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Objectives. The Finnish Education Evaluation Centre (FINEEC) has defined quality indicators for early childhood education and care (ECEC), which can be used to assess the quality of ECEC. According to the law (540/2018), ECEC is defined by a self-assessment obligation, which makes it possible to evaluate the pedagogical activities produced by ECEC staff. The study examined the quality of ECEC, from the perspective of quality process factors. The study was conducted based on self-assessments of ECEC staff. The aim of the study was to describe the factors that weaken the process quality of ECEC and to find out the effect of the educational background of ECEC staff on self-assessments. The study also examined development targets for the process quality of ECEC. Methods. The study was conducted in a mixed method manner using data and method triangulation. The research material was collected with an e-questionnaire. The survey was sent via social media to Facebook groups for ECEC staff. The study material consisted of 202 respondents and 260 open-ended responses. The research material was analyzed by appropriate methods using qualitative (content analysis) and quantitative (one-way analysis of variance) analysis. Results. The results of the study show that shortcomings in ECEC resources, professionalism and interprofessional co-operation were perceived as factors that weaken the process quality of ECEC. The results of the study also show that the self-assessments of highly educated staff differed from the self-assessments of vocational education staff, for one attribute. The research shows the need for comprehensive development work on the quality of early childhood education. Pedagogical activities in early childhood education must be enabled with sufficient resources and a well-functioning culture, and the well-being of staff must be safeguarded.

This study explored the possibilities the psychophysiological methodology offer to flow research. Facial electromyography has often been used to index valence, and electrodermal activity to index arousal, the two basic dimensions of emotion. It was hypothesized that these measures can also be used to examine enjoyment, a basic component of flow experiment. A digital game was used to induce flow, and physiological activity of 32 subjects was measured continuously. Flow State Scale was used to assess flow. Activity of corrugator supercilii muscle, an index of negative valence, was negatively correlated with flow reports, as hypothesized. Contrary to hypothesis, skin conductance level, an index of arousal, was unrelated to self-reported flow. The results for association between flow and zygomaticus major and orbicularis oculi muscle activities, indices of positive valence, were inconclusive, possibly due to experimental design where only tonic measures were available. Psychophysiological methods are recommended for future studies of flow. Specifically, the time series approach may be particularly viable in examining the temporal aspects of flow, an area currently unexplored. Furthermore, it is suggested that digital game research would benefit from psychophysiological study of game-related flow.

Given the rise in prevalence of stress, lack of time management skills and prolonged graduations among university students, promoting student’s well-being and study practices has become very important. While psychological flexibility a.k.a. dealing with all kinds of emotions and being present in the moment has proven to increase sense of well-being and lower stress among working adults, it has not been widely explored in the university context. Along with psychological flexibility, organised studying has been found to be an important factor in relation to academic achievement, study progress and well-being among university students. The purpose of this study is to explore development of psychological flexibility and organised studying in relation to stress, well-being and studying. Total of 106 university students took part in a web-based course aimed at promoting university students’ well-being, stress management skills, psychological flexibility and organised studying. Development of the items were measured by self-report questionnaires in the beginning and in the end of the course. Additionally, a learning report (n=86) was conducted by the students at the end of the course where the students reflected on their development regarding general well-being, studying and learning during the course. Student’s scores improved quantitatively across all the measured dimensions during the course. Mean scores on psychological flexibility, organised studying and sense of well-being increased and the scores regarding stress reduced. The results are in line with the qualitative analysis, in which students report that they learned to organise their studying and use skills related to psychological flexibility in various ways in studying context. The results imply that a web-based course which is aimed to improve student’s psychological flexibility and organised studying would also improve the student’s sense of well-being and reduce stress in their studies.

Objectives: Teachers' well-being at work has been studied especially from the perspectives of work-related stress factors. However, experts from the field of well-being at work have pointed out that studies should focus more on studying factors that promote well-being than on factors that weaken well-being at work. The self-determination theo-ry (SDT) is part of motivational psychology. The theory considers that the fulfillment of basic psychological needs (BPN) is essential for human well-being. Based on the theory of self-determination this study develops Basic Psy-chological Needs of Teachers Scale (BPNTS) to measure the basic psychological needs of teachers. The scale is used to study the manifestation of basic needs factors related to the work of crafts teachers and teachers. The scale is also used to examine whether there are differences between craft teachers and other teachers in the realisation of basic needs factors, and whether background factors have an impact on the basic needs experiences of craft teach-ers. Methods: To measure the basic psychological needs of teachers a 7-step Likert -scaled survey was created. The survey was distributed through various online channels to craft teachers and teachers in the spring of 2021. 367 responses were received. 229 responses were from craft teachers and 138 from other teachers. The research data was analysed using statistical methods using IBM SPSS Statistics software. The manifestation of basic psychological needs of teachers was studied using exploratory factorial analysis (EFA). The differences between craft teachers and teachers in relation to the manifestation of basic psychological need factors were investigated through descriptive results, correlation examinations, a T-test of independent samples, as well as one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The association of background factors - teachers' age, place of work, gender and job title with teachers' basic needs experiences was investigated using one-way analysis of variance and correlation analysis. Results and conclusions: With the Basic Psychological Needs of Teachers Scale (BPNTS) was managed to measure the dimensions of the initial theory quite well. The scale turned out to be functional and reliable. As a result of the factorial analysis, 4 basic work-related needs dimensions were identified – Autonomy, Competence, Relatedness and Freedom. According to the theory, the results reinforced the assumption of the independent influence of basic psychological need factors. Both groups of teachers estimate that the studied dimensions were realized quite well on average in their work. Craft teachers felt that freedom to work was best realized and that relatedness was realized weakest. Statistically, a very significant difference between the teacher groups appeared in relation to the freedom and empowerment experienced at work. Crafts teachers estimate that these are fulfilled better in their work compared to other teachers. Of the background factors, the workplace was found to have some impact on the fulfillment of the basic needs of craft teachers. It has been noticed that to promote teachers' well-being at work, it would be important to be able to analyse well-being factors at work more effectively. The Basic Psychological Needs of Teachers Scale (BPNTS) provides a useful model for more accurately mapping and studying the basic needs dimensions that affect teachers' well-being at work.

