the group using the most soft drinks with the group using the least. In contrast, consumption of sweets during some years was connected with a lower probability of fatty liver (OR 0.57 [95% CI 0.34–0,97]). Furthermore, based on trend analysis the total energy intake increased by the consumption of soft drink quartiles (p <0.0001), which was not seen with other indicator foods. Conclusion: There was clear stability in the use of the indicator foods in this Master's Thesis during the 27 year study period. Those subjects who 1980 ate the most sugar containing foods, did so at a later stage in their lives. However, the use was not related in the risk of fatty liver in a cumulative manner. However, the consumption of sugar-sweetened soft drinks in adulthood increased the risk of fatty liver significantly. A similar relationship was not observed with the intake of soft drinks in childhood, sweets, ice cream, sweet bakery products or yogurt. The reason for this most likely lies in the total energy intake, because the more the subjects drank sugar-sweetened soft drinks, the greater was their energy intake.

Previous studies have implied that math anxiety has negative impact on people's future. The purpose of this study, was to examine which factors explain and predict math anxiety. This study investigates factors which have arisen from previous studies and literature. It has been submitted that math attitudes, parents' attitudes, math skills, gender, hereditary factors, teaching methods and class atmosphere have an effect on math anxiety. The data used in this study, was collected by the Finnish National Agency for Education in 2008–2012 from Finnish students in sixth and ninth grade. The data was received from the Finnish Education Evaluation Centre. In the sixth grade analysis, multiple regression was utilised. Multilevel modelling was used on the ninth grade analysis. The longitudinal analysis from sixth to ninth grade was analysed by multiple regression. For all the analyses, regression models were fitted. Factors which were examined on sixth grade, were math attitudes, math skills and gender. On ninth grade the factors were all the previous, and parents' attitudes, teaching methods and study atmosphere in class. In the longitudinal analysis math anxiety on sixth grade was examined in addition to the sixth grade factors mentioned before. Sixth grade math anxiety was explained by self-efficacy, liking math, seeing math useful, math skills and gender. Ninth grade math anxiety was explained by self-efficacy, liking math, study atmosphere in class and gender. Sixth grade math anxiety, self-efficacy and liking math predict-ed the amount of math anxiety on ninth grade for both, girls and boys. Study groups differed only marginally from each other on math anxiety on sixth grade. On ninth grade they differed a bit more, but still the group explained only a little of the variance on math anxiety. Girls endure more math anxiety than boys on both grades. The most powerful explanatory factor of math anxiety is self-efficacy. Previous math anxiety is the prime predictive factor of math anxiety.

Objectives: High well-being is associated with good social relationships and social support, successful work performance and better health. During last decades, research has concentrated on examining which psychological factors are associated with hedonic well-being. Aggression could be potential trait affecting well-being: aggression develops early, it is relatively stable and is related to wide range of psychosocial problems over life course. The aim of this study is to examine whether aggressive behavior in adolescence and in adulthood is associated with hedonic well-being in adulthood. Hypothesis is that higher aggression in adolescence and in adulthood is associated with lower hedonic well-being in adulthood. Methods: Data used in this study is part of longitudinal Pohjanmaa study, which investigates the development of social behavior. The sample of this study included 685 adults (mean age 38 years). Data was collected between years 1990-1991 and 2013-2014. During adolescence, aggressive behavior was assessed both by teacher and as a self-report. Aggression in adulthood was assessed by BAQ, short from of Buss and Perry's aggression questionnaire. Well-being was assessed by measuring hedonic well-being, which includes three components: life satisfaction, positive affect and negative affect. Scales used to measure hedonic well-being were the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) and brief form of the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS-S). Gender and age were only control variables in this setting. Results and conclusions: Higher aggression in adulthood was associated with lower hedonic well-being in adulthood. Contrary to this, and against prior expectations, aggression in adolescence was found to predict higher hedonic well-being in adulthood. It was also found that only two components of aggression, hostility and anger, were associated with lower hedonic well-being. Current results suggest that whereas cognitive and emotional components of aggression are associated with lower well-being, aggressive behavior includes also components that predict higher levels of well-being.

