Browsing by master's degree program "Psykologian maisteriohjelma"

Objectives. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been assoaciated with anomalies in pain sensitivity, although the results of the studies have not been concordant. Since sensory atypicalities are a frequent feature in ASD, it has led to the hypothesis of sensory dysfunction which affects the whole sensory system, including the pain system. ASD has also been associated with increased pain disturbance in previous studies. This Master`s thesis investigated the relationship between ASD traits and pain intensity, pain interference, and pain sensitivity. Moreover, the aim was to study if sensory atypicalities have a different impact on pain intensity, pain interference, and pain sensitivity, when accompanied with ASD traits. Methods. The sample consisted of 947 adults aged between 18 and 60 years. The data were collected using an online questionnaire, which contained items about ASD traits, pain intensity and pain interference from the past week, pain sensitivity in different situations, and sensory hyper- and hyposensitivies. In addition, there were items on backround information relevant for the study in the questionnaire. The subjects were divided into two groups based on the score obtained from the ASD trait questionnaire: the ASD trait group and the reference group. Results and conclusions. There was a significant negative association between ASD traits and pain intensity, such that the estimates of pain intensity were significantly lower in the ASD trait group than in the reference group, despite there being more self-reported comorbidities and chronic pain presented in the ASD trait group. There were no significant associations between ASD traits and pain interference or pain sensitivity. Furthermore, there was a significant interaction between ASD traits and sensory atypicalities in pain intensity, pain interference, and pain sensitivity; as the number of sensory atypicalities increased, pain intensity, pain interference, and pain sensitivity increased significantly in the reference group. Instead, the impact of sensory atypicalities on pain was significantly weaker in individuals with ASD traits. The results imply that individuals with ASD traits may have lower pain sensitivity in everyday life, but regular pain sensitivity in specific pain situations. The impact of sensory atypicalities on pain seems to be stronger in individuals without ASD traits, which does not provide support for the hypothesis of sensory dysfunction as an underlying mechanism of pain sensitivity in ASD.

Objectives. The most prevailing theory on developmental dyslexia (DD) is the phonological deficit theory, according to which individuals with DD have impairments in neural processing of speech sounds. However, there is evidence that the cause of DD could be related to a fundamental impairment called categorical speech perception (CSP) deficit that is related to the perception of auditory phonemes categories. CSP deficits have been reported in children with or at risk for DD but the results are inconsistent and under debate. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine whether the CSP deficit can be detected in preschoolers at family risk for DD when compared to chronological-age controls and whether the performance on the CSP task predicts age-appropriate pre-reading skills. Methods. The study sample consisted of 49 5-year-old Finnish preschoolers of which 36 had a familial risk for DD and 13 were controls with no such risk. The CSP performance was evaluated with a behavioral speech sound categorization task and pre-reading skills with the LUKIVA scale. The data structure represented a hierarchical nested design, and therefore, the CSP performance was analyzed by using the Linear Mixed-Effects Model, and pre-reading skills by the Generalized Linear Mixed Model. Results and Conclusions. The at-risk children had a poorer performance on the CSP task than the control group; however, the difference was only marginally significant. The performance on the CSP task had no significant relationship with pre-reading skills. Since the difference in CSP performance between the groups was marginal, more research is needed to further validate the relationship between DD and CSP.

Aims. Child abuse violates the human rights of the child and constitutes a risk factor for the child’s mental and physical health. In child abuse cases, disclosure is critical for ending the abuse and receiving support. The present study aims to explore the disclosure characteristics of both physical and sexual abuse to an adult recipient. The second aim is to examine, which factors are associated with receiving support after disclosure. Methods. This nationwide study utilized data from the 2019 Finnish School Health Promotion study of the National Institute for Health and Welfare, including answers from fourth to fifth (n = 99 686) and eighth to ninth (n = 87 283) graders. The analyses focused on participants who reported experiencing parental physical abuse and/or sexual abuse within the past year (n = 26 597). Logistic regression analyses were performed to examine which variables predicted disclosing abuse to adults and receiving support after disclosure. Results and conclusions. Of the total sample of 186 969 participants, 12.2% reported experiencing physical and 4.1% sexual abuse during the past year. Physical abuse (31.5%) was disclosed to adults almost as often as sexual abuse (31.7%). Logistic regression analyses showed that male gender, younger age, and foreign background were associated with disclosure regardless of abuse type. In addition, experiencing sexual abuse increased physical abuse disclosure whereas experiencing parental mental abuse decreased sexual abuse disclosure. Nearly 90% of the victims who reported needing support received it. Older age and exposure to only one abuse type were associated with receiving support after disclosure, as were also Finnish background among the physical abuse victims and experiencing sexual abuse by perpetrators other than parental figures among the sexual abuse victims. These results increase our understanding of the factors associated with abuse disclosure to adults and suggest the importance of assessing and identifying those exposed to multiple abuse types. In addition, the results help identifying victims at risk for not receiving support they need.

