Browsing by Subject "Nuoret"
Now showing items 1-4 of 4
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(2020)Objectives. School is an important context for adolescents’ growth and development, but quite little is known about their mutual social relations prevailing in school. In this paper, I tried to answer to this need by examining the relations between lower secondary school students from the perspectives of hanging out, school help and socio-digital participation. I investigate the structures of the networks, as well as, how the networks of genders differ from another and how different patterns of using technology are related to the networks. Moreover, I examine the networks of active and passive school helpers and the differences between schools. Methods. The data were collected from 7th graders (N = 192) from three lower secondary schools in Helsinki and concerned grade-level networks within school. The data were collected with a social network questionnaire and a questionnaire about socio-digital participation and digital skills. The methods included social network analysis (SNA) and statistical methods. With SNA I examined the structures of the networks and with statistical methods I classified participants according to level of school help and patterns of socio-digital participation and examine between group differences with t-test and ANOVA. Results and implications. The results showed that students had seven friends on average, and the hanging out networks were the biggest and densest of the examined networks. There were not gender differences regarding number of friends, but females had denser hangout networks than males. On average, school help was shared among six students. Providing help was common in general, and only few people did not take part in school help networks. Females sought and provided help more actively than males and had denser school help related networks. The closer analysis of school help groups showed that active school helpers (n = 74) had generally larger networks than passive school helpers (n = 118). On average, students took part in technology mediated activity with five students. There was no gender difference in the sizes of the networks of socio-digital participation, but again females had denser networks than males. There were differences between basic users (n = 102), gamers (n = 66) and creative participators (n = 20) mostly only in digital skills and help seeking so that creative participators had higher skills and they were especially active to seek help in their schoolwork. The visualizations of the networks, in turn, revealed that students’ networks were quite homophilic in terms of gender and student’s class. Overall, the study indicated that many adolescents have large networks in school and helping each other in schoolwork is common, but there are also big individual differences regarding within-school networks.
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(2023)Objectives. Adolescents’ social media use has become more common in the last ten years. At the same time, adolescents’ mental health disorders have increased in Finland, and today up to 20–25% of adolescents suffer from some kind of mental health disorder. The simultaneous increase of these two phenomena has raised concerns that does the use of social media cause mental health problems for young people. In previous meta-analyses, a slight connection has been found between the adolescents’ depression symptoms and the use of social media, but in cross-sectional studies it has not been possible to verify the direction of causality. This thesis examines the relationship between Finnish early and late adolescents’ depression symptoms, extraversion, neuroticism and the use of social media. In addition, adolescents’ extraversion’s and neuroticism’s moderating effect to the connection between depression symptoms and social media use is examined. Methods. 13–14-year-olds (N = 1319) and 18–19-year-olds (N = 751) from the capital region of Finland participated in the data of the study. Participants’ depression symptoms were measured with the DEPS-10 scale, personality traits with the shortened and translated version of the Big Five Inventory, and social media use with the Socio-digital Participation Inventory. Associations were examined using hierarchical linear regression analysis. In addition, interaction terms were used to examine whether the subject's extroversion and neuroticism moderated the connection between depression symptoms and social media use. Results and conclusions. In subjects aged 13–14, the increase in subject's depression symptoms and extraversion were related to increase of social media use. In 18–19-year-old subjects, the increase in subject’s extraversion and neuroticism were related to increase of social media use. Low extraversion and high neuroticism were also related to increase of depressive symptoms in both age groups. However, extraversion and neuroticism did not moderate the relationship between depressive symptoms and social media use in either age group. From the results of the thesis, the conclusion can be drawn that adolescents’ extraversion and neuroticism are both essential factors when studying the adolescents’ depression symptoms and social media use. The connections observed in the thesis are in line with previous meta-analyses.
