Browsing by master's degree program "Psykologian maisteriohjelma"
Now showing items 61-80 of 241
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(2021)Objective: Anxiety disorders are a worldwide burden, but the genetic factors predisposing to anxiety disorders are not known. This genome-wide association analysis (GWAS) of anxiety disorders aims to discover both disorder-specific and shared genetic associations between multiple anxiety disorders. More significant associations were expected to be observed with the composite phenotypes than with disorder-specific phenotypes. There are sex-differences in the prevalence of anxiety disorders, so genomic associations were also expected to differ between sexes. Methods: Anxiety disorder diagnoses were searched from the FinnGen data (https://www.finngen.fi/en) to create five groups of cases with broad (N = 24,662), core (N = 7671), phobic (N = 2296) and generalized (N = 2686) anxiety disorders, and panic disorders (N = 3549). In the case groups, 26 – 32 % were males. Controls were the participants without psychiatric diagnoses (N ~ 161,000). All GWASs were also conducted as a sex-stratified analysis. GWASs were conducted with a SAIGE v0.20 -pipeline with age, biological sex, 10 principal components, and genotyping batches as covariates. Results: Several loci associated significantly with multiple anxiety disorders and with specific anxiety disorders. The most significant association was between SORCS3 variants and panic disorder. The SORCS3 variants were also associated with males with panic disorder and core anxiety disorders. Conclusions: The GWAS of the broad anxiety resulted in less significant associations than was hypothesized. SORCS3 has previously been associated with multiple psychiatric phenotypes, but not with panic disorder. As hypothesized, different genetic associations were observed between the sexes. The effect sizes of associations observed were modest, which emphasizes how anxiety disorders develop from an interaction of multiple genetic and environmental risk factors.
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(2023)Objective: Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent psychiatric disorders, but their genetic architecture remains largely unknown. The main objective of this study is to increase the number of known loci through novel phenotyping. The subsequent results are followed with validating analyses, polygenic risk score (PRS) and linkage-disequilibrium score regression (LDSC). Methods: The participants were part of the FinnGen data release 7, totaling 309,136 individuals. First, a network model of non-organic, non-congenital psychiatric disorders was constructed to determine their comorbidity structure by utilizing community detection. Second, diagnoses were scored according to their network loading to the resulting anxiety community. Third, weighted sum scores were computed for the whole sample so that each different diagnosis added to the score by their network loading and this was used as the phenotype for GWAS. Fourth, case-control GWASs of core anxiety disorders and a broader anxiety related disorders were conducted with 10,289 and 33,865 cases, respectively. 186,192 individuals without a history of psychiatric disorders served as controls. Fifth, LDSCs were performed to obtain SNP-heritability estimates. Finally, a PRS of the anxiety sum score was computed and used to predict anxiety disorders in an independent sample of 12,584 individuals from FinnGen data release 9. Results: The network model revealed a comorbidity structure that resembles the current classification according to ICD-10. A community including all core anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) diagnoses, and nothing else, emerged. Anxiety sum score GWAS discovered two genome-wide significant loci in intergenic regions of the genome. The core anxiety one detected one such locus in the gene SORCS3 and the broad anxiety GWAS identified four, one intergenic and three within genes, SEMA6D, RAB27B and CCDC36/KLHDC8B/CCDC71. Heritability estimates for anxiety sum score, core and broad anxiety were 1.98%, 13.1% and 9.5%, respectively. The PRS predicted anxiety disorders in the independent sample (OR = 1.42, p < .001). Conclusions: The network model suggests anxiety disorders tend to co-occur with each other, which includes OCDs. The anxiety sum score phenotype did not prove superior to traditional case-control approaches but did provide complementary findings that would have been otherwise missed. The anxiety sum score PRS performed comparably to other PRSs from other large GWASs, lending support to its validity.
