Profiles of Loneliness and Ostracism During Adolescence: Consequences, Antecedents, and Protective Factors.

This longitudinal study (N = 1078, 46% boys; 54% girls) examined profiles of loneliness and ostracism during adolescence and their consequences and antecedents. Longitudinal latent profiles analyses identified four distinct profiles: (1) High emotional loneliness (25%), High and increasing social loneliness (15%), High peer exclusion and high social impact (9%) and No peer problems (51%). Subsequent internalizing problems were typical for the High and increasing social loneliness profile and externalizing problems for the High emotional loneliness and High peer exclusion and high social impact profiles. Furthermore, effortful control, prosocial skills, and relationship quality with parents and teachers were highest in the No peer problems profile, whereas the High and increasing social loneliness profile had the lowest self-esteem and was characterized by low surgency/extraversion, high affiliativeness, and high negative affectivity.

Facilitating Youth's Curiosity in Learning: Needs-based Ecological Examinations.

The decline of curiosity during adolescence has received increasing concerns in education. The present study aimed to identify the key factors in the environment that promote young people's curiosity from a needs-based ecological perspective, focusing on family and school. To enable a better understanding of the developmental effects, this study compared two age groups: 10-year-olds and 15-year-olds. A total of 5482 Finnish students (3034 aged 10 and 2448 aged 15; 48% female and 51% male) from the OECD Survey on Social-emotional Skills participated in the study, and their family and school factors related to basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, relatedness) were assessed through surveys. Hierarchical Linear Modeling results revealed that: (1) contrary to the expectations, factors that support competence and relatedness facilitated youth curiosity to a greater extent than factors that support autonomy; (2) positive relationships with teachers were more beneficial for curiosity among older youth than younger youth; whereas, a sense of belonging at school was the most important factor for younger youth's curiosity. These findings have significant implications for promoting curiosity in general as well as during different age periods.

Achievement Goals as Mediators of the Links Between Self-Esteem and Depressive Symptoms From Mid-Adolescence to Early Adulthood.

Numerous studies have sought to determine whether low self-esteem acts as a risk factor for depressive symptoms (i.e., a vulnerability model) or whether depressive symptoms lead to a decrease in self-esteem (i.e., a scar model). Although both models have received some support, very little research has: (a) addressed this question across critical life transitions likely to modify this pattern of associations, such as the transition to adulthood; (b) sought to identify the psychological mechanisms (i.e., mediators) underpinning these associations. The present study was designed to address these two limitations, focusing on the directionality of the associations between depressive symptoms and self-esteem from mid-adolescence to early adulthood while considering the role of motivational factors, namely mastery (intrinsic/extrinsic) and performance (approach/avoidance) goals as conceptualized in achievement goal theory. A sample of 707 Finnish adolescents aged 15-16 (52.1% boys) was surveyed six times up to the age of 25. Results from a cross-lagged panel model (CLPM) revealed that depressed individuals were more likely to have low self-esteem, although self-esteem protected against depressive symptoms between ages 16-17 to 20-21. Moreover, while self-esteem promoted mastery-extrinsic goals which in turn reinforced self-esteem, depressive symptoms promoted performance-avoidance goals which led to more depressive symptoms and lower self-esteem. Overall, these findings highlight (1) the long-lasting negative consequences of depressive symptoms on self-esteem and (2) the crucial role played by academic motivation in explaining the development of depressive symptoms and self-esteem over time. In turn, these results help refine the vulnerability and scar models, and suggest that motivational factors should be considered in prevention and intervention efforts among young populations.

Prenatal wellbeing of mothers, their partners, and couples: a cross-sectional descriptive study.