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(2021)Tiivistelmä - Referat – Abstract Tämän pro gradu -tutkielman tarkoituksena on selvittää vapaa-ajan ryhmätoiminnan mahdollisuuksia nuorten hyvinvoinnin ja osallisuuden tukemisessa. Nuoruus on erityinen ajanjakso, johon sisältyy itsenäistymistä, irtaantumista kasvuperheestä ja oman identiteetin etsimistä (Kinnunen, 2011). Vapaa-aika on näiden teemojen kannalta keskeinen toimintakenttä (Tolonen & Määttä, 2011). Erityisesti vapaa-ajan harrastamisessa nähdään valtava potentiaali nykyajan nuorisokysymysten, kuten syrjäytymisen, ratkaisemiseksi (Salasuo & Homi, 2021). Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on selvittää Nuorten Akatemian Mahis-hankkeessa toteutettujen nuorten vapaa-ajan projektien vaikuttavuutta nuorten elämään. Tutkimuksen kohteena on Nuorten Akatemian Mahis-hanke. Mahis on haavoittuvassa asemassa oleville nuorille suunnattua ryhmätoimintaa. Aineistona toimii vuosina 2017-2020 toteutuneiden Mahis-projektien loppuraportit. Raportteja saatiin yhteensä 165 kappaletta. Raportit ovat ohjaajien kirjoittamia, ja tutkimuksen näkökulmana onkin ohjaajien näkemykset toiminnan vaikuttavuudesta nuoriin. Tutkimus on toteutettu laadullisena dokumenttianalyysinä. Aineiston luokittelussa ja analysoinnissa on käytetty sisällönanalyysia. Tutkimuksessa ollaan kiinnostuneita nuorten hyvinvoinnista ja osallisuudesta ilmiönä, joten siinä on myös osin fenomenologinen tutkimusote. Mahis-projektit näyttäytyivät nuorten elämään positiivisesti vaikuttavina ajanjaksoina. Ohjaajat havaitsivat positiivisia muutoksia neljällä eri osa-alueella, jotka olivat yksilön kasvu, sosiaaliset suhteet, tulevaisuuden suunnitelmat sekä koulunkäyntiin liittyvät muutokset. Eniten havaintoja tehtiin itsenäistymisestä, itsetunnon kasvusta sekä uusien ystävyyssuhteiden syntymisestä. Tulosten perusteella Mahis-toiminnalla pystytään vastaamaan nuorten osallisuuden ja hyvinvoinnin edistämisen tarpeisiin. Mahis-toimintaa tarkasteltiin myös sosiokulttuurisen innostamisen välineenä. Toiminnasta löydettiin kaikki sosiokulttuurisen innostamisen ulottuvuudet: kasvatuksellinen, kulttuurinen ja sosiaalinen ulottuvuus.
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(2018)Nowadays, young people are expected to make educational decisions that affect the rest of their lives. Neoliberal ethos, which emphasizes competitiveness, individualism and effectivity, puts young people in a position that increases their decision-making responsibilities. At the same time, Finnish society tries to prevent the marginalization of young people by guiding them toward education that suits their strengths and resources. The expertise of student advisors is in high demand, while at the same time we talk about the autonomous responsibility of young people to make decisions. Young people are placed in situations where they have authority and are expected to make the “right” decisions. Referring to previous research concerning guidance and neoliberal marketization of education, it is important to consider young people’s viewpoints. The aim of this master’s thesis is to examine what views ninth graders have on educational path guidance offered in comprehensive school and to examine what guidance dialogue occurs in the context of neoliberal educational politics. Eleven students from 9th grade were interviewed in two group discussions. The study advisor was also interviewed. At that comprehensive school, students attend either general classes or specialized classes where students are chosen through suitability tests. Six of the interviewees studied in general classes and five of them studied in specialized classes. The data was analyzed using a discourse analytical approach, and the discourses discovered were then set in a wider perspective. The results showed that the study advisor was seen as an expert who was being relied on. Students spoke of autonomous responsibility and decision making in two different ways. Autonomous responsibility felt oppressive to some, and to others it was seen as a route to actualize one’s dreams. Competitiveness supported by specialized classes and other advantages, such as socio-economic backgrounds, had an effect on how students dealt with study guidance. Students who came from backgrounds that supported their competitiveness felt that guidance was encouraging. On the other hand, students from less supportive backgrounds felt that guidance was oppressive. From the students’ point of view, the individual and the guidance do not always come together. Neoliberal ethos increases inequality in students’ negotiation positions concerning guidance. It is important to modify guidance structures in a way that allows students and guidance to come together.
Now showing items 1-4 of 4