This Pro gradu -thesis studies social relations of individuals who have some of the non affective psychosis. How does experiences in social relations differ between groups of people where in one group are the individuals who have psychosis and in other group are people who don't have psychosis? In this thesis social relations were divided in three groups, spouse, kin and friend – relations. Hypothesis was, that those who had psychosis, have more negative experiences and less positive experiences in their relations than those who don't have a psychotic disease. NCS-1 survey was carried out in the early 1990s with a household sample of over 8,000 respondents. Non affective psychosis disorder was diagnosed with 66 respondents. Based on previous evidence that survey nonrespondents have higher rates of psychiatric disorder than respondents, a supplemental nonresponse survey was carried out in parallel with the main survey. In this supplemental survey, a random sample of initial nonrespondents were offered a financial incentive to complete a short form of the diagnostic interview. Elevated rates of both lifetime and current psychiatric disorders were found among these initial nonrespondents. A nonresponse adjustment weight was constructed for the main survey data to compensate for this systematic nonresponse. Respondents experiences in their relations with spouses, kin and friends were mapped with twelve questions, six questions comprising positive experiences and six questions comprising negative experiences. In this thesis positive and negative experiences were formulated into two sumvariables for each spouse, kin and friends. Then variables where standardized, after which parameter estimates, confidence intervals and p-value were estimated by One Way Analysis Of Variance. According to the hypothesis those who had a psychotic disorder had less intimate relationships than those who didn't. Individuals with psychotic disorder had more negative experiences and less positive experiences in their intimate relationships than those who had no psychotic disorder. Difference was statistically significant. Outcome was similar with relations to kin. Difference in meeting frequency was not statistically significant with these two groups in relations to kin. In relations to friends statistically significant difference was found in positive experiences, individuals with psychotic disorders had fewer positive experiences. Individuals with psychotic disorders and those close to them need support in their social relations.

Goals. Small minority of chronic offenders commit disproportional amount of crime in society. However, efficient pre-emptive measures against crime can be seen benefiting everyone in the society. One challenging subgroup is considered to be offenders with high psychopathic traits. Yet psychopathy doesn't seem to be an obstacle for everyone in adjusting and being successful in society – at least when considering socioeconomic status and lack of conflicts with law enforcement. The goal of this study is to explore if parental characteristics and psychopathic traits could jointly be related with different paths to criminal and non-criminal lifestyle. Methods. This thesis employed data drawn from Pathways to Desistance Study. The data was collected between 2000 and 2010 in the United States. Participants were recruited from local court system after they were put on trial for a felony in Pennsylvania and in Arizona. In all 1051 adolescent males participated who were between the ages of 14 and 17 at the time of their crime. 94% of the participants were born in the United States, and together they formed multi-ethnic sample. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to explore the relationships between psychopathic traits, parental characteristics and re-offending after the trial. Also, the moderator effect of psychopathic traits on the relationship between parental characteristics and re-offending was explored. Used parental variables consisted of parental warmth, hostility, knowledge and monitoring of adolescent's spare time, and parents' socioeconomic status. Both aggressive offending and income offending were used as two separate outcome variables. The used crime rates were based on participants' self-reporting approximately two years after their trial. Results and conclusions. Higher level of parental hostility was found to be related to higher probability of offending. Parents' higher knowledge and monitoring of adolescent's spare time was found to be a related to lower probability of offending. Higher psychopathic traits increased the risk of offending. Psychopathic traits also moderated the relationship between parental hostility and offending. Parental hostility was found to be a risk factor for aggressive offending only among participants with low or moderate psychopathic traits but not among participants with high psychopathic traits. However, more research is needed to gain understanding of causality. Nevertheless, the results seem to highlight that among adolescents with high psychopathic traits effectiveness of interventions targeting delinquency is determined by how well their personality and unique characteristics are integrated into intervention strategies.