BACKGROUND: Prenatal posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), fear of childbirth (FOC), and depressive symptoms have been related to various negative effects during pregnancy, childbirth, and in the postnatal period. This study evaluates the prevalence of PTSS, FOC, depressive symptoms, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among pregnant women, their partners, and as couples. METHODS: In a cohort of 3853 volunteered, unselected women at the mean of 17th weeks of pregnancy with 3020 partners, PTSS was evaluated by Impact of Event Scale (IES), FOC by Wijma Delivery Expectancy Questionnaire (W-DEQ-A), depressive symptoms by Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), and HRQoL by 15D instrument. RESULTS: PTSS (IES score ≥ 33) was identified among 20.2% of the women, 13.4% of the partners, and 3.4% of the couples. Altogether, 5.9% of the women, but only 0.3% of the partners, and 0.04% of the couples experienced symptoms suggestive of phobic FOC (W-DEQ A ≥ 100). Respectively, 7.6% of the women, 1.8% of the partners, and 0.4% of the couples reported depressive symptoms (EPDS ≥ 13). Nulliparous women and partners without previous children experienced FOC more often than those with previous children, but there was no difference in PTSS, depressive symptoms, or HRQoL. Women's mean 15D score was lower than partners' and that of age- and gender-standardized general population, while partners' mean 15D score was higher than that of age- and gender-standardized general population. Women whose partners reported PTSS, phobic FOC, or depressive symptoms, often had the same symptoms (22.3%, 14.3%, and 20.4%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: PTSS were common in both women and partners, as well as in couples. FOC and depressive symptoms were common in women but uncommon in partners, thus they rarely occurred simultaneously in couples. However, special attention should be paid to a pregnant woman whose partner experiences any of these symptoms.

School burnout trends and sociodemographic factors in Finland 2006-2019.

PURPOSE: To identify the changes of school burnout for Finnish adolescents in lower (grades 8-9) and upper secondary schools (grades 10-11) during years 2006-2019; and to examine the associations of personal-(gender, family socioeconomic, and immigrant status) and school-related (school level, urban-rural area) sociodemographic demands and resources in school burnout. METHODS: We used nationally representative data on 949,347 students in secondary school in Finland between 2006 and 2019. Generalized Linear Models were used to assess the effects of year, gender, school level, parental education, unemployment, immigrant status, and urban-rural area and the interactions of year, gender, and school level with each of the remaining sociodemographic variables on school burnout. RESULTS: School burnout increased among girls and slightly declined among boys. The increase intensified in girls and the decline in boys stagnated after 2011. The educational level of the parents had a constant protective impact over time, the gradient for boys slightly larger compared to girls. Urban areas contributed to the trend of increasing school burnout among girls but not among boys. Parental unemployment and immigration background were associated with the increasing trend of school burnout over time, although somewhat mitigated by parental education. CONCLUSION: The results showed the trends in school burnout are often gendered and appeared to worsen aligned with the school budget cuts after 2011. In addition to considering school burnout related to lower parental education and urbanization, it is important to support those students in families experiencing unemployment and/or immigration, especially when concurring with lower parental education.

Intraindividual associations between active social media use, exhaustion, and bedtime vary according to age-A longitudinal study across adolescence.

INTRODUCTION: The majority of adolescents engage with others online, and using social media is one of their top activities. However, there is little longitudinal evidence addressing whether active social media use is associated with study-related emotional exhaustion or delayed bedtime at the individual level of development during adolescence. METHOD: A 6-year longitudinal survey study (N = 426, female, 65.7%) was conducted (2014-2019) in Finland when the participants were 13-19 years old. Utilizing a Random Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Model, this study focused specifically on longitudinal within-person effects. RESULTS: No clear patterns between increased active social media use, increased emotional exhaustion, and delayed bedtime were found; however, the associations varied across the years of adolescence: active social media use and delayed bedtime were only associated in early adolescence; active social media use and emotional exhaustion were associated in both middle and late adolescence. CONCLUSIONS: Intraindividual relations between adolescents' reported active social media use, emotional exhaustion, and sleeping habits are small, inconsistent, and vary according to age. Therefore, future research should focus on additional longitudinal studies to examine the specific practices of social media use during the different developmental stages of at-risk individuals.

