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Using cognitive diagnostic modeling (CDM), this study identified subtypes of mathematics learning disability (MLD) based on children's numerical skills and examined the language and spatial precursors of these subtypes. Participants were 99 MLD children and 420 low achievers identified from 1839 Finnish children (966 boys) who were followed from preschool (age 6) to fourth grade (2007-2011). Five subtypes were identified: the arithmetic fluency deficit only subtype, the counting deficit subtype, the pervasive deficit subtype, the symbolic deficit subtype, and the counting and concept deficit subtype. Different subtypes depended on different constellations of language and spatial deficits. Findings highlight the effectiveness of CDM in identifying MLD subtypes and underscore the importance of understanding the specific deficits and antecedents of the subtypes.
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Deficiências da Aprendizagem , Masculino , Criança , Humanos , Pré-Escolar , Deficiências da Aprendizagem/diagnóstico , Deficiências da Aprendizagem/psicologia , Instituições Acadêmicas , Escolaridade , Matemática , CogniçãoRESUMO
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine whether physical activity, fitness, and motor skills have an indirect association with math performance via cognitive outcomes and if so, through which aspects of cognition? METHODS: This study comprised 311 6th-9th grade adolescents (12-17 years [M age = 14.0 years], 59% girls) from seven schools throughout Finland in 2015. Math performance was measured via a teacher-rated math achievement and the Basic Arithmetic test. Cognitive functions were measured by broad cognitive test battery. Physical activity was assessed with a self-reported questionnaire and a hip-worn accelerometer. Aerobic fitness was estimated using a maximal 20-m shuttle run test, muscular fitness with curl-up and push-up tests, and motor skills with a 5-leaps test and a throwing-catching combination test. Structural equation modeling was applied to examine the associations. RESULTS: In both boys and girls, motor skills had a positive indirect association with math outcomes through visuospatial working memory. Among girls, muscular fitness had a positive indirect association with math outcomes through visuospatial working memory. Aerobic fitness was positively associated with math achievement, but the indirect path via cognition was not observed. Self-reported physical activity had a borderline indirect positive association with math outcomes through visuospatial working memory. Accelerometer-based physical activity did not correlate with math performance. CONCLUSION: Motor skills and muscular fitness had indirect positive associations with math performance, mediated by visuospatial working memory. The results give support to the viewpoints that the connections between motor skills, fitness, and physical activity to academic skills are mediated via specific cognitive skills.
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Desempenho Acadêmico , Cognição/fisiologia , Exercício Físico/psicologia , Memória de Curto Prazo/fisiologia , Destreza Motora/fisiologia , Aptidão Física/psicologia , Acelerometria/instrumentação , Adolescente , Criança , Teste de Esforço , Feminino , Finlândia , Monitores de Aptidão Física , Humanos , Masculino , Músculo Esquelético/fisiologiaRESUMO
Mathematical difficulties have been distinguished as mathematics learning disability (MLD) and persistent low achievement (LA). Based on 1,880 Finnish children who were followed from kindergarten (age 6) to fourth grade, this study examined the early risk factors for MLD and LA. Distinct groups of MLD (6.0% of the sample) and LA (25.7%) children were identified on the basis of their mathematics performance between first and fourth grades with latent class growth modeling. Impairment in the same set of cognitive skills, including language, spatial, and counting skills, was found to underlie MLD and LA. The finding highlights the importance of monitoring mathematical development across the early grades and identifying early cognitive precursors of MLD and LA for screening and intervention efforts.