Teachers’ job description changes along with the society, which creates pressure to update teacher knowledge and teaching. Indeed, teachership is a process that requires lifelong learning and not only systematic in-service training but also an understanding of teachers’ professional life cycles and meaningful learning. The purpose of this thesis was to survey the connection of in-service training in mathematics and work experience to the meaningful learning and teaching development of class teachers. The theoretical framework was based on models for teachers’ professional life cycles by Huberman, Leithwood, Lähteenmäki and Järvinen and theories of meaningful learning by Ausubel, Jonassen and Ruokamo and Pohjolainen. The aim was to increase the understanding of in-service training of teachers at different stages of their career cycles and to highlight the challenges associated with those cycles. Thus, this thesis seeks to support the need of the development- and evaluation work of educational continuum which became a topical issue at the beginning of the 21st century and has only become more and more relevant ever since. The data of this multi-method longitudinal study was gathered through surveys completed by classroom teachers who participated in the LUMATIKKA in-service training of mathematics teaching and learning in 2019 or 2020. Quantitative data, which measured meaningful learning consisted of preliminary and final surveys of classroom teachers (N=77). The connection of meaningful learning areas, formed on the basis of principal component analysis, and work experience was examined by using the Kruskal Wallis analysis of variance. The qualitative data, on the other hand, consisted of teachers’ open-ended responses (N=107) to the final survey’s questions on how they thought the in-service training experiences would influence teaching. Open-ended responses were analysed by means of content analysis and qualitative description. According to the results, the class teachers who completed the in-service training courses had the prior competence and expectations that supported learning well and learning during the courses was also found to be very meaningful. The most meaningful sections were the ones concretely related to the needs of working life, transfer of learning and the teaching of mathematics, although the training succeeded also in strengthening intentional learning. Experiences of reflectivity and cooperation, on the other hand, were slightly more moderately positive. Respondents’ work experience had a connection to their answers regarding learning, as teachers in the middle of their career cycles found their learning slightly less meaningful than teachers at the beginning or end of their career. Participants believed that their updated pedagogical con-tent, in particular, would change their own teaching. In addition, many of those more experienced than novice teachers pointed out the increase of specialized content knowledge, which is considered essential for teachers. Most teachers did not see obstacles to changing their teaching, although some novices regarded time as a problem. In the light of research, well-organized in-service training can be a very meaningful supporter of lifelong learning and a developer of teaching. However, the characteristics of various stages of career cycles and their typical challenges should be taken into consideration as an important factor in order to ensure the continuity of training for all teachers.

Goals: The Categorical definition of mental health disorders has been proven problematic. The Scientific endeavour to understand mental health disorders from categorical point of view and to develop better treatment accordingly has not reached its goals despite decades of study. Transdiagnostic psychopathology and especially dimensional models have been suggested to overcome these problems. The researchers who have suggested dimensional models define mental health disorders as manifestations of relatively few core underlying psychological constructs. However critique has been presented that these dimensional models are too simplifying to capture the fluctuating and multifaceted nature of mental health disorders. Consequently another novel conceptualization, namely the network theory of mental health, has been suggested to overcome the problems of dimensional models. From the network point of view psychopathology does not constitute of underlying constructs but instead from the direct causal network of relations between the symptoms. Network methods offer a powerful tool to study multidirectional causal connections between the different facets of mental disorders. But again, network theories have been criticized of not taking into account the thoroughly argued problems of categorical definitions of mental health as most network studies have focused on researching symptoms listed in different diagnostic manuals under categorically defined mental disorders (etc. DSM). The aim of this study is to combine the most functional parts of these two novel fields of study and to attempt to perform a network analysis on a transdiagnostic clinical assessment questionnaire. CORE-5 is used for this purpose, as it is arguably such a questionnaire since it includes items that measure both psychiatric symptoms (anxiety and depression symptoms) but also items of positive mental health (social functioning, psychological functioning and subjective well-being). Methods: The study used a longitudinal and frequently gathered sample that consisted of psychiatric patients. The sample was gathered by assessing the patients who were at a intensive psychiatric day ward clinic in Järvenpää. The sample consisted of 32 patients of whom 59 % (19) were female. The weighted directed networks were formed by using the coefficients created with lagged multilevel regression analysis. The sample was divided between the persisters and remitters by utilizing GAF -questionnaires results. The patients whose scores reflected moderate symptoms or more severe were selected to a group of persisters. Divided like this, the remitters group had 15 patients (47 %). Results and conclusions: The results indicated, that CORE-5 questionnaire's items that measured positive mental health, were in a temporal interaction with the assessed psychiatric symptoms - depression and anxiety. Especially the item of subjective well-being had a central role in a network of mental health. A difference in the role of psychological functioning in the network was noticed between persisters and remitters. These observations support the view that not just psychiatric symptoms but also positive mental health - especially subjective well-being - has a noticable role in psychopathology. This study suggests that in the study of psychological networks, a step towards transdiagnostic point of view should be taken and start taking into account also other variables than psychiatric symptoms. Also this study suggested, that in the definitions of psychopathology in general, the role of positive mental health should be considered as more integral part of mental health disorders.

