Browsing by discipline "Psykologi"

When studying hypnosis, it often needs to be known whether the subjects are hypnotizable or not. Hypnotizability can be predicted by suggestibility, which in turn can be estimated with various scales. Different scales yield different estimates of suggestibility. This creates a risk of incorrect comparison of the scores. The comparability of the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility (HGSHS:A) and Waterloo-Stanford Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility (WSGC) has not been studied much. Suggestibility is sometimes measured repeatedly with different scales and the order of their administration can affect the scores. This effect has not been studied on the HGSHS:A and the WSGC. This study aims to analyze whether 1) the scores yielded by these scales are affected by the order of their administration, 2) the scores are comparable and 3) corresponding suggestions and types of suggestions are passed equally often. It is expected that the order of administration does affect the scores and even more so for HGSHS:A, 2) the HGSHS:A score is higher than the WSGC and 3) the corresponding suggestions are not passed equally often. 58 subjects were studied, (67% female, 33% male). Both scales were administered to each subject. Half of the subjects were first administered the HGSHS:A and the other half the WSGC. The order of administration did affect the HGSHS:A score but not the WSGC. The hypothesis of the HGSHS:A score being higher was confirmed and the comparability of the scores proved to be less than desirable. There were no significant differences between passing the corresponding suggestions. These results imply that repeated testing might be futile if the right scale is chosen. It is recommended to use the WSGC even for subjects with not former experience of hypnosis. Alternatively, certain suggestions could be used separately to overcome the problems related to the common scales. Specific suggestions are recommended for assessing certain types of suggestibility. Furthermore, a summary of what to take into account when assessing the comparability of different studies is provided.

The study examined immigrants' attitudes towards acculturation, in other words the social and cultural changes that take place in the adaptation process. The perspective of acculturation studies was also expanded by examining immigrants' cultural values and their experiences of majority's expectations. In addition, special interest was directed to the relations between acculturation attitudes and values and both factors' relevance on psychological well-being. Indian born immigrants were selected as subjects as they are one of the fastest growing ethnic minorities in Finland. This minority has not been included in immigration studies previously. The seventy-five immigrants that participated as subjects represent a highly educated subgroup of Indian born immigrants. The study was carried out with posted questionnaires. Most of the subjects received an inquiry of their motivation to participate by e-mail or phone before the postal questionnaire. The results were in line with previous studies in Finland as the attitudes emphasising cultural integration were dominant. However, attitudes towards marriage, reflecting deeper and less flexible parts of culture, were dominated by separation motives. Immigrants' perceptions of majority's expectations reflected partly the real assimilation wishes demonstrated in previous studies. Against hypotheses, discrepancies between acculturation attitudes and experiences of majority's expectations did not predict immigrants' psychological well-being in a clear way. The highly educated Indian born immigrants emphasised self-direction and universalism in their values. This separates them from the traditional cultural values of India. The hypotheses made of the predictive relations between values and acculturation attitudes were partly confirmed. Also, the assumptions concerning both the stress buffering role of collectivistic values and the positive effect of achievement values on feelings of mastery were confirmed. Despite the limitations in the data, this study strengthens the view that cultural and personal values play a significant role in immigrants' adaptation process. Information about values can benefit individuals making hard decisions and coping with cultural change as well as officials modifying Finnish immigration policy and planning the support system for immigrants.

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

Goals As the proportion of the elderly population increases, studying biomarkers of cellular aging have become an important focus of research. However, these risk factors of age-related diseases have been difficult to identify. Recently an estimator of cellular aging, based on DNA methylation levels, the DNAm age, has been developed, and it has been linked to risk for both greater mortality and physical and mental health diseases. Effects of early life stress and later health on DNAm age have not yet been studied together. We set out to study, if early life stress and later quality of life and depression each separately or in combination associate with DNAm age. Methods The participants comprised Finnish males, of which 83 were separated from their families during the World War 2, and 83 non-separated controls belonging to the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study. Genome-wide methylation profiles, Rand-36 quality of life and BDI-1 depression inventory were assessed during years 2001-2004. DNAm age was estimated using the Horvath procedure. Associations of separation status, Rand-36 scores and BDI scores on DNAm age were studied with linear regression after adjusting for chronological age, cell type counts, tobacco smoking and frequency of alcohol consumption. Results and conclusions The separation status did not associate with the DNAm age. The Rand-36 Bodily Pain –scale associated differently with DNAm age in the separated group compared to the non-separated group. In analyses stratified for separation status, mild-severe depressive symptoms associated with lower DNAm age in the separated group. Similarly, lower quality of life on Rand-36 Role Functioning-scale and Emotional and Role Functioning Physical -scale associated with lower DNAm age in the separated group. Results are in line with previous studies, which have shown that early life stress doesn't associate with the DNAm age, but the cumulative total life stress and later adulthood diseases do associate with the DNAm age. This study brings novel information of the associations of early life stress and later depression symptomatology and psychosocial quality of life on the DNAm age, and suggests the early life stress and later depression and poorer psychosocial quality of life to have a cumulative effect on the DNAm age. More studies and longitudinal follow-up is needed to clarify the role of DNAm age as a biomarker of cellular aging, especially when examining the effects of early life stress exposure and later health together.