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Sucesso Acadêmico , Desenvolvimento Infantil/fisiologia , Discalculia/fisiopatologia , Criança , Feminino , Finlândia , Humanos , Estudos Longitudinais , MasculinoRESUMO
OBJECTIVE: Proeating disorder (pro-ED) communities online encourage harmful weight-loss and weight-control practices. This study examined the association between exposure to pro-ED content online and subjective well-being (SWB) among adolescents and young adults in four countries. METHOD: Cross-national data were collected in the US, Germany, the UK and Finland from Internet users aged 15-30 years (N = 3,557; 50.15% male). The questionnaire assessed SWB, exposure to harm-advocating websites, online activity, prior victimization, and social belonging. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models assessed the relationship between SWB and pro-ED exposure and adjusted for a number of confounding factors. RESULTS: Of the participants, 17% had been exposed to pro-ED content (US 20%, Germany 7%, UK 21%, Finland 22%). Exposure to pro-ED content online was negatively associated with SWB in the US, Germany, and Finland, also after adjusting for the confounding factors. Offline social belonging moderated the association between pro-ED and SWB. DISCUSSION: Participants who visited pro-ED websites reported lower SWB than others did. The potentially harmful impact of visiting these sites was buffered by the strong offline social belonging. Given the observed similarities across the countries, it is important for families, health professionals, and educators to stay abreast of online communities that have possible contra recovery influences and to be able to discuss such Internet contents in a way that increases treatment motivation. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Int J Eat Disord 2017; 50:50-57).
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Transtornos da Alimentação e da Ingestão de Alimentos , Internet , Adolescente , Adulto , Bullying , Europa (Continente) , Feminino , Humanos , Análise dos Mínimos Quadrados , Masculino , Distância Psicológica , Inquéritos e Questionários , Estados Unidos , Navegador , Adulto JovemRESUMO
Global environmental challenges require changes in both the production and the consumption of goods. In this paper we analyse how consumers perceive the high environmental burden of meat. We analysed consumer environmental consciousness, including problem awareness and a support to action dimensions, latter including perceived self-efficacy as well as solutions to problems. The solutions were positioned on a continuum from increasing the efficiency of production to discussing sufficiency levels in consumption practices (techno-optimism, local meat, organic meat and meat reduction, respectively). We used a statistically representative survey sample (n = 1890) from the population of Finland and cluster analysis to explore differences among consumers. The analysis revealed that most Finns seem to be rather unsure of the study topic. At the same time they tend to have a comparably high level of self-efficacy (55 per cent of respondents) and endorsement of particularly local meat solution type (55%), followed by organic meat (35%), meat reduction (25%) and techno-optimism (15%), though the neutral stand was the most common one across the data. We also identified six consumer groups that reveal not only a high number of Highly unsure consumers (40%), but also some Rather conscious (20%) and a relatively small number of Highly conscious (8%). In addition, there were also easily observable groups of Careless conscious (14%), Rather unsure (9%) and Resistant (8%). The results highlight the need for a multitude of political actions to guide meat consumption, as there are groups that may benefit from practical tools for making dietary changes as well as groups in need for more comprehensive selection of measures, including environmental information.
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Comportamento de Escolha , Comportamento do Consumidor , Meio Ambiente , Preferências Alimentares , Carne , Adolescente , Adulto , Idoso , Mudança Climática , Conservação dos Recursos Naturais , Estudos Transversais , Feminino , Finlândia , Conhecimentos, Atitudes e Prática em Saúde , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Política Nutricional , Fatores Socioeconômicos , Adulto JovemRESUMO
Drawing from routine activity theory (RAT), this article seeks to determine the crucial factors contributing to youth victimization through online hate. Although numerous studies have supported RAT in an online context, research focusing on users of particular forms of social media is lacking. Using a sample of 15- to 18-year-old Finnish Facebook users (n = 723), we examine whether the risk of online hate victimization is more likely when youth themselves produced online hate material, visited online sites containing potentially harmful content, and deliberately sought out online hate material. In addition, we examine whether the risk of victimization is higher if respondents are worried about online victimization and had been personally victimized offline. The discussion highlights the accumulation of online and offline victimization, the ambiguity of the roles of victims and perpetrators, and the artificiality of the division between the online and offline environments among young people.
