Browsing by Subject "youth"

Objectives. Attachment theory is a theory of social development and personality, known around the world. According to the theory, children have an innate tendency to develop a biologically based and central nervous system-regulated attachment bond to their primary caregivers in order to ensure safety, care, and survival. Early attachment experiences contribute to the way one sees oneself and others and lead to secure, insecure, or disorganized attachment styles, which affect rest of one’s life. Previous research has confirmed the universal nature of attachment, different attachment categories and styles, and early attachment’s links with future relationships and various internal and external problems. Attachment research has traditionally concentrated on early childhood and early childhood environments, whereas middle childhood, adolescence, and school context have been studied less. The objectives of the present study were to find out what kinds of links there are between attachment and the lives of school-aged children and youngsters, what kinds of attachment-related challenges teachers encounter at school, and how teachers could support their students with those attachment-related challenges. The aim is to explore attachment in the lives of school-aged children and youngsters, including at school, to gain a better understanding and to create a valuable foundation for future research. Methodology. The present study was conducted as a systematic literature review, which allowed the gathering of diverse and comprehensive, yet relevant research material, while also supporting objectivity and reproducibility aspects of the study. The material, available through electronic databases, was comprised of research articles from around the world, published in peer-reviewed international research journals. The material was analyzed thematically by research questions and topics, which were then used as a framework in the Results section. Results and conclusions. Early attachment and attachment styles were directly and indirectly linked to the lives of school-aged children and youngsters, including teacher-student relationships, peer relationships, family relationships, and academic achievement, as well as internal and external problems. Various attachment-related challenges and problems were visible at school, but teachers had many ways to buffer them. Current attachment research has not affected or changed school environments enough. Much more attention should be given to attachment within schools, teacher education, and in-service training programs in order to give students better support for their attachment-related problems and challenges.

The aim of this study is to examine relations between body mass index, self-esteem, body image and adolescents thoughts about body positivity. Earlier study has showed relation among increasing body mass index, body dissatisfaction and lower self-esteem. Body positivity has its roots in the fat acceptance movement in the late 1960s. Goal of the body positivity movement is to address unrealistic ideals about beauty, promote self-acceptance, and build self-esteem and learning to love oneself to the fullest. Body positivity is popular on social media and in Finland discourses about it are controversial. Some think it is a good for health and self-esteem, others think it glamorizes overweight. Finnish adolescents thoughts about body positivity has not been explored before this study. This statistical study was made in Spring 2019. The research subjects were finnish adolescents aged 13-18. The data was obtained from the adolescents by an electronic enquiry. The sample consisted of N=109 adolescents, n 89 women, n 19 men and n 1 transgender. The data was analyzed by using SPSS Statistics 25 program and frequencies, cross-tabulations, Pearson`s correlations, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA tests. In this study self-esteem or body image were not varied by age. Body image was varied by gender so that girls had lower body image than boys. Body mass index were not significant for self esteem or body image and disagreed with earlier study. Physical activity behind many of the adolescents has been noticed while reporting results. Term body positivity was familiar for 72,4 % of participants, specially from social media. Girls knew it more often than boys and estimated its effects for better self-love stronger than boys. Majority of adolescents thought that body positivity tries to increase self-love among every size and age. Only few thought that body positivity glamorize overweight and obesity. This research reveals that there is a need for wider study around relations between body mass index, self-esteem, body image and body positivity among adolescents. This study offers a base for extensive study in the future.