Browsing by Subject "itsetunto"

The symptoms of ADHD can cause many challenges for children and adolescents in school. Today, traditional learning environments are challenged by more open, flexible learning environments. However, there is only little earlier research on classroom experiences in flexible learning environments and classroom experiences comparing traditional and flexible learning environments have not been studied from the perspective of students with ADHD symptoms. In addition, previous research has shown that students with symptoms of ADHD often experience lower self-esteem than their peers. It is also known that girls are more likely to report lower self-esteem than boys. The purpose of this study is to examine how students at risk for ADHD experience their self-esteem, engagement, autonomy, relatedness and competence in traditional and flexible learning environments. In addition, this study examines whether there is a gender difference in the above-mentioned experiences. The theoretical basis of the research is the self-determination theory, to which autonomy, competence, relatedness and engagement are essentially connected. The data was collected from students in grades 7 and 8 who had participated in the Learning, grouping, evaluation and well-being in large learning areas project of the city of Vantaa and the University of Helsinki Education Assessment Center in 2019–2020. Of all 7–8th graders (N 1446), students at risk of ADHD (n 113) were selected for the study. Spearman’s correlation coefficient was used to examine the connections between attention, self-esteem, and the components of self-determination theory. Next, the analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to examine whether there is a difference between traditional and flexible learning environments in self-esteem, autonomy, competence, relatedness and student engagement in students at risk for ADHD. The same method of analysis was used again to examine whether there is a gender difference in self-esteem, autonomy, competence, relatedness and student engagement in students in the risk group of ADHD. The data was analyzed by using IBM SPSS Statistics 26. The results showed that the experiences of self-esteem and the components of self-determination theory (student engagement, autonomy, relatedness and competence) did not differ depending on the learning environment in students at risk of ADHD between traditional and open plan (flexible) learning environments. However, experiences of self-esteem, autonomy and engagement among at-risk students in ADHD differed between the sexes, with girls having lower self-esteem and experiencing less autonomy and engagement than boys.

Aims. This study investigated how values are associated with subjective well-being, (e. g. life satisfaction, self-esteem and depressive symptoms) among young adults. Schwartz (1992) value theory was used as the theoretical framework of the study. Previously it has been found that values are associated with subjective well-being, however, the results of the previous studies have been mixed. Thus, the present study examined these associations further. Methods. This study is a part of FinEdu longitudinal study, in which participants were 28 years at the time of the study (N = 551). The participants filled in a questionnaire concerning values, life satisfaction and depressive symptoms. The data was analysed using hierarchical regression analysis. Results and conclusions. The results showed that of the ten values, universalism and conformity were statistically and significantly associated with life satisfaction and depressive symptoms among young adults. No statistically significant associations emerged between values and self-esteem. It can be concluded that more research would be needed to examine the associations between values and subjective well-being. Research should include a comprehensive value scale and specific questions relating to the topic.

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.

The purpose of this study was to examine the possible connection of applicants' self-esteem and gender to their performance in student selection for teacher education. The significance of teacher's personality has grown with working conditions that increasingly demand better social skills. Teachers have reported unusual tiredness and the willingness to quit has become more common. It seems reasonable to consider self-esteem as a protective buffer against the emotional stress these working conditions present for teachers, and therefore the student selection at least shouldn't favor those with whom this protective buffer is low. Self-esteem's connection with student selection for teacher education has not been studied before, but due to prior results regarding the broader benefits of high self-esteem, it was hypothesized to be positively connected to success in student selection. The selection process consists of a theory test and an aptitude test, which were addressed separately and together. In line with prior research, women were hypothesized to be more successful in theory test and men in the aptitude test. This study was a part of the SeSTE research project (Selecting Students for Teacher Education). There were 470 subjects who had participated in the selection process for teacher education in the University of Helsinki. Self-esteem was measured with Rosenberg self-esteem scale as self-assessment. The main method of analyzing was multinomial logistic regression. Gender was examined alongside self-esteem, and the effect of age was controlled. The hypotheses for self-esteem were mostly confirmed with no apparent connection seen with the aptitude test. Gender related hypotheses were confirmed as women were more likely to pass the theory test and men the aptitude test. According to this study the student selection slightly favors applicants with higher self-esteem, but the effect is small. If the hypothesis of high self-esteem as a useful protective buffer for teachers gains more evidence, it might be beneficial according to this study, to consider the possibility of focusing the student selection more to applicants with higher self-esteem.