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Bullying , Vítimas de Crime/psicologia , Delinquência Juvenil/psicologia , Mídias Sociais , Adolescente , Comportamento do Adolescente , Feminino , Finlândia , Ódio , Humanos , Relações Interpessoais , Delinquência Juvenil/estatística & dados numéricos , Masculino , Grupo Associado , Apoio Social , Adulto JovemRESUMO
PURPOSE: The purpose of this paper is to analyse citizens' trust in physicians in 22 OECD countries. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: The authors measure trust in physicians using items on generalised and particularised trust. Individual-level data are received from the ISSP Research Group (2011). The authors also utilise macro variables drawn from different data banks. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and xtlogit regression models. The main micro-level hypothesis is that low self-reported health is strongly associated with lower trust in physicians. The second micro-level hypothesis is that frequent meetings with physicians result in higher trust. The third micro-level hypothesis assumes that males, and older and better educated respondents, express higher trust compared to others. The first macro-level hypothesis is that lower income inequality leads to higher trust in physicians. The second macro-level hypothesis is that greater physician density leads to higher trust in physicians. FINDINGS: The authors found that the influence of individual and macro-level characteristics varies between trust types. Results indicate that both trust types are clearly associated with individual-level determinants. However, only general trust in physicians has weak associations with macro-level indicators (mainly physician density) and therefore on institutional cross-country differences. It seems that particularised trust in a physician's skills is more restricted to the individuals' health and their own experiences meeting doctors, whereas general trust likely reflects attitudes towards the prevalent profession in the country. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The findings hold significance for healthcare systems research and for research concerning social trust generally.
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Atenção à Saúde/organização & administração , Organização para a Cooperação e Desenvolvimento Econômico/organização & administração , Controle de Qualidade , Adulto , Feminino , Saúde Global , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Relações Médico-Paciente , ConfiançaRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Pro-anorexia communities exist online and encourage harmful weight loss and weight control practices, often through emotional content that enforces social ties within these communities. User-generated responses to videos that directly oppose pro-anorexia communities have not yet been researched in depth. OBJECTIVE: The aim was to study emotional reactions to pro-anorexia and anti-pro-anorexia online content on YouTube using sentiment analysis. METHODS: Using the 50 most popular YouTube pro-anorexia and anti-pro-anorexia user channels as a starting point, we gathered data on users, their videos, and their commentators. A total of 395 anorexia videos and 12,161 comments were analyzed using positive and negative sentiments and ratings submitted by the viewers of the videos. The emotional information was automatically extracted with an automatic sentiment detection tool whose reliability was tested with human coders. Ordinary least squares regression models were used to estimate the strength of sentiments. The models controlled for the number of video views and comments, number of months the video had been on YouTube, duration of the video, uploader's activity as a video commentator, and uploader's physical location by country. RESULTS: The 395 videos had more than 6 million views and comments by almost 8000 users. Anti-pro-anorexia video comments expressed more positive sentiments on a scale of 1 to 5 (adjusted prediction [AP] 2.15, 95% CI 2.11-2.19) than did those of pro-anorexia videos (AP 2.02, 95% CI 1.98-2.06). Anti-pro-anorexia videos also received more likes (AP 181.02, 95% CI 155.19-206.85) than pro-anorexia videos (AP 31.22, 95% CI 31.22-37.81). Negative sentiments and video dislikes were equally distributed in responses to both pro-anorexia and anti-pro-anorexia videos. CONCLUSIONS: Despite pro-anorexia content being widespread on YouTube, videos promoting help for anorexia and opposing the pro-anorexia community were more popular, gaining more positive feedback and comments than pro-anorexia videos. Thus, the anti-pro-anorexia content provided a user-generated counterforce against pro-anorexia content on YouTube. Professionals working with young people should be aware of the social media dynamics and versatility of user-generated eating disorder content online.
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Anorexia/psicologia , Internet/estatística & dados numéricos , Mídias Sociais/estatística & dados numéricos , Gravação em Vídeo/métodos , Adolescente , Anorexia/terapia , Criança , Feminino , Humanos , MasculinoRESUMO
Utilizing a longitudinal sample of Finnish children (ages 6-10), two studies examined how early linguistic (spoken vs. written) and spatial skills predict later development of arithmetic, and whether counting sequence knowledge mediates these associations. In Study 1 (N = 1,880), letter knowledge and spatial visualization, measured in kindergarten, predicted the level of arithmetic in first grade, and later growth through third grade. Study 2 (n = 378) further showed that these associations were mediated by counting sequence knowledge measured in first grade. These studies add to the literature by demonstrating the importance of written language for arithmetic development. The findings are consistent with the hypothesis that linguistic and spatial skills can improve arithmetic development by enhancing children's number-related knowledge.
