Browsing by Subject "attitudes"

Adolescent delinquency is a prevalent concern, which carries with psychological and societal costs. Deviant peer affiliation and criminogenic attitudes, as well as personality traits are known to be associated with delinquency, but their interlinked effects are less studied. The present study examines the role of personality in a deviant socialization context. Specifically, I examine whether peer deviance and criminogenic attitudes (1) mediate and/or (2) moderate the associations of the Five-Factor Model personality traits with delinquency. The data included respondents (n=4855) to the cross-sectional Finnish Self-Report Delinquency Study 2012, aged 14-17 years. Delinquency was assessed on the basis of 17 different deviant behaviors; the reported frequencies of engaging in each of them were scaled using a graded response model. Peer deviance and criminogenic attitudes were assessed via respondents' selfreports; two distinct attitudinal indicators (deviant and neutralizing attitudes) were included. Personality was assessed with a 15-item BFI-S questionnaire. A structural equation model was conducted to examine the mediation pathways. The moderation effects were examined with linear regression analysis. Delinquency was associated with higher extraversion, lower agreeableness, lower conscientiousness, and lower neuroticism. Peer deviance and criminogenic attitudes partially mediated the associations of extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness with delinquency. The association between neuroticism and delinquency was fully mediated via criminogenic attitudes. Peer deviance strengthened the associations of low neuroticism, low agreeableness, and low conscientiousness with delinquency. Deviant and neutralizing attitudes strengthened the associations of high extraversion and low agreeableness with delinquent conduct. The findings suggest that personality may provide novel insights into the etiology of delinquency in a context of deviant socialization. Implications of the personality-based approach and directions for further research are discussed.

The main purpose of the Master Thesis was to find out what kind of attitudes the pupils in the 9th grade of Finnish comprehensive school have towards music as a school subject and compare it to the attitudes of the principals at a school level. The theoretical context of the research is based on the former studies of the significance of music education in the comprehensive school, the connection between learning and attitudes and the motivational factors towards the study motivation of music. In addition to this, I have analysed the role of the evaluation and the assessment from the point of view of developing the educational system and what is the role of management and leadership in relation to the pupils' behaviour and attitudes. The data of the research is the Finnish National Board of Education's collected data of the assessment of the learning outcomes of arts education and it is nationally representative (N=5056 I phase and n=1570 II phase), both the Finnish-language and the Swedish-language pupil data. I have especially concentrated on the items of measuring the attitudes, the certain background variables and the questionnaire of the principals. The numerical data was analyzed using the multivariate statistical methods. The results of the research prove that in general the pupils and the principals think that music is quite significant as a school subject. The girls valued music on average more than the boys when comparing all the dimensions. The differences were systematic but the effect sizes were under 10 %. There were not statistically significant differences between the Finnish-language and the Swedish-language pupils. Comparing the grades of music in the 7th grade, the differences were growing linearly and the effect size was 15.7 %. There was a positive statistically significant correlation between the Significance of music and music as a hobby (Active interest in music, Informal interest in music, Taking part of music activities in the school) during free time. The strongest correlation were with the Active interest in music variable (r= 0.53, p= .000). Also the principals thought that music is important as a school subject considering the development of the pupil and the function of the school. The answers of the pupils were not clustering at a school level and there were no strong correlations between the attitudes of the pupils and the principals. A statistically nearly significant and a slight correlation (r= 0.21, p= .011) was found between the principals valuing the Significance of the music for school function and the pupils valuing the Benefits and hobbyism. The role of a well-motivated and active music teacher can be important from this point of view. The most important conclusion of the research was that the significance of music is a very personal individual level phenomenon. The results highlight also that in the pupils' opinion the most important thing about music lessons is to musical activity and learning as an experience.