Browsing by discipline "Psykologi"

Objective: There is known to be a strong connection between hand movements and speech in humans. This has emerged for example in experiments where subjects pronounce syllables and simultaneously move their arm either towards or away from their body. The subjects produce both the hand movement and the pronunciation of syllables the fastest when the direction of the movement and the syllable are congruent. The original explanation for this was that the sounds that are congruent with the push movement, like [i] and [t], are made by pushing the tongue forward as well. Likewise, the sounds that are congruent with the pull movement, like [a] and [k], are made by a pull movement of the tongue. The objective of this study is to take a more precise look at this so-called direction-sound effect. The aim is to examine whether the effect is really caused by the overlap of the motor representations of hand and tongue, like it was originally interpreted, or if it is caused by some properties of sounds other than their horizontal movement direction. Methods: The direction-sound effect was studied in five experiments. In each experiment the subjects were presented with two different syllables, from which the other was supposed to be congruent with push hand movements and the other with pull hand movements. The subjects read each syllable out loud and performed simultaneously either a push or pull movement with a joystick according to the colour of the syllable. Experiments 1 and 2 tested whether the direction-sound effect emerges with consonants. Experiments 3, 4, and 5 tested whether the effect emerges when the vowels differ in one of their properties. In experiment 3 the vowels differed in openness, in experiment 4 they differed in frontness, and in experiment 5 in roundedness. 19-20 subjects participated in each experiment. Results and conclusions. In experiments 3 and 4 the syllables pronounced by the subjects, and the direction of their hand movement, had a statistically significant interaction to the reaction times of both the hand movements and the pronunciation of the syllables. There was not a similar interaction in experiments 1, 2, or 5. According to the results, vowels [ø] and [i] are congruent with the push hand movement and vowels [o] ja [æ] with the pull hand movement. The direction-sound effect does not seem to emerge with consonants but only with vowels. With vowels the effect seems to emerge when the vowels differ in their frontness and possibly in openness, but not when they differ in roundedness. The results bring more knowledge about how the speech movements of different parts of the mouth are represented when pronouncing vowels and consonants. The results also shed more light on previous speculations about which kind of sounds are universally associated with words referring to different directions across different languages.

The aim of the study: In research literature depressive symptoms in mothers have been associated with lower parental sense of competence. The developmental mechanisms responsible for this relation are poorly understood and there is a need for longitudinal study especially. The study of this master’s thesis explores the association of both postnatal and later depressive symptoms with parental sense of competence when the child is 1–5 years. It also explores whether demographic factors have an impact to the relation and does later depressive symptomology in mothers mediate the relation between postnatal depressive symptomology and later parental competence. Method: Data is part of the Finnish cohort of The Prediction and Prevention of Preeclampsia and Intrauterine Growth Restriction (PREDO) research. The sample includes 2255 mothers who gave birth between years 2006-2010. Mothers evaluated their depressive symptoms 2 weeks / 6 months after birth (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale ) and at the follow-up when the child was between 1–5 years old (Beck´s Depression Inventory). Mothers also evaluated their parental sense of competence (Parenting Sense of Competence Scale) at the follow-up. Data was analysed using linear regression and mediation analysis. Results and Conclusion: Both postnatal and later depressive symptoms were associated to lower parental sense of competence when the child was 1–5 years and demographic background did not have any impact to the relations. A significant mediation model was found where later depressive symptomology in mothers partly mediated the relation between postnatal depressive symptomology and later parental competence. Therefore effective screening and early treatment of postnatal depressive symptoms are important. Evaluating parental competence could potentially be a valuable part of screening and treatment of depressive symptomology in mothers.

Goals: The connection between concussion history and learning disabilities has not been studied widely. The same symptoms (e.g. attention deficits) are related to both concussions and learning disabilities. Learning disabilities and concussion history have both been linked to deviant baseline-scores and increased risk of getting a new concussion than controls. Interaction between concussion history and learning disability has been studied hardly at all. The objective of present study is to examine the effect of concussion history and learning disability on attention in a baseline-study of Finnish male junior ice hockey players. Methods: Study sample was part of baseline-study of Heads in the Game -project. Data was gathered in the summer 2016. A total sample consisted of 955 male junior ice hockey players (aged 12-21 years) of whom 1.9 % reported both concussion history and learning disability, 5.8 % reported learning disability and 29.3 % reported at least one previous concussion. Attention was measured via OmaKesky and d2-R. Data was analyzed using multivariance analyses controlled by age. Results and conclusions: Concussion history was not related to attention. Learning disabilities were related to higher amount of self-reported attention deficits in OmaKesky and to weaker accuracy in d2-R than controls. The deviant functioning observed in learning disabilities at baseline must be taken into consideration when suspecting a concussion in a way that functioning after concussion is compared to person's own baseline rather than to age-group norms. The interaction between concussion history and learning disabilities was not found in present study. However, people with both concussion history and learning disability, reported significantly more attention deficits than and a group of only concussion history or controls. The interaction between concussion history and learning disability on cognitive abilities should be studied more in the future.