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Desenvolvimento Infantil/fisiologia , Conceitos Matemáticos , Leitura , Percepção Espacial/fisiologia , Criança , Feminino , Humanos , Desenvolvimento da Linguagem , Estudos Longitudinais , MasculinoRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Physical activity (PA) may benefit academic performance, but it is unclear what kind of classroom-based PA is optimal for learning. AIM: We studied the effects of physically active maths lessons on children's maths performance and maths-related effects, and whether gender and previous mathematical or motor skills modify these effects. SAMPLE: A total of 22 volunteered teachers and their pupils with signed consent (N = 397, mean age: 9.3 years, 51% females) participated in a 5-month, teacher-led, multi-arm, cluster-randomized controlled trial. METHODS: The intervention included a PAL group (20 min of physically active learning in each 45-min lesson), a breaks group (two 5-min PA breaks in each 45-min lesson) and a control group (traditional teaching). Maths performance was assessed with a tailored curriculum-based test. Maths-related enjoyment, self-perceptions and anxiety were measured with a self-reported questionnaire. The individual-level intervention effects were tested via covariate-adjusted linear mixed-effect models with school classes serving as random effects. RESULTS: Changes in maths performance or self-perceptions did not differ between the intervention groups. Maths anxiety in learning situations increased in the PAL group (effect .28, 95% CI = .01-.56); there was no change in the other groups. Subgroup analyses suggested that maths anxiety increased in the PAL group among children in the two lowest tertiles of motor skills. It decreased in the highest tertile. Enjoyment decreased in the breaks group among pupils in the lowest motor skill tertile. CONCLUSIONS: Physically active maths lessons did not affect maths performance or self-perceptions but had divergent effects on maths anxiety and enjoyment, depending on motor skills.
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Desempenho Acadêmico , Exercício Físico , Matemática , Humanos , Feminino , Masculino , Matemática/educação , Criança , Exercício Físico/fisiologia , Ansiedade , Autoimagem , Estudantes/psicologia , Destreza Motora/fisiologia , Instituições AcadêmicasRESUMO
This paper examines factors correlated with online self-help-an informal form of social control vis-à-vis intervention-upon witnessing a cyberhate attack. Using online surveys from 18- to 26-year-old respondents in the United States, we explore the roles of various types of online and offline formal and informal social control mechanisms on the enactment of self-help through the use of descriptive statistics and ordinal logistic regression. The results of the multivariate analyses indicate that online collective efficacy is positively related to self-help, as is having close ties to individuals and groups offline and online. Formal online social control, however, is not significantly related to engaging in self-help. Other findings demonstrate that personal encounters with cyberhate affect the likelihood that an individual will intervene when witnessing an attack, and that individuals with high levels of empathy are more likely to intervene to assist others. This work indicates that pro-social online behavior is contagious and can potentially foster online spaces in which harmful behaviors, such as propagating cyberhate, are not condoned.
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Empatia , Comportamento Social , Humanos , Adolescente , Adulto Jovem , Adulto , Inquéritos e QuestionáriosRESUMO
The information society has raised the value of numeracy. This is a challenge to schools and societies, because individual differences are large already in basic number sense and calculation skills. Approximately 5-7 % of school children have extensive difficulties to keep with the speed of curricular demands, i.e. one child in every classroom. These children often have difficulties in other areas of learning too, but disorders in learning can also manifest only in mathematics. Undiagnosed and untreated mathematical disorders become a lifelong handicap creating a barrier to vocational education. They also hinder independent management of mathematical activities of daily living. Low numeracy is a measurable social problem. Intensive and early special education or neuropsychological rehabilitation can diminish the negative effects of the disorders.