The purpose of this research is to investigate what kind of practices consumers have in textile washing and caring and how environment friendliness is present in those practices. The focus is also on how laundry habits could be developed to be environmentally friendlier. The results of this research are compared to the results of prior researches that have been conducted on textile washing practices. These prior researches have shown that laundry has been washed excessively, it hasn't in fact been dirty and the washing machine's full capacity hasn't been used. Additionally, consumers have not been aware of the hardness of water in their region, thus administering too much of laundry detergent. The data for this research was gathered by an online inquiry that consisted of structured multiple-choice questions. The survey reached 1841 persons of whom 97,5 % were women. The data was analyzed using frequency analysis, Kruskal-Wallis test and post hoc test by investigating the effects of variable variation to environment friendliness. Additionally, correlation between different variables and cross tabulation between households with and without children. It seems that many of the different factors in laundering that are burdening the environment are still present today. Washing machines are seldom used at maximum capacity and consumers are not aware of water hardness and because of that administrate too much laundry detergent. The laundry practices of households with children were more harmful to the environment than those without children. However, the current life situations of the household members is a major factor. Especially for families with children and young people, it would be good to have instructions for laundry cleaning in the future. Topics could be water hardness, energy saving with washing temperatures and drying methods, and the benefits of properly dosed detergent and properly filled washing machines.

The aim of the study was to determine, which of the prosodic parameters (duration, pitch, intensity) influence whether a pair of words is perceived as a compound or a phrase. I also investigated how three different focus conditions (sentence stress) interact with the perception. The conditions were broad focus, narrow focus on the first noun and narrow focus of the second noun. Three speakers were recorded. They read sentences in which three different focus conditions were produced. The method used was two-alternative forced choise (2AFC), in which the participants answered, whether they had heard a compound or a phrase. A generalized linear mixed-effects model was used in which participants' answers were compared to correct answers. The acoustical measurements were also taken into account. The study revealed that the intensity changes between two words affected the decision. Also the changes in the pitch between two words had an effect on the decision. These findings were statistically significant. The narrow focus on the first noun was partly produced by changing the duration difference between the vowels. The statistical model also revealed that the pair of the words one of the speakers produced was perceived differently compared to the sentences of two other speakers; revealing that the individuals may have different strategies for producing prosodic phenomena.

Aims This study aims to give upper secondary school students a possibility to participate in current discussion on updating curriculum and developing Finnish upper secondary school education and in this way bring illustrative information of important things from students' point of view. The aim is to compare student's views, political goals and current theories and perceive what kind of citizenship different educational discourses that work in the field of upper secondary school education aim to produce. The study aims to examine how different students define essential general education in the future and what kind of position they take towards the hegemonic norm of active competitive citizenship that is the goal of the official educational policy. Methods The data of this study consists of four focus group interviews in four upper secondary schools in the metropolitan area of Finland. The method of critical discourse analysis was applied in the analysis. Different discourses were perceived and then compared with the hegemonic official educational political discourse. Results and Conclusions By analyzing different educational discourses the goal of this study is to consider how to develop upper secondary school education to promote well-being and equality of the students in a way that pays attention to students' different backgrounds and needs. Discourses that are found in students' conversations are summarized into two opposite discourses on future's citizenship: competitive discourse and well-being discourse. This study aims to indicate that discourses rise from a realistic ground. It can be said that successful students can easily reach official political efficiency goals whereas students that are not so well-off need support to reach the normative goals. This study indicates that students' different needs should be taken into account and actively offer guidance to students so that they didn't need to take the responsibility for their future all alone. Recognizing students' different goals and plans would be useful when considering what kind of general education is essential concerning upper secondary school education and how to support different students' ability to build their identities, find their own way and support their well-being. Students' accounts also indicate that the skills needed in democratic citizenship should not be overshadowed by competitive and efficiency goals.

The function of this study is to find out what kind of discourses of participation can be found in a middle school student counsil meeting. The purpose was to study what kind of positions do the students take and give to others in interaction when participating in decision-making, and also to find out what kind of environment of participation do the students build around them through speaking. The base theory in this study is a viewpoint of participation as an experience of an individual and sosio-constructional understanding of reality as made up of social interaction. The research method was qualitative case study. The data collecting method was observation by way of videotaping. Analysing method was discourse analysis. In this study there was 12 participants age 13-15 who were part of a student council functioning in their school. In the student council meeting that I recorded the students discussed what could be done improving on students wellbeing in school. In the meeting there was a discourse of institution including understanding one's role primarily as a source of information. Students saw strick frames for their functioning in school system set from above. They also saw their relations to teachers through a role differentiation of supervised - supervisor. They also sustained an institutional image of the school including gloominess of the school building, lack of funds and discomfort during lessons. They were not willing, or capable, to question this image of school. There was also a youth-discourse including the pressure to fit in and underlining one's freedom to choose their lifestyle.