Age of onset of drinking and the use of alcohol in adulthood: a follow-up study from age 8–42 for females and males

Aim To investigate longitudinally for both genders the relation between the age of onset of drinking and several indicators of alcohol use. Design and setting In the Finnish Jyvaskyla Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development, data have been collected by interviews, inventories, and questionnaires. Data on alcohol consumption was gathered at ages 14, 20, 27, 36 and 42 years; behavioural data at age 8. Participants A total of 155 women and 176 men; 90.4% of the original sample consisting of 12 complete school classes in 1968. Measurements The age of onset of drinking was determined based on participants’ responses that were closest to the actual age of onset of drinking. Four …

The role of parenting styles and teacher interactional styles in children's reading and spelling development.

Abstract This study examined the associations between parenting styles, teacher interactional styles, and children's reading and spelling skills. The sample consisted of 864 Finnish-speaking children and their parents (864 mothers, 864 fathers) and teachers ( N  = 123). Children's risk for reading disabilities and reader status were assessed in kindergarten. Children were also tested on reading and spelling skills in Grades 1 and 2. Parenting styles and teacher interactional styles were measured using parents' and teachers' self-reports in Grade 1. First, the results indicated that both an authoritative parenting style and authoritative teacher interactional style positively predicted child…

Teachers adapt their instruction in reading according to individual children’s literacy skills

Abstract This study examined the extent to which first grade teachers adapt their reading instruction to the literacy skills of particular children in their classroom, and investigated whether teacher and classroom characteristics influence such adaptation. Three hundred seven Finnish children were tested with regard to their literacy skills at the end of their kindergarten year. At the beginning of the first grade, the teachers of these children filled in a questionnaire on the reading support they had given each child. The results showed, first, that the poorer the literacy skills a child showed at the end of kindergarten, the more personal reading instruction the teacher gave the child i…

Compression forces of haptics of freely rotating posterior chamber intraocular lenses.

Abstract Purpose: To measure the compressive forces of the haptics of 28 intraocular lens (IOL) models for different modes of compression and compare the results of two types of measurements. Setting: Department of Ophthalmology, Central Hospital of Central Finland, Jyvaskyla, Finland. Methods: The haptics of 28 types of IOLs were compressed to a diameter of 9.0 mm between curved anvils. The compression forces in the plane of compression (i.e., in the plane of the optics) were measured at 0.5 mm intervals. During compression, the optics and the haptics were free to rotate with respect to the anvils. The results were compared with those of earlier measurements in which the optics were held f…

Parental Identity and Its Relation to Parenting and Psychological Functioning in Middle Age

SYNOPSIS Objective. This article focuses on identity as a parent in relation to parenting and psychological functioning in middle age. Design. Drawn from the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development, 162 participants (53% females) with children (age 36), represented the Finnish age-cohort born in 1959. Parental identity was assessed at ages 36, 42, and 50. Results. In both women and men, parental identity achievement increased from age 36 to 42 and remained stable to 50. The level of parental identity achievement was higher in women than in men. Achievement was typical for women and foreclosure for men. Participants’ education, occupational status, and number of of…

Antisocial and human capital pathways to socioeconomic exclusion: A 42-year prospective study.

Nordic welfare states have been very successful at reducing poverty and inequality among their citizens. However, the presence of a strong social safety net in these countries has not solved the problem of socioeconomic exclusion, manifesting in such outcomes as chronic unemployment and welfare dependency. In an effort to understand this phenomenon, the current study builds on the assumption that psychological risk factors emerge as important determinants of socioeconomic disadvantage in an environment where ascribed characteristics have less impact on educational and occupational attainment. Using data from Finland, this research examined a life course model linking childhood differences i…

Children's help seeking: the role of parenting

Abstract Ninety-nine families with a school-age child participated in this study, aimed at analysing the relationship between parenting and children's help seeking. The parenting data included self-reports on parents' child-rearing principles and behavioural observations during parent–child interactions. To test help seeking, the children were placed in a problem-solving situation and had the opportunity to seek help from the experimenter. For girls, higher levels of parental nurturance were linked to longer thinking times preceding help seeking and to lessened capacity to reuse previously received help. For boys, higher levels of fathers' emotional warmth were related to higher rates of ir…

Self-rated health and mortality: Could clinical and performance-based measures of health and functioning explain the association?

It is well established that self-rated health (SRH) predicts mortality even when other indicators of health status are taken into account. It has been suggested that SRH measures a wide array of mortality-related physiological and pathological characteristics not captured by the covariates included in the analyses. Our aim was to test this hypothesis by examining the predictive value of SRH on mortality controlling for different measurements of body structure, performance-based functioning and diagnosed diseases with a population-based, prospective study over an 18-year follow-up. Subjects consisted of 257 male residents of the city of Jyväskylä, central Finland, aged 51-55 and 71-75 years.…

Task avoidance, number skills and parental learning difficulties as predictors of poor response to instruction.