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(2021)Aims. Exercise is known to be associated with longer sleep duration and better sleep quality. Good enough sleep has a positive impact not only on somatic and mental health, but also for example on memory and learning. However, so far there is no research of other hobbies than sport in relation to sleep. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of sport hobbies, other hobbies and the time spent on hobbies on adolescents’ sleep duration and quality. Methods. Different hobbies and time spent on hobbies, sleep duration, sleep latency, sleep efficiency and sleep problems of 1374 adolescents (girls 66.4%, mean age 16.84 years) was measured with self-report questionnaire as a part of University of Helsinki SleepHelsinki! research project. Associations with different hobbies and sleep were analysed with ANOVAs and post hoc tests. The effect of time spent on hobbies on sleep was analysed with ANOVAs and regression analyses. Results. Sleep duration on weekdays on average was 7.28 hours, which is less than the recommended 8-10 hours per night, but on weekends adolescents slept enough, 9.26 hours. Girls reported more sleep problems and poorer sleep quality, but no sex differences were found in sleep duration. 58.4% of the adolescents reported having sports as their main hobby and 18.5% reported having no hobbies at all. Those with sports as their main hobby, had longer sleep duration and better sleep quality than those without any hobbies or whose main hobby was other than sports. When analysed separately for boys and girls, this positive association between sport hobbies and sleep was found only in girls. Time spent on hobbies was not associated with sleep duration or quality. Conclusion. Based on this study it seems most important that adolescents do sports in general, not necessarily the amount of time they spend with their hobbies. Adolescents without any hobbies slept less than others and had the worst sleep quality so special attention should be paid to get the most passive adolescents to exercise to improve their sleep and wellbeing.
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(2024)Aim. Diagnosis in medicine often relies on the visual features of diseases, which physicians observe. Visual expertise has been extensively studied, particularly in radiology, but less so in dermatology. The aim of this study was to investigate the development of visual expertise in medical studies in the field of dermatology. The purpose was to examine how students' performance, reaction times, and metacognition evolve and how this is reflected in eye movements, as well as to compare students' performance with that of dermatology specialists. The aim was also to study the learning of different dermatological diagnoses and to identify diagnoses that pose challenges for learning. Methods. Medical students (n=57) completed a perceptual learning module during a dermatology course as many times as they wished. In the module, participants had to infer the dermatological diagnosis based on the visual features of the stimulus. Success rate, reaction time, and confidence in the correctness of their answers were collected from each completion of the module. In addition to these, eye movements were measured for students (n=13) in the eye-tracking study, including the number and duration of fixations. Eye-tracking was conducted for students on two occasions: at the beginning and end of the course. Experts (n=7) completed the module once, and the same variables were recorded as for the students. The development of students' competence and comparison with experts was examined using linear mixed models. Results and conclusions. Perceptual learning modules supported the development of visual expertise during the dermatology course. Students reached experts in reaction times (p=.90) and number of fixations (p=.96) at the second measurement. However, students’ success rate (p=.017) and confidence (p=.037) still differed from experts at the end of the study. There were no differences in fixation durations between students and experts. The difficulty of the diagnosis was associated with poorer performance for both students and experts, but this effect was greater for students compared to experts, both at the beginning and end of the course. Diagnosis-specific differences were also observed in diagnostic competence and learning. The results support previous research indicating that perceptual learning modules are a useful additional tool in dermatology education. These findings can be utilized in the development of medical education, for example, by emphasizing the teaching of difficult diagnoses through individually adaptive learning modules.
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(2019)Tiivistelmä - Referat - Abstract Objective: Safe driving requires several cognitive skills from the driver, the main role of which is to detect, identify and predict risks. Especially inexperienced drivers have problems while identifying risks, but also aging and illness can weaken human feelings and functions. This affects the person's risk perception and impairs the ability to move safely in traffic. However, it is a challenge to spot the deterioration of the driver's driving ability. A simple method for estimating the driving ability will be a great support in detecting problems related to driving ability. Methods: In this study conducted on Hazard Perception method based test called Ajoarvio, which fits to the Finnish transport culture. The test implied the ability to detect risk situations in traffic. The Ajoarvio -test is a computer-assisted program that shows videos about real driving situations. These videos contain an event that represents potential danger to participants or others. There are also videos where there is no danger. The person should react when he/she detects a risk by clicking on the mouse button. The study included 62 people aged 18 - 68. Results: According to the study, the test was able to distinguish the subjects, and the testing experience significantly improved the results. Negative correlation was also observed between age and test result. So the driving experience improved performance, but ageing may weaken it. The test videos also demonstrated a structure related to the videos, where the videos were interpreted as focusing on three areas: 1. reaction and handling speed; 2. vigilance and situational awareness; and, 3. prediction and dynamic vision. Conclusions: The study shows that the test can detect discrepancies in the ability of the subjects to detect risks in traffic
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(2023)Objectives Multiple environmental factors are known to influence mental health, and factors occurring during developmentally sensitive periods are particularly important. Only little research has been done to study the effects of maternal positive mental health during pregnancy on child mental health. The aim of this study was to investigate how positive maternal mental health during pregnancy affects the offspring's mental health in late childhood. Methods The sample of the study (n=1954) is part of the longitudinal Prediction and Prevention of Preeclampsia and Intrauterine Growth Restriction (PREDO) study. Positive mental health was measured biweekly from 12-13 to 38-39 gestational weeks through questionnaires about positive emotions and perceived social support. Children’s psychiatric problems and prosocial behavior were measured through a questionnaire, which mothers filled when the child was 7–12-year-old. Additional subsample (n=226) was created to see if the results would change, when fathers would fill out the questionnaire about child mental health. Data were analyzed using multiple regression analyses. Maternal age at delivery, maternal education level, child’s sex and child’s age at the follow-up were controlled for in the analyses. Results and conclusions All of the scales used to measure positive maternal mental health during pregnancy were negatively associated with the child’s psychiatric problems and positively with prosocial behavior in the first sample (n=1954). In the subsample (n=226) only the scale for perceived social support was associated with child’s psychiatric problems and prosocial behavior. Positive maternal mental health during pregnancy predicted fewer psychiatric problems and more prosocial behavior in the offspring in late childhood.