U.S. and Finnish high school science engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic.

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, research teams in the United States and Finland were collaborating on a study to improve adolescent academic engagement in chemistry and physics and the impact remote teaching on academic, social, and emotional learning. The ongoing "Crafting Engaging Science Environments" (CESE) intervention afforded a rare data collection opportunity. In the United States, students were surveyed at the beginning of the school year and again in May, providing information for the same 751 students from before and during the pandemic. In Finland, 203 students were surveyed during remote learning. Findings from both countries during this period of remote learning revealed that students' academic engagement was positively correlated with participation in hands-on, project-based lessons. In Finland, results showed that situational engagement occurred in only 4.7% of sampled cases. In the United States, students show that academic engagement, primarily the aspect of challenge, was enhanced during remote learning. Engagement was in turn correlated with positive socioemotional constructs related to science learning. The study's findings emphasise the importance of finding ways to ensure equitable opportunities for students to participate in project-based activities when learning remotely.

Study Burnout and Engagement During COVID-19 Among University Students: The Role of Demands, Resources, and Psychological Needs.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced most universities to switch from in-person to remote teaching from May 2020 to May 2021. This period covered three semesters of studies, and due to these changes students experienced fundamental changes in their learning. The present research was carried out 3 times during the pandemic (e.g., May 2020, December 2020, and April 2021) to investigate study engagement and burnout, and their associations with various demands, resources, and psychological needs among university students. Self-reports were collected from 1501, 1526, and 1685 university students in Helsinki. The results showed that study burnout increased across the time points, being the highest in April 2021, whereas study engagement was the lowest in December 2020. Further, at the beginning of the pandemic the explanatory power of study-related demands and resources on study burnout and engagement was stronger, whereas in April 2021 the role of psychological needs increased. These results inform strategies to promote students' engagement through distance-learning, mitigating negative effects of the situation.

Longitudinal Trajectories, Social and Individual Antecedents, and Outcomes of Problematic Internet Use Among Late Adolescents.

Given the detrimental effects associated with problematic internet use (PIU) and the need to better understand its nature and evolution, the present study examined the development of PIU in a sample of 1,750 adolescents (aged 16-19) from Finland over a 3-year period. We documented the social (loneliness, perceived maternal and paternal behaviors) and individual (sex) antecedents, as well as the outcome implications (depressive symptoms, substance use, academic achievement) of PIU trajectories. Outcomes also predicted PIU trajectories. Latent curve modeling revealed an initially moderate, and subsequently decreasing trajectory of PIU. PIU was predicted by loneliness, paternal neglect, maternal care, depressive symptoms, and being male. In turn, PIU trajectories predicted increases in depressive symptoms and substance use, but decreases in academic achievement.

Does temperament make children differently susceptible to their home physical food environment? A cross-sectional DAGIS study on 3-6 year old Finnish children's food consumption.

Consistently linked with children's food consumption are food availability and accessibility. However, less is known about potential individual differences among young children in their susceptibility to home food environments. The purpose of the study was to examine whether the association between home food availability and accessibility of sugar-rich foods and drinks (SFD) or fruits and vegetables (FV) and children's consumption of these foods differ according to their temperament. The study used two cross-sectional datasets collected as part of the Increased Health and Wellbeing in Preschools (DAGIS) study: 1) a cross-sectional data of 864 children aged 3-6 years old collected between fall 2015 and spring 2016, and 2) an intervention baseline data of 802 children aged 3-6 collected in fall 2017. Parents reported their children's temperament, consumption of FV and SFD, and home availability and accessibility of SFD and FV. Examination of whether associations between home availability and accessibility of FV and their consumption differ according to children's temperament involved using linear regression models. Similar models were used to examine association between home availability and accessibility of SFD and their consumption, and the moderating role of temperament. The association between home accessibility of SFD and their consumption frequency was dependent on the level of children's negative affectivity. More frequent consumption of SFD was observed with higher home accessibility of SFD. The association was stronger in children with higher scores in negative affectivity. No other interactions were found. Children with higher negative affectivity are possibly more vulnerable to food cues in the home environment than children with lower negative affectivity. Consideration of children's individual characteristics is necessary in supporting their healthy eating.