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää, millaista jäsenyyteen, käytäntöön ja oppiin sitoutumista kaksi vuotta sitten rippikoulun käyneillä nuorilla ilmenee ja miten sitoutuminen on muuttunut rippikoulun jälkeen. Tutkimuksen aineisto on kerätty kansainvälistä pitkittäistä rippikoulututkimusta varten, minkä vuoksi nuorten käsityksiä on mahdollisuus verrata heidän rippikouluaikaisiin käsityksiinsä. Tutkimuksessa sitoutumista tutkitaan Seppo Häkkisen kolmiulotteisen sitoutumisen mallin kautta. Mallissa sitoutuminen jaetaan sitoutumiseksi kirkon oppiin, toimintaan osallistumiseen ja jäsenyyteen. Tutkimuksen kyselyyn vastasi 154 aiemmassa vaiheessa suostumuksensa antanutta nuorta ympäri Suomen. Aineistosta pystyttiin yhdistämään 80 nuoren kasvupolku rippikoulun alusta viimeiseen kyselyyn kaksi vuotta rippikoulun jälkeen. Aineiston vinoutuneisuuden vuoksi tutkimuksen tuloksia ei voida yleistää. Tutkimuksen muuttujille suoritettiin faktorianalyysi Häkkisen mallia mukaillen. Kolmelle ulottuvuudelle, oppi, käytäntö ja jäsenyys, luotiin tämän jälkeen summamuuttujat, joiden pohjalta nuoret jaettiin eri ryhmiin heidän sitoutumisen tyyppinsä perusteella. Nuorten sitoutumisen tyypit luokiteltiin tutkimuksessa neljään ryhmään: 1. Oppiin ja jäsenyyteen sitoutuneet passiivit eli hengelliset, 2. Vain jäsenyyteen sitoutuneet eli kirkkohäitä odottavat, 3. Jokseenkin toimintaan ja jäsenyyteen sitoutuneet eli harrastajat ja 4. Kauttaaltaan sitoutuneet eli seurakuntanuoret. Uskoon sitoutumiseltaan hengelliset ja seurakuntanuoret olivat melko lähellä toisiaan, samoin kuin ”kirkkohäitä odottavat” ja harrastajat. Erot näiden ryhmien välillä löytyivät toimintaan osallistumisesta. Toimintaan mukaan olivat lähteneet seurakuntanuoret ja harrastajat. Toimintaan mukaan lähteneet nuoret olivat opin kannalta samankaltaista sisarryhmäänsä enemmän sitoutuneita kirkon jäsenyyteen. Kirkon jäsenyyden kokivat tärkeimpänä kauttaaltaan sitoutuneet seurakuntanuoret ja vähiten tärkeänä lähinnä kirkkohäiden vuoksi jäseninä pysyvät kirkkohäitä odottavat. Hengelliset nuoret kokivat kirkon jäsenyyden tärkeämmäksi kuin toiminnassa aktiivisemmat harrastajat. Nuorten sitoutumiselle olennaisin tekijä, oli kirkon aatteiden ja toiminnan sopiminen nuoren uskonnolliseen identiteettiin. Nuoruudessa tutkittavien uskonnollinen identiteetti jäsentyi ja nuorten kannat uskosta selkiytyivät.