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Discalculia , Matemática , Atividades Cotidianas , Criança , Currículo , Discalculia/reabilitação , HumanosRESUMO
The Internet, specifically social media, is among the most common settings where young people encounter hate speech. Understanding their attitudes toward the phenomenon is crucial for combatting it because acceptance of such content could contribute to furthering the spread of hate speech as well as ideology contamination. The present study, theoretically grounded in the General Aggression Model (GAM), investigates factors associated with online hate acceptance among young adults. We collected survey data from participants aged 18-26 from six countries: Finland (n = 483), France (n = 907), Poland (n = 738), Spain (n = 739), the United Kingdom (n = 959), and the United States (n = 1052). Results based on linear regression modeling showed that acceptance of online hate was strongly associated with acceptance of violence in all samples. In addition, participants who admitted to producing online hate reported higher levels of acceptance of it. Moreover, association with social dominance orientation was found in most of the samples. Other sample-specific significant factors included participants' experiences with the Internet and online hate, as well as empathy and institutional trust levels. Significant differences in online hate acceptance levels and the strength of its connections to individual factors were found between the countries. These results provide important insights into the phenomenon, demonstrating that online hate acceptance is part of a larger belief system and is influenced by cultural background, and, therefore, it cannot be analyzed or combatted in isolation from these factors.
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Ódio , Mídias Sociais , Adolescente , Agressão , Humanos , Fala , Violência , Adulto JovemRESUMO
According to criminological research, online environments create new possibilities for criminal activity and deviant behavior. Problematic social media use (PSMU) is a habitual pattern of excessive use of social media platforms. Past research has suggested that PSMU predicts risky online behavior and negative life outcomes, but the relationship between PSMU and cybercrime victimization is not properly understood. In this study, we use the framework of routine activity theory (RAT) and lifestyle-exposure theory (LET) to examine the relationship between PSMU and cybercrime victimization. We analyze how PSMU is linked to cybercrime victimization experiences. We explore how PSMU predicts cybercrime victimization, especially under those risky circumstances that generally increase the probability of victimization. Our data come from nationally representative surveys, collected in Finland in 2017 and 2019. The results of the between-subjects tests show that problematic PSMU correlates relatively strongly with cybercrime victimization. Within-subjects analysis shows that increased PSMU increases the risk of victimization. Overall, the findings indicate that, along with various confounding factors, PSMU has a notable cumulative effect on victimization. The article concludes with a short summary and discussion of the possible avenues for future research on PSMU and cybercrime victimization.
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Developmental dyscalculia (DD) is a specific learning disability affecting the acquisition of school-level mathematical abilities in the context of otherwise normal academic achievement, with prevalence estimates in the order of 3-6%. Behavioural studies show deficits in elementary numerical processing among individuals with pure DD, indicating that deficits in higher-level mathematical skills may stem from impaired representation and processing of basic numerical magnitude. Adult neuropsychological and neuroimaging research points to the intraparietal sulcus as a key region for the representation and processing of numerical magnitude. This raises the possibility of a parietal dysfunction as a root cause of DD. We show that, in children with pure DD, the right intraparietal sulcus is not modulated in response to numerical processing demands to the same degree as in typically developing children. This finding provides the first direct evidence for a specific impairment of parietal magnitude systems in DD during non-symbolic numerosity processing.
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Deficiências do Desenvolvimento/fisiopatologia , Deficiências da Aprendizagem/fisiopatologia , Lobo Parietal/fisiopatologia , Criança , Humanos , MatemáticaRESUMO
Effective teachers use mnemonic tools or mnemonic triggers to improve the students' retention of the study material. This article discusses mnemonic triggers from a theoretical viewpoint based on Jerome S. Bruner's writings. Fifty small linguistic-cognitive, constructive-, rhetorical-, and phonological-mnemonic triggers are detected. These triggers may become supporting elements for our memory system when we are "constructing the realities" in a Brunerian sense when we are ordering, differentiating, comparing, and handling information, stories and experiences in our mind. Many of these are small, hidden linguistic elements in speech. This article discusses their usage in the educational talk and textbooks.