Altogether 1,285 Finnish children were followed up from the end of kindergarten through Grade 1. All were nonreaders at school entrance. The aim was to delineate predictors of resistance to treatment that are evidenced as little or no reading progress during Grade 1. On the basis of reading achievement in Grade 1 spring, four subgroups were formed. These were fast, average, and slow reading acquisition and slow progress in both reading and math. Kindergarten spring scores in phonological awareness, letter knowledge, rapid naming, and number skills differentiated well among the groups, the latter two being more robust predictors. Task avoidance added to the prediction over and above cogniti…

Is social capital a mediator between self-control and psychological and social functioning across 34 years

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of social capital assessed in early adulthood in linking self-control in childhood with psychological and social functioning in middle age. Data collected at ages 8, 27, and 42 years were based on the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (159 females, 177 males). Self-control was assessed at age 8 using teacher ratings and peer nominations. Social capital at age 27 was operationalized in terms of the breadth of the individuals’ social network and the depth of their close relationships. Psychological functioning at age 42 was indicated by, for instance, psychological well-being, and social functioning was indica…

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Compression forces of haptics of selected posterior chamber lenses

Abstract Purpose: To compare the compressive forces of the haptics of different intraocular lens (IOL) models and analyze the observed differences. Setting: Central Hospital of Central Finland and University of Jyvaskyla, Jyvaskyla, Finland. Methods: The haptics of 28 IOL models were compressed to a diameter of 9.0 mm. The compression forces were measured at 0.5 mm intervals. The conclusions were verified by numerical simulations of mechanical models of the lenses. Results: The measured forces varied between 100 and 601 mg at a diameter of 11.0 mm, 206 and 1057 mg at a diameter of 10.0 mm, and 315 and 2094 mg at a diameter of 9.0 mm. The slopes of the force curves of the three-piece lenses …

Social relations in older adults: Secular trends and longitudinal changes over a 16-year follow-up.

Abstract Drawing on population studies in Finland, we investigated secular trends and longitudinal changes in social relations. The cohort comparison data comprised on 974 persons aged 65–69 years from three cohorts born between 1919 and 1939 and interviewed in 1988, 1996 and 2004. Longitudinal analyses were conducted for 635 persons aged 65–74 years over a 16-year follow-up at three measurement points. Social relations were studied on the basis of frequency seeing one's offspring, perceptions of the sufficiency of these contacts, and by asking whom the participants considered as their closest person and how often and in how many tasks they helped someone. The cohort comparisons showed that…

Mutual Trust between Kindergarten Teachers and Mothers and its Associations with Family Characteristics in Estonia and Finland

Mutual trust between mothers and kindergarten teachers along with its relation to mother’s educational level and child’s gender was studied in two neighboring countries—Estonia and Finland. From Estonia 543 ratings of mothers and 232 ratings of teachers were collected, and, from Finland, 712 ratings of mothers and 712 ratings of teachers. Trust was assessed with shortened questionnaires based on the Trust scale. More Finnish than Estonian mothers reported a higher level of trust towards the teacher while no significant difference was found for teachers. The associations between the level of mothers’ and teachers’ trust and mother’s education were different in each country.

Trajectories Based on Postcomprehensive and Higher Education: Their Correlates and Antecedents

The aim of this study was to investigate different trajectories of education, based on annual attendance in postcomprehensive and higher education between ages 15 and 42, and their correlates and antecedents. A special focus was on education that occurred after spending several years in the labor market (i.e., off-time education). Analyses were based on the Finnish Jyvaskyla Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development in which the same participants have been followed from age 8 to 42. Four trajectories were obtained: no or early, off-time, on-time, and continuing education. Through adulthood, career stability, and occupational status were lower among off-time and no or early ed…

A developmental approach to alcohol drinking behaviour in adulthood: a follow-up study from age 8 to age 42

AIMS: To study the links of family background, child and adolescent social behaviour, and (mal)adaptation with heavy drinking by age 20 and with the frequency of drinking, binge drinking, Cut-down, Annoyed, Guilt, Eye-opener (CAGE) questionnaire scores and problems due to drinking at ages 27 and 42 years. DESIGN: In the Finnish Jyvaskyla Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development, data have been collected by interviews, inventories and questionnaires. Behavioural data were gathered at ages 8 and 14; data on alcohol consumption were gathered at ages 14, 20, 27, 36 and 42. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 184 males and 163 females; 94% of the original sample of the 8-year-olds. FINDINGS…

Life success of males on nonoffender, adolescence-limited, persistent, and adult-onset antisocial pathways: follow-up from age 8 to 42

A random sample of 196 males, drawn from the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development, was divided into four groups of offenders using information from government registers of convictions between ages 21 and 47, from local police registers searched at age 21, from a Self-Report Delinquency Scale administered at age 36, from a Life History Calendar for ages 15-42, and from personal interviews at ages 27, 36, and 42. The groups were: persistent offenders (offences before and after age 21; 29% of the men); adolescence-limited offenders (offences before age 21; 27%); adult-onset offenders (offences after age 21; 16%); and nonoffenders (28%). The profile of the persiste…