Objective. Chronic stress is known to be a significant cause of disease incidence. The current study was set out to assess the relationship between innate temperament and vital exhaustion, a consequence of long-term stress. Previous studies have mostly focused on studying vital exhaustion in relation to cardiovascular disease. Among other things, vital exhaustion has been shown to be a precursor of myocardial infarction and has been associated with cardiovascular risk factors. Similarly, temperament traits have been linked to disorders and risk factors related to vital exhaustion. The direct evidence of the relationship between temperament and vital exhaustion is, however, limited. The aim of this study was to determine whether temperament, as defined by Buss and Plomin, predicts vital exhaustion. Methods. The sample consisted of 1132 adults participating in the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns (CRYF) Study. Temperament was measured in 2001 using the EAS temperament inventory. Vital exhaustion was measured in 2001 and in 2007 using the Maastricht Questionnaire. The associations between temperament traits and vital exhaustion were examined by linear regression analyses. All analyses were adjusted for the effect of gender, age, education level and marital status. In additional analyses, vital exhaustion in 2001 was further controlled when predicting vital exhaustion in 2007. Results and conclusions. Higher emotionality and lower sociability predicted higher vital exhaustion over a 6-year time interval. Lower activity also predicted higher vital exhaustion six years later, although it was not associated with vital exhaustion at baseline like the two other traits. As a whole, temperament independently explained very little of the variance in vital exhaustion when vital exhaustion at baseline was taken into account. The results suggest that temperament plays a more important role in explaining the level and stability of vital exhaustion than explaining the increase or decrease in it.

Tavoitteet. Aiemmat tutkimukset vaikeasti ja erittäin vaikeasti kuulovammaisten lasten kielen kehityksestä painottuvat enemmän puheen tuoton kuin puheen ymmärtämisen tutkimiseen. Lisäksi olemassa oleva tutkimus on useimmiten poikittaistutkimuksiin perustuvaa, mikä ei anna samanlaista tietoa puheen ymmärtämisen taitojen kehityksestä kuin pitkittäistutkimuksista saatava tieto. Kuulovammaisten lasten kielellisissä taidoissa on myös todettu olevan paljon yksilöllistä vaihtelua. Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää, miten vaikeasti ja erittäin vaikeasti kuulovammaisten lasten puheen ymmärtäminen kehittyy sekä mitkä tekijät ovat yhteydessä puheen ymmärtämisen ja sitä edeltävien auditiivisten taitojen kehitykseen. Menetelmät. Tutkimusmenetelmänä oli integroiva kirjallisuuskatsaus. Aineistoa haettiin kolmesta eri tietokannasta seuraavilla hakusanoilla: hearing impairment, hearing loss, deaf, hard of hearing, language, comprehension, receptive, understanding, perception, longitudinal ja follow-up. Hakusanojen perusteella hakulausekkeeksi muodostui: (”hearing impairment” OR ”hearing loss” OR deaf OR “hard of hearing”) AND (language) AND (comprehension OR receptive OR understanding OR perception) AND (longitudinal OR follow-up). Tutkimusaineistoksi valikoitui kahdeksan tieteellistä tutkimusartikkelia, joista yksi poimittiin manuaalisesti. Kaikki tutkimusartikkelit käsittelivät kuulovammaisten sisäkorvaistutetta käyttävien lasten puheen ymmärtämisen, tunnistamisen, erottelun tai havaitsemisen kehitystä ja niiden kehitykseen liittyviä tekijöitä. Tulokset ja johtopäätökset. Puheen ymmärtäminen kehittyi vaikeasti ja erittäin vaikeasti kuulovammaisilla sisäkorvaistutetta käyttävillä lapsilla hitaammin kuin normaalisti kuulevilla ikätovereilla. Reseptiivisen sanaston taidot olivat sisäkorvaistutelapsilla vahvempia kuin muiden kielen aspektien ymmärtäminen. Puheen ymmärtämisen kehitykseen yhteydessä olevat tekijät jakautuivat kuulolaitteisiin ja kuulonalenemaan liittyviin tekijöihin (esim. jäännöskuulo ja sisäkorvaistutteen asennusikä), ympäristöön liittyviin tekijöihin (esim. vanhempi-lapsi-vuorovaikutus ja kuunteluympäristön hälyisyys) ja kuulovammaiseen lapseen itseensä liittyviin tekijöihin (esim. non-verbaalinen älykkyys ja kielelliset taidot). Tulosten perusteella puheen ymmärtämisen kuntoutus tulee kohdentaa laajasti kuulovammaisten lasten kielellisiin taitoihin käsittäen reseptiivisen sanaston tukemisen lisäksi reseptiivisen kielen tukemisen. Lisäksi huomiota tulee kiinnittää puheen ymmärtämisen kehitykseen yhteydessä oleviin tekijöihin.