Aims of the study. Earlier studies focusing on diagnosed autism spectrum disorders have found high prevalence of sleep problems and other psychiatric disorders among adolescents. Moreover, subclinical variation of autistic traits has been shown to be associated with social deficits and psychiatric symptoms. However, little is known about the possible connection between subclinical autistic traits and sleep. This study explores whether adolescents with elevated levels of subclinical autistic traits are at heightened risk for sleep problems. Methods. This study used follow-up data from the GLAKU (Glycyrrhizin in Licorice) cohort study. The sample consisted of 157 (57% girls) 17-year-old adolescents. Autistic traits were assessed using the Autism Spectrum Quotient. The Beck Anxiety Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory and Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale were utilized to control for comorbid psychiatric symptoms. Sleep was measured using actigraphs. Associations between autistic traits and sleep were examined using logistic regression analysis. Results and conclusions. Elevated levels of autistic traits were significantly associated with shorter weekday sleep duration. Moreover, autistic traits remained as an independent predictor of short sleep duration when comorbid psychiatric symptoms were controlled for. Risk for short sleep duration was more pronounced among boys. The results suggest that subclinical autistic traits should be considered as a possible underlying mechanism affecting adolescent sleep.

Goals. Bullying is a fairly common phenomenon and is known to cause major psychological distress on its victims. The negative effects of bullying are often long lasting, which is why early interventions are important. Understanding the factors behind bullying can help us learn more about it and thus find better ways of intervening. One factor that is known to affect bullying is personality. The goal of this study is to examine the link between Big Five personality traits and becoming the victim of bullying. On basis of previous research, it was assumed that lower conscientiousness, agreeableness and extraversion and higher neuroticism would lead to a higher risk of being bullied. The role of openness was ambiguous. Also the effect of parental supervision, school performance and time spent with friends were examined. Methods. This study employs the data from the nationwide survey on youth crime and victimization conducted by the national research institute of legal policy in 2012. The sample frame of the survey was Finnish-speaking primary and secondary schools. A total of 8914 sixth and ninth grade students completed a self-report survey questionnaire in school. 14.9 % of the students reported being bullied at least once during the previous year. Multinomial regression analysis was used to explore the relationship between personality traits, parental supervision, time spent with friends, school performance and bullying. Interaction analyses between personality traits and the moderators were also conducted. Results and conclusions. The result of this study suggest that students who score lower on extroversion, conscientiousness, parental supervision and school performance and higher on openness and neuroticism are more likely than other students to be bullied. There was no statistically significant relation between bullying and openness or time spent with friends. The risk between bullying and extroversion was especially high when combined with lower parental supervision, school performance and a higher level of time spent with friends. The risk between bullying and neuroticism was higher when combined with lower school performance and a higher level of time spent with friends. Openness was a risk factor especially when combined with lower levels of parental supervision and school performance. The results show that personality traits as well as other, more social factors such as parental supervision, can have a significant impact on bullying. Parental supervision is something that, unlike personality traits, can be more easily altered, which is why giving parents more information about the effects of parental supervision on bullying is important. Although this study focused on the victim's traits, it is important to stress that the idea is not to blame the victim. The goal of this study was to get a better understanding of the factors that increase a child's risk for victimization and use this knowledge to design better interventions for bullying and perhaps peer victimization in general.

Objectives – The objective of this study was to examine whether there is a connection between the Big Five personality traits and the metabolic syndrome (MetS) in Finnish adults. The MetS is a rapidly increasing syndrome among the Finnish population, which predisposes to type 2 diabetes and cardiac diseases. Previous research suggests that single personality traits may be connected to the MetS and its risk factors. However, only a few studies have examined theoretically well based personality models in relation to the MetS. Identifying the psychosocial risk factors for the MetS is important in predicting and preventing its occurrence. The following hypotheses were made based on previous research: (1) high neuroticism and (2) low agreeableness are positively associated with the MetS. Methods – This is a cross-sectional study of The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study from the year 2007. There were 1 580 Finnish adults aged 30–45 participating in the study, of which 919 were women and 661 were men. The participants answered a personality questionnaire, the Finnish version of the NEO-FFI (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Five-Factor Inventory), which measured the Big Five personality traits (neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness). The MetS is diagnosed when at least three of the following five factors are present: (1) central obesity, (2) raised fasting glucose, (3) raised triglycerides, (4) lowered high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and (5) hypertension. The associations between personality traits and the MetS were examined using logistic regression analyses. Results and Conclusions – In men, low agreeableness was statistically significantly associated with higher risk of having the MetS (OR=.70, 95 % CI=.57–.87, p=.001), adjusting for age and level of education. There were no statistically significant associations found between any of the personality traits and the MetS in women. On the basis of these results, it can be proposed that men with low agreeableness, that is, men low in cooperation, empathy, and kindness, might comprise a risk group for the MetS. This study was cross-sectional by design, which precludes conclusions about cause and effect relationships. Mechanisms linking personality to the MetS were not examined in the current study, and thus, future research should examine the direction of the associations and the mechanisms linking such associations.