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The wealth of beneficial tools for online interaction, consumption, and access to others also bring new risks for harmful experiences online. This study examines the association between cybercrime victimization and subjective well-being (SWB) and, based on the buffering effect hypothesis, tests the assumption of the protective function of social belonging in cybercrime victimization. Cross-national data from the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Finland (N = 3,557; Internet users aged 15-30 years; 49.85 percent female) were analyzed using descriptive statistics and main and moderation effect models. Results show that cybercrime victimization has a negative association with SWB after adjusting for a number of confounding factors. This association concerns both general cybercrime victimization and subcategories such as victimization to offensive cybercrime and cyberfraud. In line with the buffering effect hypothesis, social belonging to offline groups was shown to moderate the negative association between SWB and cybercrime victimization. The same effect was not found in the social belonging to online groups. Overall, the study indicates that, analogously to crime victimization in the offline context, cybercrime is a harmful experience whose negative effects mainly concern those users who have weak social ties offline to aid in coping with such stressors.
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Bullying , Vítimas de Crime/psicologia , Internet/estatística & dados numéricos , Autoimagem , Comportamento Social , Adaptação Psicológica , Adolescente , Adulto , Feminino , Finlândia , Alemanha , Humanos , Masculino , Reino Unido , Estados Unidos , Adulto JovemRESUMO
The study of websites displaying methods of both physical self-harm and suicide has become an important aspect of deliberate self-injury and suicide research. However, little is known about contextual factors related to entering such sites. Using data from 3,567 respondents aged 15-30 in the US, UK, Germany, and Finland, we found that experiences of victimization are associated with entering pro-self-harm sites and pro-suicide sites. Also, the victimization context had relevance, as online victimization was particularly related to pro-self-harm behavior. The findings suggest a need to organize more specific online support for the victims of violence and online aggression.
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Meios de Comunicação/tendências , Vítimas de Crime , Comunicação Persuasiva , Comportamento Autodestrutivo , Prevenção do Suicídio , Suicídio , Webcasts como Assunto/tendências , Adolescente , Adulto , Agressão/psicologia , Vítimas de Crime/psicologia , Vítimas de Crime/estatística & dados numéricos , Feminino , Finlândia , Alemanha , Humanos , Cooperação Internacional , Masculino , Avaliação das Necessidades , Comportamento Autodestrutivo/etiologia , Comportamento Autodestrutivo/psicologia , Apoio Social , Suicídio/psicologia , Reino Unido , Estados Unidos , Violência/psicologiaRESUMO
The longitudinal relations of domain-general and numerical skills at ages 6-7 years to 3 cognitive domains of arithmetic learning, namely knowing (written computation), applying (arithmetic word problems), and reasoning (arithmetic reasoning) at age 11, were examined for a representative sample of 378 Finnish children. The results showed that domain-general skills, including spatial visualization, language, rapid automatized naming, and working memory, contributed independently to arithmetic learning. These relations were mostly mediated via basic number competence (i.e., counting sequence and number system knowledge), although spatial visualization remained predictive of arithmetic outcomes. The findings underscore a similar developmental course of arithmetic learning across different cognitive domains where domain-general skills build a launchpad for advanced arithmetic via enhancing basic number competence. (PsycINFO Database Record
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Conceitos Matemáticos , Resolução de Problemas , Criança , Feminino , Humanos , Idioma , Estudos Longitudinais , Masculino , Memória de Curto Prazo , Testes Psicológicos , Percepção EspacialRESUMO
PURPOSE: This study examined basic numerical skills in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and how well linguistic factors explain the variance in these children's number skills. METHOD: The performance of children with SLI (n=29) was compared with that of typically developing children along a continuum ranging from preschool to 3rd grade (n=20, 47, 40, and 33). This facilitated both linguistic and educational age comparisons. To study number skills within the SLI group more closely, this group was divided into subgroups on the basis of their performance in verbal and nonverbal numerical skills. The performance of the different SLI subgroups on the linguistic and nonverbal reasoning task was analyzed. RESULTS: As a single group, the children with SLI lagged behind their educational age controls in both verbal and nonverbal numerical skills. Subgroup analyses revealed that the ability to retrieve arithmetic facts from the memory was connected to naming fluency, whereas the differences in nonverbal numerical skills were not explained by the cognitive skills measured (nonverbal reasoning skill, verbal short-term memory, vocabulary, comprehension, and naming fluency). CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that children with SLI form a very heterogeneous group in their numerical skills, and thus specific hypotheses concerning the influence of linguistic deficits on developing numerical skills are required. The cognitive components of serial naming speed present a promising domain for further exploration.