Ympäristön ja vaateteollisuuden suhde on puhuttanut paljon mediassa, mutta siihen liittyen on vielä paljon tutkittavaa. Tässä tutkielmassa aiheeseen syvennytään vuosiraportoinnin kautta ja tutkitaan niissä esiintyvää ympäristövastuuta ja sidosryhmiä kohdeyritys Inditexin osalta. Tutkielman tavoitteena on selvittää, miten ympäristöraportointi on kehittynyt tarkasteluaikana, miten sidosryhmät näkyvät ympäristöraportoinnissa ja miten tämä muuttuu tarkasteluvuosina. Teoreettisesti tutkielma pohjaa yrityksen yhteiskuntavastuuseen ja sitä tukevaan sidosryhmäteoriaan. Aineistona toimivat pikamuotiyritys Inditexin vuosiraportit, joista analysoitiin sen ympäristövastuun raportointia vuosien 2006–2019 välillä. Vuosiraportit ja niiden sisältämä ympäristöraportointi ovat kiinnostava tutkimuskohde, sillä niitä tutkimalla voidaan ymmärtää paremmin, mitä yrityksessä pidetään tärkeänä ja halutaan viestiä sidosryhmille. Tutkielmassa käytetään menetelmänä sekä sisällönerittelyä että sisällönanalyysia, sillä tutkimuksen avulla halutaan saavuttaa syvempi ymmärrys tapausesimerkkinä toimivan yrityksen pitkällä aikavälillä suorittamasta ympäristövastuun raportoinnista ja siihen liittyvistä sidosryhmistä. Sisällönerittelyllä tutkitaan ympäristövastuun määrällistä kehitystä ja sisällönanalyysilla perehdytään sidosryhmien esiintymiseen ympäristövastuun yhteydessä. Sisällönerittelyn avulla rajataan myös tutkielman aineistoa tarkasteluvuosiin 2006, 2013 ja 2019, jotta raportoinnin käsittely on mahdollista sisällönanalyysin avulla. Tutkielman tulokset osoittavat selvää kasvua sekä ympäristövastuun raportoinnissa että sidosryhmien korostamisessa. Sisällönerittelyn avulla havaitaan vaihtelua yksittäisten vuosien välillä, mutta yleinen trendi on selvästi kasvussa. Sanojen frekvenssi nousi 0,56 prosentista 1,08 prosenttiin, mikä kertoo siitä, että ympäristösanojen suhde kokonaissanamäärään on merkittävämpi vuonna 2019 kuin vuonna 2006. Tästä voidaan tulkita myös ympäristövastuun painoarvon ja merkityksen kasvaneen. Sisällönanalyysin tulokset osoittavat kasvua kaikkien sidosryhmien mainintojen osalta, mutta erityisesti yhteisöjen ja yhteistöiden esiintuominen on tarkasteluvuosien varrella merkittävästi kasvanut ilmiö. Sen voidaan tulkita kertovan yrityksen arvoista, joita yritys haluaa tuoda esiin ja sitoutumisesta kansalaisyhteiskuntaan ja sen toimijoihin.