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(2024)Objective: Anxiety disorders are among the most common groups of mental disorders, and one of the leading causes of disease burden globally. Anxiety disorders are associated with many general medical conditions (GMCs), but little studies of the wide-ranging associations over multiple GMC categories have been conducted. This study aims to examine whether people with an anxiety disorder have more lifetime GMCs compared to people without anxiety disorders, and whether they have a higher risk of developing subsequent GMCs, across multiple GMC categories. Methods: The participants were a part of the FinnGen study sample, totaling 519 841 individuals. Lifetime comorbidity analyses were conducted with an anxiety disorder group (N = 63 695) consisted of all individuals who had any ICD-10 phobic anxiety disorder or other anxiety disorder diagnosis, or corresponding ICD-9 or ICD-8 diagnosis. A sex and age (±2 years) matched control group (N = 127 390) of individuals who had no phobic anxiety disorder or other anxiety disorder diagnoses was created. Proportions of GMCs from 11 different categories (allergy, gastrointestinal, urogenital, hematological, neurological, dermatological, musculoskeletal, endocrine, pulmonary, oncological, and cardiovascular) in anxiety disorder group and matched control group were compared with each other with χ2-test. Next, Cox regression was used to calculate whether having an anxiety disorder increases the risk of developing a subsequent GMC. The whole FinnGen sample was used as a basis for the Cox regression analyses, and for each analysis, the individuals who had a diagnosis in the corresponding GMC category before the start of follow-up period (1.1.2000–31.12.2020) were removed from the analysis, leading to samples whose sizes varied between 451 523 and 508 804. Four Cox regression models were created for each GMC category: Model A, which was adjusted for sex, age, and calendar time, Model B that was further adjusted for other GMC comorbidities, and time-lagged versions of Models A and B. Results: Individuals with anxiety disorders had higher lifetime prevalence rates of all GMCs, except for cancers. Having a prevalent anxiety disorder diagnosis increased the risk of a subsequent GMC in all 11 GMC categories, most notably gastrointestinal and hematological conditions. The hazard ratios ranged between 1.21 for cancers and 2.59 for hematological conditions. Conclusions: There are wide-ranging associations between anxiety disorders and GMCs. For most GMCs, individuals with an anxiety disorder had about two-fold risk to develop a subsequent GMC. The associations were especially strong for gastrointestinal and hematological conditions, and clearly the weakest for cancers. This study provides evidence of temporal associations across a range of GMCs, also including ones that have hardly been studied previously, such as hematological conditions and allergies. Further study with separate anxiety disorders and GMCs, as well as genetic connections, is still needed.