The aim of this study was to find out how doing craft has an impact on self-esteem, life management and well-being for two women prisoners in Hämeenlinna prison. The study covers not only part of the time in prison but also six months after the release from prison. I wanted to find out the reasons that they had for doing craft, as well as what they made and why. I was also interested in knowing if they continued with their hobby, or if not, after being released and the reasons for their choice. In this study my hypothesis was that doing craft might help prisoners to cope with stressful feelings during the time in prison. My hypothesis was based on the theories of the role of craft in well-being and the impacts on self-esteem and life management. Doing craft has been found therapeutic for its ability to improve a person's self image and for maintaining functional mental health and for several benefits for mental well-being. I had three questions in my study which I wanted to get an answer to: "How did the prisoners consider the value of doing craft for self-esteem and life management in jail and in the activity centre Monikko in Hämeenlinna prison?", "What connections do former prisoners find between doing craft, self-esteem and life management?" and "What were the reasons for continuing or giving up doing craft after being released?". I had an interview with the women a few times while they were in prison and six months after they had been released. I analyzed the interviews using the content analysis. The interviews revealed that while in prison both women found the influence of doing craft, especially knitting, calming, stress reducing and therapeutic. They found that knitting increased the quality of life and the feeling of life management. They also realized that they have skills and talent to manage and complete tasks, which improved their self-esteem and increased their self-confidence. After having found their competence on knitting, they started to feel hopeful for the future again. While knitting they were able to evaluate and deconstruct their previous lives, consider the change of life and set new goals for it. After being released both women continued to knit mainly for the same reasons as in prison but also to avoid getting back to the previous lifestyle with harmful addictions. Keeping themselves busy by knitting among other responsibilities in their lives, they brought life management and increased control in their lives. Based on the results in my study, crafts, especially knitting, can be considered a useful chore in prison for its impact on reducing stress and on other benefits to mental well-being.

The aim of this study was to examine the stability and change between students' perceived learning difficulties, self-esteem, and school burnout over time. It has been recognized that learning difficulties, self-esteem and school burnout are somewhat stable. There is some evidence that learning difficulties are connected to lower levels of well-being, especially to self-esteem and depressive symptoms. Still, there are some studies that contradict those findings. Most of the previous studies of learning difficulties and well-being have been cross-sectional. Thus, more evidence is needed in order to draw conclusions about the effect learning difficulties might have on students' well-being. The connections between self-esteem and well-being are also recognized, but the causation between self-esteem and well-being remain unclear. School burnout is quite recently discovered phenomenon which depicts students' burnout in the school setting. The main objective in this study is to examine the dynamics between students' perceived learning difficulties, the level of self-esteem, and school burnout symptoms using a longitudinal data. The data consists two measurement times gathered from the schools in a southern Finland city. The participants (N = 372) were ninth graders in compulsory education at 2004 (age 15-16) and first year students in general secondary education at 2005 (age 16-17). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to specify latent constructs. Time invariance of the latent constructs was tested across measurements. Cross-lagged panel model was utilized to test the connections between latent constructs across different time points. The stability of self-esteem and school burnout were in line with previous findings. Surprisingly, perceived learning difficulties were not that stable. Students' perceived learning difficulties did not predict change in levels of self-esteem nor school burnout symptoms. In addition, self-esteem did not predict change in school burnout symptoms or perceived learning difficulties. In turn, school burnout predicted change in both levels of self-esteem and perceived learning difficulties. Self-esteem did not have an effect in later school burnout, rather the other way around. Thus, the findings confirm that self-esteem is the effect on burnout symptoms, not the cause on well-being. School burnout turned out to have a central role in the dynamics between perceived learning difficulties, self-esteem, and school burnout.

The objective of this study is to highlight traumas experienced by a student and to examine how the traumas arise in school context. I also examine what kind of support school was able to provide for the traumatized student. Purpose of this study is to provide knowledge and possible means for caretakers to encounter a traumatized child. In this study the voice is given to a young person who has been struggling with traumas during her time in school and her narrative is used to determine the student’s personal experiences of reconciling the traumas and school. The person who participated in this study was a former youth in a youth detention centre, whose traumas passed throughout her whole school time, especially throughout the secondary school and beginning of high school, which are the main subjects of this study. Purpose of this study is not to generalize, but to bring out this youth’s valuable story to the public by collecting relevant data. The study is a qualitative case study and collected material is used to highlight information about the factors that led to the traumas and in particular, what kind of support was available at school and what kind of support would have been needed. Data collection methods were observation, daily reports and open interviews. Analysis of the collected material was carried out according to methods of content analysis. Study results showed that traumas had significant links to a child’s well-being, learning and need for support at school. Trauma was caused by attachment problems and lack of basic needs of the child. My study is partly related to the attachment theory. Based on this, the early age problems of interaction seemed to affect later social life, psyche and coping with school. Problems reflected to school as social challenges and caused learning, concentration and behavioral problems. Hiding behind defenses, loneliness and labelled difference led to a decline in school motivation and performance. Support provided was not sufficient and all parties; teachers, classmates and the youth herself were exhausted. Traumas appear in school context in many ways in all areas of studying. In school context, there does not always seem to be enough time, means, skills or resources to face children who are severely traumatized and therefore mentally unstable.