Student Engagement in Adolescence: A Scoping Review of Longitudinal Studies 2010-2020.

We systematically mapped and analyzed the longitudinal research on adolescent student engagement published during 2010-2020. A total of 104 studies of 104,304 adolescents met inclusion criteria. Studies were mainly conducted in North America (43%) or Europe (34%). Over half studied engagement across one or more years. Most studies (93%) focused on antecedents of engagement rather than outcomes of engagement (38%). Data were commonly collected using self-report questionnaires (87%) and analyzed using path, growth, and cross-lagged models. Studies mainly examined engagement in classroom activities, school, or schoolwork; and focused on behavioral engagement (70%), followed by emotional (61%), then cognitive engagement (35%). No studies used a specific theory of engagement development, but instead referred to self-determination, ecological systems, and stage-environment fit theories.

Adolescents' Longitudinal School Engagement and Burnout Before and During COVID-19-The Role of Socio-Emotional Skills.

This longitudinal study examined school engagement and burnout profiles among early and middle adolescents before and during COVID-19, and within-class latent change and stability in students' socio-emotional skills the profiles. The longitudinal data were collected in fall 2019 and 2020 from 1381 5th to 6th, and 1374 7th to 8th grade students. Using repeated measures latent profile analyses based on school engagement and burnout we identified five study well-being change profiles in both samples showing structural similarity: normative (53% sample 1; 69% sample 2), moderate-decreasing (4%; 5%), high-decreasing (17%; 10%), low-increasing (6%;7%) and moderate-increasing (20%; 10%) groups. The groups with increasing study well-being showed simultaneous increase in intrapersonal socio-emotional competencies but showed less changes in interpersonal outcomes.

School burnout and psychosocial problems among adolescents: Grit as a resilience factor.

INTRODUCTION: The present study investigated whether grit can mitigate the associations between school burnout, loneliness, and depressive symptoms among adolescents. It also examined gender differences. METHODS: This study included 1296 seventh and 1166 eighth graders from Finland. The study variables were self-reported and regression analysis was performed. RESULTS: This study found that two grit facets - consistency of interest and perseverance of effort - played resilient roles in school burnout. A high level of grit substantially reduced reported depressive symptoms when adolescents experienced high school burnout. Our further analysis showed that the role of grit was more pronounced among boys than among girls. When male adolescents were at risk of school burnout, both consistency of interest and perseverance of effort protected them and they had only low levels of loneliness and depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that grit can act as a resilience factor among adolescents.

Putting the Goal Back into Grit: Academic Goal Commitment, Grit, and Academic Achievement.

Grit has recently been challenged for its weak predictive power and the incompleteness of its measurement. This study addressed these issues by taking a developmental, person-oriented approach to study academic-related goal commitment and grit and their effects on academic achievement. Using longitudinal data among Finnish eighth and ninth graders (n = 549, 59.4% female, age = 14-16), the longitudinal changes in grit and academic goal commitment profiles were investigated through latent profile and latent transition analyses. Four profiles were identified across two grades: High committed-persistent and moderate consistency (~17%), Moderate (~60%), Low committed-persistent and moderate-low consistency (~8%) and Extremely low committed-persistent and moderate-low consistency (~12%). The students in the High committed-persistent and moderate consistency profile had the highest academic achievement of all the profiles when controlled for gender, socioeconomic status, conscientiousness, and academic persistence. The results revealed that students' profiles changed between the eighth and ninth grades, with more than one-third of the High committed-persistent and moderate consistency adolescents dropping from this group. Further analysis showed that the profiles varied by educational aspiration, gender, and socioeconomic status. These findings imply that the combination of grit and academic goal commitment influences academic achievement; however, this combination is less common, unstable, and affected by internal and external factors. The study provided important implications on the weak grit effect and the ways to improve it.