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(2020)Aims In previous research, the focus has been on how single factors (e.g. change of school, class or school size) are connected to motivation. No study has used a comprehensive set of aspects of school stability and investigated its association with school motivation. Further, no study has examined whether temperament modifies the connection between the stability of school environment and motivation. This study investigated 1) whether the instability of school environment is associated with students’ motivation and 2) whether this association is modified by temperament. Methods The sample consisted of 3369 Finnish ninth graders. Students’ school motivation and temperament traits (task orientation, reactivity and flexibility) were measured by self-report and teachers’ evaluation. A wide array of factors within school environment were assessed (by asking students and teachers), and three instability scales were formed: instability of physical space, social relationships, and general school structure. Results When adding all the instability scales to the model as predictors simultaneously, high instability in social relations and high instability of physical space were associated with lower student-rated and teacher-rated motivation. Instability of general school structure did not have significant main effect on student-rated or teacher-rated motivation. When adding all the two-way interactions between temperament traits and instability scales to the model as predictors simultaneously, temperament was found to have modifying effects on motivation: high reactivity modified both, the connection of instability of physical spaces and instability of social relationships on student-rated motivation in students. High flexibility modified the connection of instability of general school structure on student-rated motivation. High task orientation modified the connection of instability of physical spaces on teacher-rated motivation. In all the models, covariates included also students’ age, gender, and parental education. Conclusions Various dimensions of instability of school environment are differentially connected with students’ motivation. Temperament traits appear to modify these connections, indicating that different temperaments become differently motivated in instable school environments.
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(2024)Aims. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a heterogeneous neuropsychiatric disorder with core symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity. Its brain dysfunctions have been extensively studied; however, less is known about the neural characteristics behind daily difficulties. Naturalistic neuroscience aims to bridge this gap between the laboratory and real-life. This thesis studied brain activation in ADHD children during audiovisual stimuli mimicking daily life. In addition, associations between this brain activation and ADHD symptoms/traits and behaviour were examined. Methods. ADHD (n=26) and typically developing children (n=31) viewed videos of the virtual reality game EPELI (Executive Performance of Everyday LIving) during functional magnetic resonance imaging. The participants also played EPELI and their gaming speed was measured. Brain activation similarity, ergo synchrony, between participants during video viewing was measured with inter-subject correlations. Associations between synchronous brain activation and ADHD symptoms/traits and gaming speed were analysed with Mantel tests. Results. Group differences in synchronous brain activation were not significant between ADHD and typically developing children after correcting for multiple comparisons. Without the correction, ADHD children had both increased and decreased synchrony in visual, auditory, and attention control areas when compared to typically developing children. In all participants, hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms/traits had a positive association with synchronous activation in the auditory cortex whereas gaming speed had a positive connection with the visual cortex. Conclusions. This thesis demonstrates that synchronous brain activation in ADHD children can be studied with naturalistic neuroscience methods. The results emphasise the role of visual and auditory areas in the neural characteristics of ADHD.
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(2020)Tavoitteet. Intuitiivinen ja analyyttinen ajattelutyyli vaikuttavat tiedon käsittelyn syvyyteen ja omaan päättelyyn luottamiseen. Episteeminen kypsyys puolestaan ilmenee kehittyneenä tapana hahmottaa tiedon objektiivisen ja subjektiivisen dimension eroavaisuuksia, sekä ymmärryksenä tiedon monimutkaisuudesta ja varmuudesta. Tässä pro gradu -tutkielmassa tarkastellaan, voidaanko ajattelutyyleillä ennustaa vaihtelua episteemisessä kypsyydessä. Lisäksi tutkittiin, voidaanko avoimella ajattelutyylillä tai kyvyllä kognitiiviseen reflektioon ennustaa episteemistä kypsyyttä. Menetelmät. Otos koostui 460:sta 16-71- vuotiaasta suomalaisesta. Koehenkilöistä miehiä oli 19.3%, naisia 76.3% ja 4,3% ei valinnut kumpaakaan näistä vaihtoehdoista. Tutkimus toteutettiin internet-kyselynä, jonka koehenkilöt rekrytoitiin keskustelufoorumeilta ja opiskelijoiden sähköpostilistoilta. Koehenkilöt vastasivat kysymyksiin, joilla kartoitettiin heidän intuitiivista- analyyttistä- ja avointa ajattelutyyliä, kognitiivista reflektiota. Episteemistä kypsyyttä kartoitettiin tutkimalla episteemistä tasoa ja tiedon yksinkertaisuuteen/varmuuteen liittyviä tietokäsityksiä. Tulokset ja johtopäätökset. Intuitiivinen ajattelutyyli ennusti matalaa episteemistä tasoa ja korkeaa uskomusta tiedon yksinkertaisuudesta, mutta ei uskomuksia tiedon epävarmuudesta. Analyyttinen ajattelutyyli ennusti matalaa uskoa tiedon yksinkertaisuudesta, mutta ei korkeampaa episteemistä tasoa tai uskomuksia tiedon varmuudesta. Kriittinen reflektio puolestaan ennusti korkeampaa episteemistä tasoa ja uskomusta tiedon varmuuteen, sekä matalampaa uskomusta tiedon yksinkertaisuudesta. Tämän lisäksi matala avoin ajattelutyyli ainoastaan yhdessä korkean kognitiivisen reflektion kanssa ennustivat kokemusta tiedon varmuudesta. Rajoituksena tutkimuksessa oli opiskelijoiden yliedustuvuus aineistossa. Tutkimuksella pyrittiin selittämään vaihtelua ihmisten episteemisessä kypsyydessä, sekä tuotiin henkilökohtaisen epistemologian ja ajattelutyylien tutkimusaloja lähemmäs toisiaan.