Goals. The purpose of this study was to find out what kind of social media groups can be identified among high school students and what kind of gender differences exist in the use of social media. This study also examined whether the social media user groups differ in self-esteem and how gender and socioeconomic background are related to the relationship between social media use and self-esteem. It is important to examine adolescents’ social media user habits in order to gain more detailed information about the association between adolescents’ social media use and self-esteem. Methods. The data (N = 1203) was collected from high school students in 34 Helsinki schools in spring 2018. Participants filled in questionnaires that measured social media use, self-esteem and questions regarding family background. Gender differences in social media usage were evaluated with Independent Samples t-Test and the relationship between with the preliminary variables were analyzed using Pearsons’ correlation factors. Respondents were divided into groups based on participation in social media by using the Two Step Cluster analysis. One-way analysis of variance examined whether groups differed in self-esteem. The one-way analysis of variance also examined whether socioeconomic background and gender influence how user groups differ in self-esteem. Results and conclusions. Four distinct groups were identified from the data: socially networked, knowledge-oriented, academically oriented, and active users. Differences in the use of social media by girls and boys were observed. Girls were found to use more social media for social networking compared to boys. Boys, in turn, were found to use more social media for knowledge-oriented and academically oriented purposes than girls. In addition, gender differences in the distribution of social media user groups were examined. The group of active users and socially networked were more popular among girls, while the knowledge-oriented and academically oriented groups were more popular among boys than girls. The group of active users was the largest group in the material and the most popular user group among girls and boys. Based on this, it can be stated that most girls and boys use digital media in a very diverse way. Social media user groups were not found to differ significantly in self-esteem, and gender or socioeconomic background did not explain the differences in user groups in self-esteem.

Aims. Research has shown that self-esteem predicts success and well-being in important areas of life, such as relationships, work, and health. Thus, it is important to study self-esteem, its development and the factors that influence its development. Parents have a major influence on adolescents’ self-esteem and good relationships between adolescents and parents have been found to be associated with adolescents’ higher self-esteem. Only little research has been done on the association of the adolescent-parent relationship with a person's self-esteem in middle age. The first aim of this study was to investigate whether the adolescent-parent relationship is associated with self-esteem at age 16. The second aim was to find out how the quality of the adolescent-parent relationship predicts the self-esteem of the subjects at age of 52, considering the level of self-esteem in adolescence. Methods. The data is part of the Stress, Development and Mental Health (TAM) research project of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare. The data has been collected when the respondents were 16, 22, 32, 42 and 52 years old. In this study, data collected in 1983 and 2019 were used when the subjects were 16 (N=2194) and 52 (N=1160) years old. The variables used in the analyses were conflict proneness, closeness and trust, and self-esteem. Research questions about the associations between adolescent-parent relationships and self-esteem at age 16 and 52 were answered using stepwise linear regression analysis. Results and Conclusions. The study found that the adolescent-parent relationship was associated with self-esteem in adolescence (at age 16) and predicted self-esteem in middle age (at age 52), when the level of self-esteem in adolescence was considered. From the aspects of the adolescent-parent relationship, it stood out that girls showed a stronger association of conflict proneness with lower self-esteem and boys showed a stronger association of parental trust with higher self-esteem and a stronger association of conflict proneness with lower self-esteem. In middle age, women showed a stronger association of closeness in the adolescent-parent relationship with higher self-esteem, while men showed a stronger association of parental trust with higher self-esteem. The results suggest that a good adolescent-parent relationship is associated with good self-esteem in adolescence, but also with higher self-esteem development to middle age. A key factor behind good adolescent-parent relationships is effective and trusting communication - this could also be a potential area for development in interventions.

According to previous research, self-esteem has a connection with well-being, behavior and learning of a person. Well accomplished physical education enables supporting positive self-concept. The aim of this research was to study how pupils describe the ways class teachers have supported their self-esteem during physical education classes and to compare the answers to class teachers' methods they had used to build pupils' self-esteem in physical education. Theories and models related to self-esteem, as well as physical education at school, were examined as a theoretical framework. Five-dimensional model of self-esteem by Borba was chosen as the guiding theory of the study. The dimensions are security, selfhood, affiliation, mission and competence. 95 sixth graders participated a questionnaire, which had open questions and statements about building self-esteem in physical education classes. The answers were compared to 19 class teachers' answers about the same subject. In the study, the open questions were analyzed using theory-guided content analysis as a method. The study shows that according to sixth graders class teachers have succeeded to support pupils' self-esteem with several different ways, which also matched well with Borba's theory of building self-esteem. The sixth graders and class teachers had quite similar ways to describe the methods of supporting self-esteem. The corresponding methods were positive attention and feedback, setting easier goals, avoiding competition and emphasizing the significance of exercise. The review of quantitative statements showed that both pupils and their teachers considered creating secure feeling during physical education classes the most successful component. The results are useful when teachers consider methods to support self-esteem of pupils in physical education classes.