The temperamental traits of Cloninger's personality theory (novelty seeking, harm avoidance, reward dependence and persistence) reflect independent systems of central nervous system deciding responses toward new, rewarding and aversive stimuli. Thus, certain temperamental traits and their combinations may predispose to heavy drinking and alcohol dependence. Hence, the aim of the present study was to investigate associations between temperamental traits and the amount of alcohol consumption, frequency of heavy drinking and the maximum number of drinks per occasion. In this study, we investigated also whether these associations are only confounded by between-family differences in genetic and environmental factors. Furthermore the associations between temperamental trait combinations that reflect Cloninger's typology of alcoholism and alcohol use were studied. The subjects (n=401) in the current study were a group of FinnTwin16 study participators, Finnish twins born in 1974-79. Temperament was measured with TCI-R (Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised) a self-report form. The amount of alcohol consumption was asked by Semi-structured interview (Semi-Structured Assessment of Genetics of Alcoholism = SSAGA). The frequency of heavy drinking and maximum number of drinks per occasion were asked by mail form. In accordance with previous studies, novelty seeking had a positive relationship with the amount of alcohol consumption, frequency of heavy drinking and the maximum number of drinks per occasion in both genders. In this study, the association was proven independent of between-family differences in genetic and environmental factors that are associated to both novelty seeking and alcohol use. Surprisingly, reward dependence was negatively related to the maximum number of drinks per occasion in both genders. Persistence had a weak positive relationship with maximum number of drinks per occasion in men. The temperamental trait combinations that reflect Cloninger's typology of alcoholism did not differ from the other combinations in regard to alcohol use as hypothesized. The results confirm the previous finding about the relationship between novelty seeking and alcohol use. Support for Cloninger's typology of alcoholism in regard to combinations of temperamental trait was not achieved in this study.

Recent evidence suggests paranormal and religious beliefs may result from cognitive biases that all humans share. People who think in an intuitive manner are supposedly more affected by these biases than analytical people. Consequently, mounting evidence suggests those who endorse intuitive thinking style tend to be more religious and have more paranormal beliefs than people with an analytic thinking style. However, less attention has been paid to people who are highly analytical but nevertheless have supernatural beliefs. Since analytical people should be less susceptible to cognitive biases, other factors such as metacognitive tendencies might account for these beliefs. On the other hand, if intuitive thinking style is a major causal factor behind paranormal beliefs, an intuitive sub-group among sceptics could be considered an anomaly. Metacognitive tendencies could be a potential psychological factor behind scepticism. A sample of nearly 3000 Finnish participants revealed that there was an analytical and intuitive subgroup among the believers and sceptics. Particularly, analytic believers had more cognitive biases and lesser tendency to belief flexibility than analytic sceptics. Intuitive sceptics had more cognitive biases than analytic sceptics but they adhered more to flexible thinking than intuitive believers. The results of this thesis underline the multifarious nature of both paranormal beliefs and thinking styles. Although analytical thinking may help the person to overcome the automatic and often erroneous shortcuts that the mind produces, it may fail to suppress overlearned and reflectively practiced beliefs. On the other hand, an intuitive thinking style and cognitive biases may not necessary lead to paranormal believing, especially if the living environment encourages a sceptic worldview. Future studies should address the mechanisms that lead individuals with similar epistemological tendencies to acquire totally different metaphysical beliefs.

Body consciousness research is a multidisciplinary field including various conceptualizations of its subject. Usually research frames are based on comparisons between bodily experts, such as dancers, or psychiatric groups with bodily aberrations (e.g. eating disorders) and control participants. Methods of body consciousness research include behavioural and self-report measures as well as brain imaging. Some methods have been used to study bodily experts, but not psychiatric groups, and vice versa. In this study, dancers, amateur and professional athletes, and control participants were studied using four behavioural methods (aperture task, endpoint matching, rubber hand illusion, posture copying) and two self-report measures PBCS (Private Body Consciousness Scale of the Body Consciousness Questionnaire) and BAQ (Body Awareness Questionnaire). Because many methods of studying body consciousness focus on the use of hands, a new method called posture copying, involving the whole body, was developed in this study. Dancers succeeded better than controls in the aperture task, and better than athletes and controls in the posture copying task. In the posture copying task, group differences were present in copying all other body parts but hands. Both dancers and athletes scored higher in the BAQ than controls. There was an almost significant difference between athletes and controls in the endpoint matching task. No group differences were found in the rubber hand illusion or PBCS. The results were considered as proof that dancing has a special connection with body consciousness, but that some aspects of body consciousness are similar in dancers and athletes. Methods measuring the same quality of body consciousness produced contradictory evidence, which questions their validity. This study offers useful knowledge for the future of body consciousness research, with regards to choice of participants, methodology, and study design, as well as treatment plans of clinical groups with disorders in their body consciousness (e.g. eating disorders).