Kristiina Lappalainen

The Role of Social Competence in the Psychological Well-being of Adolescents in Secondary Education

This study examines the relationship between social competence and psychological well-being of adolescents. The role of academic learning disabilities with social competence and psychological well-being was also studied. The sample (n = 412; 207 girls and 205 boys), one complete age group (mean age 15.5 years), was followed from last year of comprehensive school to their first, second and third year of secondary education in a Finnish city. Psychological well-being is related to increased cooperation skills and decreased levels of impulsivity and disruptiveness. Furthermore, cooperation skills predict the third year psychological well-being, when the strong influence of psychological well-being in the first year was controlled for. Academic learning disabilities (reading and mathematical difficulties) were related neither with psychological well-being nor social competence.

Pre‐school Verbo‐sensory Motor Status as a Predictor of Educational Life‐courses and Self‐perceptions of Young Adults

During a 15‐year longitudinal study, 31 Finnish students (risk group) who had been identified as having deficiencies in reading and writing readiness at pre‐school through the German Breuer–Weuffen Differentiation Test were compared with their peers (n = 62) in order to study long‐term differences that emerged at the starting point of the study. In 1999, the students in the risk group were found to achieve significantly lower final school grades and they also had lower perceptions of their own scholastic competence. In 2005, students in the risk group perceived themselves as less competent than their peers in social acceptance, sense of global self‐worth areas and in the strength‐perceptions related to mathematical thinking, learning skills, and self‐regulation. Path analyses showed that verbo‐sensory motor status measured at pre‐school age had long‐term effects on participants’ educational life‐course and global self‐worth. Possible explanations of the findings and implications for early identification are discussed.

Longitudinal associations of student–teacher relationships and behavioural and emotional strengths on academic achievement

Abstract Positive student–teacher relationships are related to students’ academic achievement and behavioural and emotional adjustment. How a student’s behavioural and emotional strengths are associated with these relationships and how the relationships influence students’ academic performance remains unknown. We examined this framework using a cross-lagged panel model with a group of Finnish students and their parents from Grade 5 to Grade 7. The results revealed that the parents rated behavioural and emotional strengths are stable over a 1-year (r = .78) and 2-year (r = .71) period and that students’ perceptions of student–teacher relationships demonstrated greater change over time (r’s = .54, .35). Behavioural and emotional strengths demonstrated a positive relationship with student–teacher relationships as well as academic achievement (β = .39, p < .01). Strengths were also indirectly associated with academic achievement via student–teacher relationships. Study limitations, implications and future research are discussed.

Convergent Validity of the Finnish Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale-2 with Teachers and Parents as Raters

Abstract In previous research the Finnish version of the Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale-2 (Epstein, 2004) has demonstrated adequate internal consistency and reliability. The purpose of the p...

Participation in Part-Time Special Education and Its Correlation with the Educational Paths, Self-Concepts and Strengths of Young Adults.

This follow-up study, written by Kristiina Lappalainen of the University of Eastern Finland and Hotulainen Risto of the University of Helsinki, investigated whether young adults designated as having part-time special education needs (PtSEN) during their comprehensive schooling had differentiated educational and vocational paths, perceived self-concept, strengths, and self-worth when compared with students not designated as having such needs. Results show that young adults with PtSEN (n = 38) have less academically oriented educational paths than those not having special educational needs (No SEN) (n = 165). The self-perceptions of young adults between the groups under study differ from each other only in the physical appearance domain for the PtSEN group. Strength perceptions showed that those in the PtSEN group consider neither learning nor mathematical skills as their strengths when compared with the No SEN group. In addition, the PtSEN group has higher global self-worth ratings than the No SEN group. According to our comparison, young adults with PtSEN backgrounds perceive deficiencies only in those domains which are directly linked to school.

Cross-Informant Agreement and Stability of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire Among Finnish Mainstream and Special Education Students

This study investigated the cross-informant agreement among student self-report, teacher report, and parent report on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire translated into Finnish (SDQ-Fin) and estimated mean convergent and divergent correlations with a sample of fifth-grade Finnish students (N = 588) and the cross-informant agreement among student-teacher-parent informants separately for those with and without special education support. In addition, the study estimated the within-rater stabilities of SDQ subscales for students with and without special education support between two measurements at a one year interval. The cross-informant agreement on SDQ-Fin subscales was moderate with cross-informant correlations ranging from .12 to .42. The cross-informant agreement between teachers and students was in general higher for students with special education (SE) support than students without special education (NSE) support. The mean convergent correlations were higher than the mean divergent correlations across raters. The rater stabilities of SDQ subscales for NSE students and SE students between fifth and sixth grade as indicated by stability correlations were all statistically significant. Our findings provide additional evidence of the usefulness of the SDQ in school environments, and underline the importance of a multi-informant approach to the evaluation of emotional and behavioral problems.