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(2023)Objectives. The five-factor model of personality is the most researched and widely accepted theory of the structure of personality. It is claimed to be a near universal even though studies of the model have overwhelmingly relied on samples from Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) populations and/or university or college students from non-WEIRD countries. Therefore, multiple scholars have called for studies that examine personality traits with other kinds of samples, but only relatively few studies like that have been conducted. The aims of this study were to examine whether the model is suitable to explain personality variation in elephant handlers, or mahouts, from Myanmar, and, if it is not applicable, how personality appears to manifest in the mahouts. Testing whether the model applies to this sample is highly valuable for assessing the model’s cultural variability and the claims about its near universality. Methods. The sample (n = 237) consisted of 138 mahouts and 99 of their peers, most of whom were fellow mahouts. They gave self- or observer ratings to an interviewer asking questions from the 44-item Big Five Inventory (BFI), which was translated into Burmese. Self-observer agreement and retest correlations were also calculated. The personality structure of the 138 mahouts was investigated with confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis. Results. The confirmatory factor analysis resulted in a covariance matrix of latent variables that was not positive-definite possibly because of the small sample size. The analysis method was then changed into exploratory factor analysis, and models with four, five, and six factors were com-pared in more detail. However, no clean factor structure emerged since the items measuring Open-ness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism in the BFI did not, in general, load in a clear or sensible way in any of the factor solutions. Conclusions. These results could provide support for the hypothesis that mahout personality cannot be described with the five factors. Their personality variation may instead be organized along differently composed dimensions. This study could therefore be another example of the five-factor model of being more culture-specific than (near) universal.
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(2022)Objectives The human-pet attachment can substantially impact the life of the human and the pet. A few studies suggest that human personality and unwanted behaviour of dogs are related to pet attachment, but the relationship between pet personality and the attachment has not yet been studied. The aim of this study was to elucidate the links from human, dog (Canis familiaris), and cat (Felis silvestris catus) personalities and unwanted pet behaviour to the attachment. Methods The online survey data, from the OnePersonality project, captured responses of 2 724 pet owners (92,1% women) to the Short Five questionnaire, the Pet Attachment Questionnaire and the dog and cat personality and behaviour questionnaires. I utilised a series of linear and generalized linear mixed-effect models to examine the associations. Results Neuroticism was associated with attachment anxiety to dogs and cats. Dog owners scoring lower on extraversion and conscientiousness and owners of less human-social and more perseverant dogs were more anxiously attached. Cat’s human aggression, fearfulness and low human sociability associated with attachment anxiety and excessive grooming and lower human sociability with attachment avoidance. Less conscientious, extraverted, and agreeable dog owners and owners of more insecure, energetic, aggressive, less training focused, and less human social dogs were more avoidantly attached. Nine out of ten dog’s unwanted behaviour traits were related to avoidant attachment. Conclusions Both human and pet traits contribute to the owner-perceived attachment. Owner’s personality may have a bigger role in anxious attachment, while the dog’s individuality may be more related to attachment avoidance.