nformation and computer technologies (ICT), and to assess the relationships of cognitive ability and key factors relating to ICT use and attitudes. This study assessed a number of ICT related factors including internet addiction, smartphone and tablet use, social media use, computer self-efficacy, negative attitudes towards ICT, positive expectations towards ICT, and ICT use for work. Methods: The study sample was part of the PLASTICITY (Perinatal Adverse events and Special Trends in Cognitive Trajectory) -study. The sample consisted of a Finnish cohort born between 1971–1974 (n = 546), who lived through the ICT diffusion era. Multidimensional item response theory (MIRT) was used to assess the structural composition of the ICT-questionnaire. Cognitive abilities were measured with The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) when the examinees were 9 years old, and with Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV) when the examinees were 40-45 years old. Two structural equation models were created to describe the associations between subjective wealth, education, cognitive ability and the ICTQ factors. The model with adulthood cognitive abilities predicting ICT use was compared to the model with childhood cognitive abilities predicting adulthood ICT use. Results and discussion: ICT use and attitudes were affected by cognitive ability, education, and wealth, and computer self-efficacy and negative attitudes towards ICT emerged as central mediators in the social cognitive model of ICT use. Cognitive ability predicted four of the seven ICT factors: computer self-efficacy, negative attitudes towards ICT, computer use for work, and indirectly the use of smartphones and tablets. Cognitive ability did not predict internet addiction, social media use, and ICT hobbies, or positive expectations towards ICT. Based on the mediation analysis, some of this effect is likely to be attributable to the other consequences of cognitive ability, including education and wealth. However, at least some seem to reflect more direct cognitive selectivity, perhaps due to the verbal and information-processing skill demands of the ICT. Furthermore, cognitive ability measured during childhood, decades before the individuals were introduced to ICT, was as significant as a predictor for negative attitudes towards ICT and computer self-efficacy, as adulthood cognitive abilities. Overall, the results imply that cognitive ability is not associated with access to ICT, but affects the predispositions to use technology and the acquisition of ICT skills.

Objective: Both stress-related exhaustion and depression have previously been associated with a decline in cognitive performance, but there is a lack of evidence on whether these conditions have different associations with different cognitive domains and whether they have additive effects on cognitive performance. Furthermore, very little is known about the cognitive effects of chronic stress-related exhaustion. Consequently, the aims of this study were to 1) examine the associations between current stress-related exhaustion and cognitive performance, 2) investigate whether different developmental trajectories of stress-related exhaustion are differently associated with cognitive performance, 3) compare the association between stress-related exhaustion and cognitive performance to the relationship between depressive symptoms and cognitive performance, 4) examine if individuals with comorbid stress-related exhaustion and depression have lower cognitive performance than individuals with at most one of these conditions (i.e., whether clinical stress-related exhaustion and clinical depression might have additive effects on cognitive performance). Methods: The data used in the study was a Finnish population-based sample of six cohorts born between 1962 and 1977 from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. Stress-related exhaustion was assessed using the Maastricht Questionnaire, depressive symptoms with the Beck Depression Inventory, and cognitive performance with four subtests of the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery, measuring visuospatial associative learning, reaction time, sustained attention, and executive functions. Cognitive performance and depressive symptoms were assessed in 2012, and stress-related exhaustion in 2001, 2007, and 2012. Participants were 35 to 50 years old in 2012. Linear associations between stress-related exhaustion and cognitive performance (N = 905) and depressive symptoms and cognitive performance (N = 904) were examined by conducting multivariate regression analyses. Age, sex, socioeconomic status, and parents’ socioeconomic status were controlled in the regression models. Additionally, multivariate analyses of variance were performed to investigate the different developmental trajectories of stress-related exhaustion and their relation to cognitive performance (N = 541) and the associations of comorbid stress-related exhaustion and depression with cognitive performance (N = 1273). Results and conclusion: The main finding was that high stress-related exhaustion is associated with slower reaction times, but not with performance in spatial working memory, visuospatial associative learning, or executive functions. Ongoing, chronic stress-related exhaustion was more strongly associated with slower reaction times than short-term exhaustion experienced years ago. Compared to depressive symptoms, high stress-related exhaustion was associated with slower reaction times also when subclinical cases were included, whereas only clinical levels of depressive symptoms had an association with slower reaction times. There were no differences in cognitive performance between individuals with only stress-related exhaustion or depression and those with comorbid stress-related exhaustion and depression, which supports the notion that these conditions do not have additive effects on cognitive performance. These findings add to the existing evidence of the cognitive effects of stress-related exhaustion in the general population and have several practical implications. Further research is needed on the topic, preferably with longitudinal designs, more comprehensive cognitive measures, and clinical assessment of the psychiatric symptoms.