Momentary task-values and expectations predict engagement in science among Finnish and Chilean secondary school students.

While expectancy-value-cost theory predicts that students' task values play an important part in academic engagement, these associations have rarely been tested in science education and are even less studied in authentic classroom situations. The present study examined to what extent momentary task-values, expectations and costs are associated with students' momentary academic engagement in science classes. Momentary academic engagement was operationalised as energy (give up), dedication (grit) and absorption (flow) components of engagement. Finnish (N = 5891 beeps, 307 students) and Chilean (N = 1931 beeps, 157 students) secondary school students participated in the study using Experience Sampling Method via smartphones. When signalled, students responded to questions via smartphones concerning their momentary task values, expectations, costs and components of engagement in the current activity. The research questions were analysed with multilevel path modelling. The results showed that, for both samples task-values, expectations and costs were related to energy, dedication and absorption components of engagement in science classes. High momentary task-values were positively associated with momentary flow and grit; high momentary expectations were positively associated with high grit and low giving up in both samples; and high momentary challenge showed as increases in feelings of giving up.

Associations between Adolescents' Interpersonal Relationships, School Well-being, and Academic Achievement during Educational Transitions.

A youth's ability to adapt during educational transitions has long-term, positive impacts on their academic achievement and mental health. Although supportive relationships with parents, peers, and teachers are protective factors associated with successful educational transitions, little is known about the reciprocal link between the quality of these interpersonal relationships and school well-being, with even less known about how these two constructs affect academic achievement. This longitudinal study examined how the quality of interpersonal relationships and school well-being worked together to affect academic achievement during the transition from primary school to lower secondary school. Data were collected from 848 Finnish adolescents (54% girls, mean age at the outset 12.3 years) over the course of sixth and seventh grade. The results support a transactional model illustrating the reciprocal associations between the quality of interpersonal relationships and school well-being during the transition to lower secondary school. As such, the presence of high quality interpersonal relationships promoted higher academic achievement through increased school well-being, whereas high school well-being promoted higher subsequent academic achievement through increased quality of interpersonal relationships. Overall, the results suggest that promoting learning outcomes and helping adolescents with challenges during educational transitions is a critical part of supporting school well-being and the formation of high-quality interpersonal relationships.

The Development of Motivation and Amotivation to Study and Work across Age-Graded Transitions in Adolescence and Young Adulthood.

People's motivation to engage in studying and working is an important precursor of participation and attainment. However, little is known about how motivation and the lack of motivation develops normatively across adolescence and young adulthood. Furthermore, there is no comparison of motivation and amotivation development across sequential age-graded transitions such as the mid-schooling transition in adolescence and the school-to-work transition in young adulthood. The current study explored trajectories of motivation and amotivation development in Finland, using piecewise growth curve modelling to analyze five waves of data (age 15-22 years) from a sample of 878 youth (52% male). Indicators of amotivation (disinterest, futility and inertia) decreased, whilst the indicator of motivation (attainment value) increased across both transitions. Reductions in disinterest and inertia were steeper for youth transferring into vocational education at the mid-schooling transition and for youth transferring from an academic track to higher education at the school-to-work transition. Amotivation and motivation shifted most at the school-to-work transition, signaling the importance of this period for motivation development. Overall, the results suggest that young people became more motivated and less amotivated as they aged from adolescence through young adulthood, in line with normative maturational and gradual social changes and transfer into increasingly personalized environments.

Building Grit: The Longitudinal Pathways between Mindset, Commitment, Grit, and Academic Outcomes.