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(2023)Leadership emergence and successful leadership are caused by a large group of individual characteristics and abilities, such as personality traits, gender, previous life experiences and cognitive abilities. According to previous studies, these individual qualities are associated with leadership outcomes via leadership motivation and leadership styles, which are also connected to each other. Cognitive ability is known to be connected to leadership outcomes; however, the mechanism of action has been left unclear by previous studies. In this study, the association of cognitive ability with leadership motivation and leadership styles were examined, while using the link between gender and leadership motivation and styles as a comparison point. Additionally, to establish the Model of Leadership Background Factors, connection between leadership motivation and leadership styles were examined. Data (n=603) was collected from Finnish personal assessment context where cognitive ability was measured with matrices testing, and leadership motivation and styles were assessed through self-rating questionnaires. Cognitive ability was not associated to either leadership motivation or leadership styles. Only small effects between coaching leadership style and lack of inspirational leadership were found, and they are likely to be explained by competitive people acquiring better than average results from the cognitive ability testing battery. On the other hand, gender made a difference in leadership motivation by women feeling less motivated to lead team’s actions and bigger picture of the business. Gender didn’t have a notable effect on leadership style apart from women scoring a bit higher on collaborative and responsibility sharing leadership. Finally, association between leadership motivation and leadership styles were found; higher leadership motivation tended to associate with strong, demanding leadership and lower motivation with collaborative and non-independent leadership. Knowledge of background factors in leadership outcomes enables appropriate assessment, selection and training of leaders, and this study already suggests that the Model of Leadership Background Factors might be useful in Finnish working life as well. This study supports leadership concepts as complex phenomena which need to be examined carefully also when it comes to challenging topics such as intelligence and gender.
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(2023)Objective The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between organizational justice and cognitive performance in working age population and whether this relationship differs between men and women. Organizational justice can be defined as perceived fairness of decisions and procedures at workplace. Organizational justice has been associated with cardiovascular risk and sleeping problems among other issues. Research indicates that organizational justice is associated also with cognitive performance, but this association has not been examined using population-based data earlier. Methods The sample for the study was derived from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study data. The sample used included all the participants from year 2012 who had participated to at least one cognitive subscale measurement and answered to at least four (50%) organizational justice question (n = 1283, women 57 %, average age 42,1 years). Organizational justice perceptions were measured using the short version of the organizational justice scale, which provided scores for total, distributive, procedural and interpersonal organizational justice. Cognitive performance was measured with four CANTAB tests. The results had been formed into five factors where the fifth factor represented the total cognitive performance. Linear regressions were used to examine the relationship both with and without covariates. Covariates used were age, sex, education level and average working hours per day. In addition, interactions of sex and organizational justice were examined. Results When the covariates were included in the analysis, both higher total scores of organizational justice and procedural justice were associated with shorter reaction times. Higher distributive justice was associated with better total cognitive performance and faster visual processing. The interactions of sex and total scores of organizational justice, procedural justice and interactional justice were each significant with total cognitive performance, executive function, and visual processing. The associations between organizational justice and cognitive performance were positive for men and negative for women. Conclusions Higher organizational justice seems to be associated with better cognitive performance especially regarding attention and psychomotor speed in working age population. The associations often differ significantly between men and women. Even though the associations found were negative for women, it can be concluded that it is worthwhile to develop organizational justice also to maintain cognitive working ability. Further longitudinal research is yet needed.
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Kaksoisuraurheilijoiden identiteetin ja uupumuksen välinen yhteys opiskelu- ja urheilukontekstissa (2023)Objectives: A student-athlete is a person who identifies him/herself as both an athlete and a student. Because both roles have demands, the demands overall can get high, which can predispose especially the young student-athletes to burnout symptoms. A strong identity can protect from burnout, but previous studies have had mixed results on the effect of the athletic identity to sport burnout and the association between student identity and school burnout has not yet been studied. The aim of this study was to evaluate how the strength of student and athletic identity are associated with school and sport burnout, and if there is an association between school and sport burnout in the population of student-athletes. Methods: The data used in this research were originally collected in the Winning in the Long Run-research project’s, a project studying student-athletes. The sample of this study consisted of 311 student-athletes. In this study, the information from the Winning In The Long Run- research project about the student-athletes sport burnout (SpBI-DC), school burnout (SBI), athletic identity (AIMS) and student identity (SIMS) was used. The relationships between sport burnout and athletic identity, school burnout and student identity and sport and school burnout were studied using regression analyses. Results: A stronger athletic identity was associated with fewer sport burnout symptoms, and a stronger student identity with fewer school burnout symptoms. In addition, it was observed that the more school burnout symptoms the student-athlete has, the more sport burnout symptoms she/he also experienced. Conclusions: The results suggest that a strong athletic identity might work as a protective factor from sport burnout symptoms for student-athletes and to consistently a strong student identity as a protective factor from school burnout. In the future, supporting the identity construction could be considered one way to prevent the student-athletes’ burnout symptoms in sport and school contexts. Because school and sport burnout were associated in this study, and studying and sports strongly intertwine in the lives of student-athletes, it raises a question of how possible it is for the student-athletes to distinguish the source of their burnout. In the future, it might be most beneficial to focus on supporting the student-athletes’ overall wellbeing in ensuring that there is enough support available for coping with the special demands of the dual career.