Goals Length of human lifespan is an important measure of societal welfare. Mortality is largely linked to physical health, but psychological well-being has also been shown to predict mortality, happier people living longer lives. Psychological well-being can be construed as both subjective well-being (SWB) and eudaimonic well-being (EWB), and measures belonging to both of these constructs have been shown to individually predict mortality. No study to date has, however, compared these differing measures of psychological well-being as predictors of mortality. This study compares measures of life satisfaction (a part of SWB) and purpose in life (a part of EWB) as predictors of mortality. Methods The data used in this study comes from the Midlife in the US (MIDUS) survey, a large-scale longitudinal study spanning almost 20 years. MIDUS includes measures for life satisfaction and purpose in life, as well as data on mortality and many health behaviors with a sample of N=3768. Effects of life satisfaction and purpose in life on mortality were analysed with multiple Cox proportional hazards models. Results Life satisfaction predicts mortality when modeled alone, as does purpose in life. When modeled together, only purpose in life predicts mortality. This finding stands when additional health behavior variables are controlled, but when the sample is stratified by sex, the relation between life satisfaction and mortality also reaches marginal significance for women but not men. Conclusions This study shows that purpose in life might be a better predictor of mortality compared to life satisfaction. The results also give preliminary support for a hypothesis that purpose, and by proxy EWB, is closer to the evolutionary and physiological core of psychological well-being.

Objectives: LARPing is an example of a hobby that requires a lot of time and dedication. Despite LARPing bringing energy and new experiences, it is also stressful. Different coping strategies are used to manage stress and its symptoms. The use of maladaptive, that is long-term harmful, coping strategies has been associated with more significant stress symptoms compared to adaptive, that is beneficial for functioning, coping strategies. Thus, studying the association between different coping strategies and stress symptoms can help to improve the well-being of LARPers. The purpose of this Master's Thesis is to study which coping strategies are associated with stress symptoms among LARPers and whether there is a difference in the strengths of the connections when comparing the associations of adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies with stress symptoms. Methods: The stress related to LARPing was studied online with a new survey. The survey included for example questions about the perceived stress in LARPing, possible causes of the stress, stress symptoms, coping strategies, and background information. 67.6% of the respondents identified as women, 22.5% as men and 9.9% as non-binary. Exploratory factor analyses were performed on the variables measuring coping strategies and the variables measuring stress symptoms. Sum variables of coping strategies and stress symptoms were formed based on the factor analyses. A relationship between the coping variables and stress symptom variables was examined by linear multi-explanatory regression analyses. Age, gender, and relationship status were controlled in all regression analyzes. Results and conclusions: Maladaptive coping strategies were associated with stress symptoms. LARPers who used more self-blame as a coping strategy reported more symptoms of anxiety and depression. In addition, substance use was associated with anxiety symptoms, avoidance with depressive symptoms, and increased use of social support with symptoms of brain overload, which included difficulties in concentration, memory, and sleeping. However, not all coping strategies that were perceived as maladaptive were associated with stress symptoms. Coping strategies that were perceived as adaptive were not associated with stress symptoms. Since maladaptive coping strategies are associated with symptoms of stress, the well-being of LARPers could be improved, for example, through psychoeducation. The psychoeducation could be given, for example, in the pre- or post-brief of a LARPing session and it should focus on diminishing the maladaptive coping strategies.