Aims. There are two main frameworks to approach disengagement in studying: educational psychology and occupational psychology. Both frameworks have gathered analogous results on the problems in studying and their risks for low success, drop out and ill-being. However, there is no research on the hypothesis that these frameworks investigate same phenomena with different concepts. Thus, the main aim of this study was to construct a measurement model by combining two inventories: firstly, MED NORD (Medical Education in Nordic countries) from educational psychology framework measuring lack of interest and lack of regulation, and secondly, SBI (School Burnout Inventory) from occupational psychology framework measuring exhaustion, cynicism and inadequacy. Hypothesis was that a three-dimensional Study Problem Model (SPM) could be constructed, consisting of Lack of relevance combining MED NORD lack of interest and SBI cynicism, Lack of energy including SBI exhaustion and Lack of efficacy combining MED NORD lack of regulation and SBI inadequacy. To further validate the model, its' relations to academic success were investigated. Method. The participants (n=1254) were higher education students from Helsinki area (mean age 23.78, 65.1 % female, 94.4 % first or second year students). The data were collected by questionnaire as a part of Mind the Gap research project, and achievement data (ECTS and GPA per year) for 1064 of the participants were gathered from the universities' archives. To find the latent structure of problems in studying and to cross- validate the results, EFA and CFA were used on two different randomly divided subsamples (for both, n=627), and based on these results the SPM was constructed. After this SEM was used on the whole data to look at the relationships between the SPM and academic achievement. Results and conclusions. The results suggested that a three-factor model would fit the data best, and the three dimensions of SPM emerged as follows: 1) Lack of relevance as hypothesized, 2) Lack of energy as hypothesized and 3) Lack of regulation consisting of MED NORD lack of regulation. The SBI inadequacy items were leaved out of the model as they didn't load coherently on any of the dimensions. SEM results showed, as hypothesized, both Lack of relevance and Lack of regulation to be related lower achievement, whereas lack of energy was related to higher achievement. The strongest association was between Lack of relevance and ECTS. Altogether, the relations of SPM were stronger for ECTS than GPA. SPM supports both frameworks' views on study disengagement/burnout, capturing the experiences of meaninglessness, exhaustion and lack of adequate studying skills. The different consequences of the SPM dimensions on achievement reflect their compositions: Lack of relevance being related the strongest to slower proceeding of studies, Lack of regulation being related the strongest to poor grades and Lack of energy being, rather interestingly, related to higher achievement. In future research, especially the last-mentioned should be looked at more precisely, as the association could be caused by for example reverse causality or the fact that lack of energy indicates commitment rather than disengagement. The results could be utilized for designing ways to promote efficient studying and student well-being.

Objective: Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of death in the world and elevated blood pressure is one of the major risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Health behavior such as alcohol use, smoking and physical activity as well as obesity are known to affect the risk for cardiovascular disease. Also temperament has been shown to be associated with the risk for cardiovascular disease in numerous studies. The exact pathway through which the association between temperament and the risk for cardiovascular disease is mediated is so far unknown. Temperament has been shown to be associated with elevated blood pressure but not much research on the subject has yet been conducted. The aim of this study was to examine if temperament is associated with elevated blood pressure, which factors mediate the association and how they mediate it. Methods: The participants of the study were from The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (CRYFS) and the data from the follow-up carried out in 2007. The subjects were divided into groups of elevated blood pressure and normal blood pressure according to their blood pressure levels. Temperament was assessed using a self-report form of the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI-9) which measures the temperament traits of Cloninger's psychobiological theory - novelty seeking, harm avoidance, reward dependence and persistence. Concerning mediating variables the subjects were asked to answer questions about their alcohol use, smoking and physical activity. Body mass index was calculated from measures of weight and height. Logistic regression and correlation analyses were used for the analyses. Results and conclusions: A high level of reward dependence was related to a lower risk for elevated blood pressure. Two health behavior variables, higher level of alcohol use and greater body mass index were related to an increased risk. A weak association between a higher level of persistence and a lower level of blood pressure was also found. The association between reward dependence and elevated blood pressure showed evidence for being independent of the health behavior variables. Behavioral styles based on temperament are suggested as the mediating mechanism behind the association. For example behavioral styles could affect a person's tendency to seek medical help and health care. The concept of personalized health care expanded with temperament related information should be considered as a valuable potential asset for preventive health care in the future.