Despite academics' enthusiasm about the concept of grit (defined as consistency of interest and perseverance of effort), its benefit for academic achievement has recently been challenged. Drawing from a longitudinal sample (N = 2018; 55.3% female; sixth-nineth grades) from Finland, this study first aimed to investigate and replicate the association between grit and achievement outcomes (i.e., academic achievement and engagement). Further, the present study examined whether growth mindset and goal commitment impacted grit and whether grit acted as a mediator between growth mindset, goal commitment, and achievement outcomes. The results showed that the perseverance facet of grit in the eighth grade was associated with school achievement and engagement in the nineth grade, after controlling for students' conscientiousness, academic persistence, prior achievement and engagement, gender and SES, although the effect on engagement was stronger than on achievement. In addition, grit was predicted by goal commitment in the sixth grade, but not by the growth mindset in the sixth grade. Finally, the perseverance of effort (not the consistency of interest) mediated the effect of goal commitment on engagement. These findings suggest that grit is associated with increased engagement and academic achievement; and practitioners who wish to improve grit of adolescents may encourage goal commitment more than growth mindset.

Partners of nulliparous women with severe fear of childbirth: A longitudinal study of psychological well-being.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the psychological status of partners of women with severe fear of childbirth (FOC). In this longitudinal study from Helsinki University Central Hospital, we investigated FOC, depression, and posttraumatic stress in the partners of women with severe FOC, and possible effects of group psychoeducation and mode of birth. METHODS: During pregnancy, 250 partners of nulliparous women with severe FOC participated, 93 in the intervention group and 157 in the control group. At 3 months postpartum, 52 partners in the intervention group and 93 in the control group participated. Both the partners and the childbearing women filled in the Wijma Delivery Expectancy/Experience Questionnaire and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale mid-pregnancy as well as 3 months postpartum, when they also filled in the Traumatic Event Scale. RESULTS: Partners of women with severe FOC reported less antenatal and postnatal FOC and fewer depressive symptoms than the childbearing women. No partner reached the threshold of severe FOC. No partner reported a possible posttraumatic stress disorder. Group psychoeducation with relaxation was not associated with better or worse psychological well-being of the partners. An emergency cesarean delivery was associated with a more fearful delivery experience in the partners. CONCLUSION: Partners of nulliparous women with severe FOC neither seem to suffer from severe FOC nor reported posttraumatic stress symptoms after childbirth. They reported better psychological well-being than the mothers both during pregnancy and after delivery. An unexpected cesarean may be a negative experience even for partners of childbearing women.

Development of Friendship and Task Values in a New School: Friend Selection for the Arts and Physical Education but Socialization for Academic Subjects.

Friends provide important social contexts for student development. Research has shown that adolescent friends are similar to each other in their interest and values for different school subjects. Yet our current understanding does not extend to knowing whether selection, deselection, or socialization processes are responsible for this phenomena. Without this knowledge, it is very difficult for parents, teachers, and schools to know how and when to intervene. This study investigated selection, deselection, and socialization effects on adolescent students' task values for academic (languages, math and science, and social sciences) and non-academic subject areas (the arts and physical education). A social network approach was used to examine two waves of annual data collected from school-based networks of adolescents in the first and second years of high school education in Finland (N = 1419; female = 48.6%; mean age at first measurement point = 16). The results revealed that adolescents tended to select friends with similar levels of task values (friend selection) for the arts and physical education, but friends did not become more similar in these areas over time (friend socialization). In contrast, there was evidence of friend socialization, but not friend selection, for the academic school subjects. Across all subjects, differences in task values did not predict friendship dissolution (friend deselection). These findings suggest that to a significant extent, students make agentic choices in developing friendship with schoolmates based on their task values in non-academic subjects. The resultant friend contexts that individuals created, in turn, affected their task values in academic subject areas. These results shed light on the complexity of friend effect mechanisms on task values at the subject domain-specific level.