Objective: The coronavirus disease COVID-19 causes neuropsychological problems to a proportion of patients having contracted the illness in the months following the illness and on a more long-term basis. Currently there is little knowledge about how the required level of care in the acute phase affects the presence of symptoms and their change over time. The objective of this study was to investigate the neuropsychological effects of COVID-19 from a patient self-reported symptoms and cognitive screening perspective. The study examines the effects of the required level of care in the acute phase and time since contracting the illness on self-reported symptoms and cognitive screening results three and six months after the acute phase. Furthermore, the aim was to illustrate the relationship between these two assessments. Methods: The data was collected within the RECOVID-20 project (Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District and University of Helsinki). Subjects (N = 164, of which 96 women, mean age 54.1 years) contracted COVID-19 in the spring of 2020. The data was collected from three different levels of care as required by the acute phase: intensive care unit patients, regular inpatient wards and patients who were ill at home. Self-reported symptoms were assessed with the A-B Neuropsychological Assessment Schedule and cognitive performance was measured by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment-Blind screening tool three and six months after the acute phase. Group differences and change over time was analysed using multivariate variance analyses and linear mixed models. Results and conclusions: About a third of all patients reported neuropsychological symptoms regardless of the level of care required in the acute phase both three and six months after the acute phase. Symptoms consisted mainly of fatigue, slowing and concentration problems. In the cognitive screening patients having received ICU and inpatient ward care performed worse compared to patients having been ill at home, but a statistically significant result was not detected when controlling for age. A statistically significant relationship between self-reported symptoms and cognitive performance was observed only in ICU patients at three months. Although the majority of COVID-19 patients do not have significant symptoms after the acute phase, there are patients that show preliminary signs of more chronic symptoms based on both self-reported symptoms and cognitive screening. More research is needed to investigate the causes of these symptoms.

Objective: Long-term associations of the COVID-19-disease with patients’ wellbeing are not currently well known, but so far evidence of prolonging somatic and mental symptoms after the acute phase have been reported. Patients that have been treated in the ICU or normal wards have been suggested to be in elevated risk for experiencing these symptoms. How prolonging symptoms affect patient’s quality of life has not yet been thoroughly studied. The aim of this study was to investigate how the symptoms reported in three-months follow-up were associated with the quality of life at six-months follow-up of patients treated in the ICU or normal wards and those who were sick at home in six-months follow-up. COVID-19 patients were also compared with healthy controls. Associations between the length of hospital stay and quality of life in ICU and ward patients were also investigated. Methods: The data of this study were collected during the first and second waves of COVID-19 in 2020. This study is a part of the RECOVID-20 project, which is a collaboration project of Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District and University of Helsinki. Altogether 241 subjects (54 % women, mean age 54.5) participated in this study (54 % women, mean age 54.5), and the subjects were recruited from four groups: ICU and ward group, patients who were sick at home and healthy controls. Somatic and mental symptoms at three-months of the acute phase were assessed with a telephone survey and a questionnaire was sent to the patients’ home. In the six-months follow-up the patients’ quality of life was assessed with RAND-36 survey that was sent home. The associations of prolonging COVID-19 symptoms with quality of life were analyzed using multivariate covariance analysis (MANCOVA) and further with discriminant analysis. The relationship between the length of hospital stay and quality of life was assessed with MANCOVA. Results and conclusions: The symptoms reported in the three-months follow-up were associated with lowered quality of life in the six-months follow-up. There were no significant differences in quality of life between the patient groups. The length of hospital stay was not associated with quality of life in ICU and ward groups. These results support previous studies that have found prolonging symptoms of COVID-19 to be associated with quality of life. According to this study, all patient groups can experience clinically significant prolonging symptoms of COVID-19 alike with later association with quality of life.

Objectives: Bisphenol A (BPA) is commonly used plasticizer that has endocrine disrupting properties. Fetal exposure to BPA has been associated with offspring behavioural problems. These associations may be mediated through BPA-induced alterations in the offspring DNA methylation (DNAm). This study examined whether fetal BPA exposure associates with behavioural problems and whether DNAm biomarker score for early pregnancy BPA exposure is linked with behavioural problems in the offspring. Methods: Participants were 442 mother-child pairs of the Finnish PREDO-cohort. I measured BPA from the early pregnancy urine samples and assayed DNAm in the cord blood with Illumina 450k or EPIC array. Mothers reported behavioural problems of their offspring with the Child Behaviour Checklist/1.5-5 (CBCL/1.5-5) at the mean child age of 3.8 years (SD = 1.0 years). I used LASSO regression to create a DNAm score for early pregnancy BPA exposure and tested the associations between BPA exposure, the DNAm score, and CBCL/1.5-5 scores with linear and logistic regressions. Results: After adjustments, early pregnancy BPA exposure was associated with higher risk for clinically meaningful internalizing (p = .02) and externalizing (p = .04) behavioural problems in the offspring. The DNAm score included eight CpG sites, explained 4.8% of the BPA variation, and was borderline significantly associated with a risk for clinically meaningful internalizing (p = .05) and externalizing behavioural problems (p = .06). Conclusions: Early pregnancy BPA exposure associated and DNAm biomarker for BPA exposure borderline associated with offspring behavioural problems. DNAm biomarker score for fetal BPA exposure showed promise and should be studied further in subsequent studies.