Objectives. Can individual differences in the way people manage their own lives (life management) be explained from the perspective of life history theory? Understanding these differences is important since life management has a great impact on the wellbeing of people. Life history theory has already been proven to explain many individual differences in the human cognition; this study aimed to expand this field of knowledge. Life history theory states, that the early-life environment of an individual shapes her life history strategies, adapting her to her environment. The events that serve as reminders of mortality in the environment of an individual (mortality cues) were hypothesised to activate different life history strategies in individuals with different childhood environments. This was hypothesised to be reflected as differences in life management. The study also sought to find out, if the observation that people can react differently to a similar mortality cue can be explained by their strategy's impact on their locus of control. Methods. The data used in this study came from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. The relationship between early-life environment (childhood socioeconomic status, SES) and life management (the Self-directedness scale in the Temperament and Character Inventory and two items concerning coping) was explored in the study. Regression analysis was used to analyse whether mortality cues moderated the relationship between SES and self-directedness. Logistic regression analysis was used to analyse whether they moderated the relationship between SES and coping. Sample size was 2 103 for analyses concerning self-directedness (mean age = 31.48 years) and 773 for those concerning coping (mean age = 20.66 years). Results and conclusions. Individuals with lower childhood SES felt that things outside their control were influencing their life more than did those with higher childhood SES. Lower SES was also connected with lower self-directedness in general. The tendency to use one way of coping over another after facing the death of a friend or a family member seemed to depend on childhood SES. Individuals with lower childhood SES used more approach coping; those with higher childhood SES used more avoidance coping. Life history theory seems to be a relevant scientific framework for studying individual differences in life management. Differences in life management might help to understand why people with different backgrounds might react differently to a similar mortality cue. However, no interaction effect on life management was found between the other mortality cues used in the study and childhood SES. Sporadic incidences that are a natural part of life do not seem to activate life history strategies permanently. It is advised then, that especially when the activation of life history strategies is explored using an experimental study design, the results should be interpreted keeping in mind the possibility that single cues might only activate strategies temporarily.

Despite decades of research, knowledge and training in the area of Child sexual abuse (CSA) interviews, studies internationally have shown that forensic child interviewers still relay on inappropriate questioning. Suggestive questions should not be used in CSA interviews as they can be very harmful for the witness reports of children. The previous and only Finnish study assessing the quality of CSA interviews is from the beginning of the 2000s. The study showed that the quality of Finnish CSA interviews was poor. In the present study, the CSA interviews from Helsinki and Uusimaa hospital district area in 2014 and 2015 are examined. All the interviews in this study are conducted in the forensic psychology center for children and adolescent. The aim for this study is to evaluate the questions asked by the interviewers in the investigative interviews with alleged CSA victims. The results are compared with the previous findings in Finland to find out whether the interview quality has improved. The sample, consisting of 96 transcribed forensic interviews with 55 alleged CSA victims (aged 3-18 years), was anonymised and analysed. Interviews were coded for questions types. The results were compared with the previous Finnish study. Detailed analyses of the interview transcripts showed that 47% of all the questions asked were facilitators, 12% were invitations, 27% were directive, 11% were option-posing and 0.3% were suggestive. The amount of questions encouraging the child to freely recall the events was almost 60 %, whereas in the previous study they reached only just over 20% of all questions asked. The amount of suggestive questions had decreased notably. Most of the interviews did not include any suggestive questions and the overall quite modest amount of suggestive questions was posed to a small proportion of the interviewed children. The results show that interview practice has improved notably since the previous study and this analysis provides viable arguments for encouraging the guidelines used in the Helsinki and Uusimaa hospital district.