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(2023)Abstract Objectives of the study. Humans are adapted to recognize faces. Turning faces upside down causes an inversion effect that makes it much harder to recognize them. According to previous research, conflicting results have been obtained regarding which facial features are used the most in face recognition and short-term memory, and how turning the face upside down affects the use of features. It has also been unclear how turning the face upside down affects the use of these features. The aim of this thesis was to investigate, using a perceptual psychology experiment and a visual working memory task, whether different facial features are used to different extents in recognition and remembering and whether the facial features used differ in terms of whether the face is presented upright or upside down. Methods. The thesis used a new type of change detection test based on morphing. The material of the thesis consisted of ten students at the University of Helsinki. 40 neutral-looking faces from the Chicago Face Database served as face stimuli. Female and male face pairs were formed from the faces, whose facial features were morphed independently and randomly from 0–20% or 0–80% from the first identity to the second identity. The subject's task was to answer whether faces separated during the memory period, presented upright or upside down, were of the same or different identity. By comparing the number of morphs and the test subjects' answers with each other using a generalized linear model, weighting coefficients were obtained for each facial feature, which told how much the test subjects had used each feature in the test task. The weighting coefficients were normalized, after which they were subjected to a two-way analysis of variance of repeated measures, which was used to examine whether the use of features differed between the upright and upside down situations. In addition, possible differences in face recognition accuracy between upright and upside down situations were investigated using the discriminability index d'. Results and conclusions. According to the results, facial features differed in terms of how much they were used in the working memory task. However, the relative importance of different facial features was similar regardless of whether the face was presented upright or upside down. In line with previous findings, this study also found that the eyes are particularly significant in terms of face recognition and short-term memory. However, in the case of faces presented upside down, the identity recognition accuracy was weaker, which was reflected in a higher number of errors in the test task. In conclusion, turning faces upside down does not affect which facial features are stored in working memory. However, turning faces upside down weakens face recognition and short-term memory.
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(2020)Objectives. Growth and fixed mindsets influence the performance in learning situations. This Master’s thesis investigated the manifestation of growth and fixed mindsets and the relationship of these beliefs with the ability to learn from mistakes and the amplitude difference of the error-related negativity (ERN) and correct response negativity (CRN) event-related potentials. This thesis investigated if a stronger growth mindset in one domain correlates with a stronger growth mindset in other domains compared to a fixed mindset. Furthermore, it was examined whether a growth mindset is associated with a smaller ERN – CRN amplitude difference and better post-error accuracy than a fixed mindset. Methods. The sample consisted of 97 8-11 year-old pupils. The electroencephalogram of the subjects was recorded during a mathematics task. In addition, post-error accuracy and growth and fixed mindsets of mathematical intelligence, general intelligence and emotion regulation were measured. Results and conclusions. A stronger growth mindset of mathematical intelligence correlated statistically significantly with a stronger growth mindset of general intelligence. The growth mindset of emotion regulation was not associated with that of mathematical or general intelligence. These three mindsets were not statistically significantly related to ERN – CRN amplitude difference or post-error accuracy. However, the relationship between a stronger growth mindset of mathematical intelligence and a smaller ERN – CRN amplitude difference approached significance. Moreover, against expectations a stronger growth mindset of emotion regulation was marginally significantly associated with smaller post-error accuracy. In line with earlier research, these results indicate that the growth mindsets of certain domains share some common variance. Inconsistent with previous studies, the effect of growth mindset on ERN – CRN amplitude difference or post-error accuracy could not be confirmed. This might be due to the young age of the participants and methodological challenges. This calls for further investigations of the maturation of growth and fixed mindsets and the ERN amplitude during different developmental stages.