Objectives. The job satisfaction of employees is important to organizations, because dissatisfaction impacts directly the economic results of the company, e.g. through increased employee turnover, poor quality of work and hiding problems. Job satisfaction has been defined as a relationship between the expectations for a job by an employee and the subjectively perceived fulfilment of those expectations. In this research, factors influencing job satisfaction are investigated by comparing three theoretical models related to job satisfaction. According to the Job Demands – Job Control model, demands of the job affect job satisfaction. Better job control or support from supervisor or peers can decrease the impact of demands on job satisfaction. According to the Effort – Reward Imbalance model, job satisfaction can be explained by investigating whether the rewards received from the job are commensurate with the effort required by the job. In the Job Demands and Resources model, different jobs have different demands and resources which are important. The model emphasizes the difference between jobs and assumes that demands impact job stress but not job satisfaction, whereas resources are mainly associated with job satisfaction. Methods. Based on the three models and previous empirical research results, 11 hypotheses were created and tested by using a large survey sample. The sample included 2 195 employees which represented 13 departments from nine organizations. The dependent variable was job satisfaction, and independent variables were associated with job demands, job control, rewards, and support by supervisor and peers. Linear mixed models were used as the statistical method because of its ability to compare the possibly different impacts of various resources and demands in different organizations. Results and conclusions. The most important factors associated with job satisfaction were opportunities to advance, possibility to use and develop skills and job security. Older employees were more satisfied with their jobs. Increased demands decreased the influence of peer support on job satisfaction. When the demands were high, the support of supervisor was more important. The impact of material rewards, such as salary or benefits, was low. As a conclusion, the Job Demands – Resources model was best able to explain job satisfaction out of the three tested models in this sample, if the model was expanded to include job security from the Effort-Reward Imbalance model.

Objectives. Maternal diabetes during the pregnancy increases the risk of pregnancy complications, but the effects of maternal diabetes on offspring cognition are less understood. Earlier studies have mainly associated the adverse effects of maternal diabetes with slight deficits in general cognitive and verbal functions in young children. Despite the earlier studies, it is unclear, does maternal diabetes per se affect cognitive development in children and adult offspring. The offspring with several developmental risks seem to be more prone to the adverse effects of maternal diabetes than offspring without the other concomitant risks. The aim of this study was to examine is maternal diabetes associated to lowered offspring general cognitive function in childhood and midlife, when the other concomitant perinatal risks occurred or either did not occur. A hypothesis was that maternal diabetes is associated to lowered general cognitive function only in children who had the other concomitant perinatal risks. Another aim was to explore is there a time related change in the risk groups. Methods. This study is a part of a prospective birth-cohort study originating in Helsinki region that follows 1971 to 1974 born risk group offspring. Out of 22,359 consecutive deliveries at the Institute of Midwifery during that time, 93 offspring had mother's diabetes obtained during the pregnancy or before it. Of the offspring with maternal diabetes, 59 had maternal diabetes as the only risk, and 34 had at least another predefined concomitant risk. General cognitive function in the subjects and controls was assessed by Wechsler Intelligence Scales at 9 and 40 years as a part of the wider neuropsychological examination. Differences between the groups were examined by group and pairwise comparisons. Longitudinal changes in general cognitive function in each group were estimated by fitting the linear multilevel models. Results and conclusions. Findings of the present study were controversial to the hypothesis. Both risk groups, with and without other concomitant risks, had lower general and verbal function in childhood than controls. At midlife, no effect of maternal diabetes was found. The results indicated that general cognitive function and acquired verbal information improved at least in the risk group with the other concomitant risks. Otherwise performance remained relatively same.

Objectives. Anxiety and physical inactivity are associated with significant personal and societal disadvantages worldwide. Previous research suggests that physical activity is associated with decreased symptoms of anxiety among healthy adults, adults with a chronic illness, and individuals diagnosed with an anxiety disorders. Increasing amount of studies also suggests that physical exercise can be an evidenced-based intervention for anxiety symptoms among people with anxiety disorders. Few studies have used direct measures of physical activity instead of self-report measures. The objective of this study was to determine the association between regular physical activity and anxiety and examine if the relationship remains after controlling possible moderating variables, BMI, depression and health status. In addition, the aim was to examine how using self-report measures and direct measures affects to these results. Method. The study sample (n = 284, 54.9 % women, mean age = 54,4 years) was a part of the Midlife Development in the United States follow-up study material. Physical activity was assessed by Actiwatch activity monitoring system and by self-report measures. Anxiety was assessed by the trait version of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). The relations between physical activity and anxiety were examined using linear regression. Results and conclusions. There were no significant relationship between physical activity and anxiety. However, low moderate exercise predicted higher anxiety levels almost significantly. This relation didn't remain after controlling the effects of the possible moderating variables, BMI, depression and health status. Relationship between direct and self-report measures of physical activity was weak. Results found in this study are conflicting with the information from previous studies in which significant relationship between physical activity and anxiety has been found. However, small sample size, limitations regarding the measurement tools of physical activity and high mean age of the sample may have influenced these results. In accord with previous studies, these findings suggest that there are some problems regarding the reliability of self-report measures when measuring physical activity. Future research is needed to clarify relations between physical activity and anxiety.