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Kehityksellisen koordinaatiohäiriön yhteys motoriikkaan vaikuttavien isoaivojen alueiden tilavuuteen (2022)Objective: Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a neurological disorder which affects motor function. According to studies with children DCD is related to volumes of the parts of the cerebrum which affect motor function. This study examines whether these structural changes in cerebrum can be detected in adults. Methods: The present study is a part of a longitudinal study which started in the 1970s in Helsinki. The present sample consists of those approximately 40-year-olds who took Test of Motor Impairment (TOMI) test when they were about 9 years old and who also participated in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study when they were about 40 years old. Based on TOMI test participants were split into two groups: those who probably have developmental coordination disorder and those who probably do not have it. Groups’ association with the volumes of cerebral areas that affect motor functions were examined with multivariate analyses of variance, one-way analyses of variance and Welch’s tests. The volumes of the examined parts of the brain were calculated from participants’ MRI data using FreeSurfer software, and the volumes were standardized according to gender before any analysis were made. Results and conclusion: The group had a statistically significant effect on the gross volumes of the brain areas and on the volumes of brain areas on the dominant hand side (areas which primarily affect movement of the nondominant side of the body) but not on the volumes of the brain areas on the nondominant hand side (areas which primarily affect movement of the dominant side of the body). In the group of those who probably have developmental coordination disorder the volume of the primary somatosensory cortex on the dominant hand side, volumes of the basal ganglia on the dominant and nondominant hand side and the volume of the backside of the corpus callosum were smaller than in the control group. The results suggest that about 40 years old adults who probably have developmental coordination disorder according to TOMI test have smaller volumes in parts of the cerebrum which affect motor function than adults who do not have the disorder.
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(2022)Objectives: Developmental coordination disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder with challenges in motor function, coordination, and balance. The etiology behind this disorder is still partly unknown. There has been a small number of studies made on the associations between developmental coordination disorder and brain structure and the results do not systematically reoccur. Thus, there is a need for more studies on the subject. In this study the objective was to examine the associations between probable developmental coordination disorder and cerebellum structure. Hypothesis was that there is a difference found between the study group and the control group in the volume of the cerebellum and that the volume is smaller in the probable developmental coordination disorder group. Methods: The present study’s data is from a prospective longitudinal cohort. The sample consisted of 295 participants of whom 22 had probable developmental coordination disorder. Motor function was assessed at the age of 9 with the Test of Motor Impairment, which was used to divide the participants in the probable developmental coordination disorder group and in the no developmental coordination disorder group. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain was completed at the age of 40. Cerebellum volumes were estimated using the software Ceres VolBrain. In the statistical analysis multivariate analysis of variance and analysis of variance were used. Results and conclusion: Probable developmental coordination disorder was not associated with the total volume of the cerebellum. However, there was a statistically significant association found with the volume of the cerebellum lobules III and V. In these lobules the volumes were smaller in the probable developmental coordination disorder group. The cerebellum is likely organized in a way that the areas behind motor function (lobules I–V) are different from the areas behind regulation of cognition (lobules VI– IX), possibly explaining the results of this study. The results indicate that developmental coordination disorder may occur in the structural level of the brain and provide information about the possible mechanisms behind the disorder. The present study provides a base for further studies to advance knowledge on the mechanisms behind developmental coordination disorder.
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(2021)Objectives: The well-being of young children’s parents has sparked interest in public discussion. Parents without a partner often experience higher distress compared to parents with a partner. Support from other people and family services might matter more for the former group. Social support’s effect on parental distress demands more research in Nordic welfare societies. The aim is to study Finnish mothers’ general stress and parenting demands, and their associations with partner status and support from other people and family services. Methods. The sample consisted of 5-year-old children’s mothers (n=714) participating in the CHILD SLEEP cohort study (THL). General stress and parenting demands were measured with the Perceived Stress Scale and the Parenting Stress Index. Mothers evaluated the amount and adequacy of childcare support from family, friends, and family services. Controlled variables were depression, anxiety, family structure and socioeconomic status. Linear regression models were used as analysis. Results. Most mothers reported moderate general stress and few experienced parenthood as demanding. Distress was not associated with partner status or the amount of support. Adequate support from family and friends was linked to lesser distress; similar indications were found with family service support. More mothers without a partner experienced inadequate support compared to those with a partner. Regardless of partner status lower distress was linked to adequate support, however associations were statistically significant more often among mothers with a partner. Conclusions. Preschool children’s mothers have moderate distress levels, and support from family and friends appears important for their well-being. Family service support requires more research. Similar distress levels regardless of partner status contradicts previous research, although the experience of insufficient support among mothers without a partner demands more investigation. Further research should use more representative samples regarding socioeconomic factors and family structure, and more varied measures of social support and partner status.
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