Vappu Sunnari

Mistreatment of university students most common during medical studies

BackgroundThis study concerns the occurrence of various forms of mistreatment by staff and fellow students experienced by students in the Faculty of Medicine and the other four faculties of the University of Oulu, Finland.MethodsA questionnaire with 51 questions on various forms of physical and psychological mistreatment was distributed to 665 students (451 females) after lectures or examinations and filled in and returned. The results were analysed by gender and faculty. The differences between the males and females were assessed statistically using a test for the equality of two proportions. An exact two-sided P value was calculated using a mid-P approach to Fishers exact test (the null hypothesis being that there is no difference between the two proportions).ResultsAbout half of the students answering the questionnaire had experienced some form of mistreatment by staff during their university studies, most commonly humiliation and contempt (40%), negative or disparaging remarks (34%), yelling and shouting (23%), sexual harassment and other forms of gender-based mistreatment (17%) and tasks assigned as punishment (13%). The students in the Faculty of Medicine reported every form of mistreatment more commonly than those in the Faculties of Humanities, Education, Science and Technology. Experiences of mistreatment varied, but clear messages regarding its patterns were to be found in each faculty. Female students reported more instances of mistreatment than males and were more disturbed by them. Professors, lecturers and other staff in particular mistreated female students more than they mistreated males. About half of the respondents reported some form of mistreatment by their fellow students.ConclusionStudents in the Faculty of Medicine reported the greatest amount of mistreatment. If a faculty mistreats its students, its success in the main tasks of universities, research, teaching and learning, will be threatened. The results challenge university teachers, especially in faculties of medicine, to evaluate their ability to create a safe environment conducive to learning.

Humour as a resource and strategy for boys to gain status in the field of informal school

Through a feminist approach this paper illustrates how humour is used as a resource and strategy for status among Finnish school boys and in constructing culturally accepted masculinity in the field of informal school. Based on interview and observation material collected in three schools, the results suggest that although humour is often affiliative and positive in nature, exclusive, violent humour is also used as a resource and strategy, which might have serious consequences on targeted students’ lives. The effect of humour as a symbolic resource of status depends not only on context and power relations between the agents, but also on a credible, strategic usage of the resources available to a boy. Humour has an important influence on constructing masculinities and the social status of boys. Furthermore, the status of a boy defines the value of his humour among his peer group.

Experience of loneliness among adolescent girls and boys: Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 study

When an individuals socio-emotional needs are not being adequately met, the subjective and negative feeling of loneliness occurs. Study assessed the experiences of loneliness of 16-year-olds in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 (n=7014). Most (70.4%) adolescents reported not feeling lonely, 26.4% reported feeling somewhat and 3.2% reported feeling very lonely. Girls reported more loneliness than boys. Multinomial logistic regression was employed to describe the association of selected social, emotional, contextual and health and well-being factors between not lonely and somewhat lonely and between not lonely and very lonely adolescents. All factors grouped as emotional and health and well-being were associated with loneliness experiences, social factors related to family were not. Among girls, an association was found between being somewhat lonely and living in rural areas. Associated factors (not having close friends, feeling unliked, victim of bullying, avoiding company, feeling unhappy, sad, depressed, dissatisfaction with life, poor self-rated health) were similar to somewhat and very lonely, but very lonely adolescents, especially girls, experience them more strongly. It is important to recognise lonely individuals early on to prevent more serious social, emotional and health and well-being problems which loneliness may cause.

Associations of deliberate self-harm with loneliness, self-rated health and life satisfaction in adolescence: Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 Study

Background Deliberate self-harm (DSH) is an act with a non-fatal outcome in which an individual initiates a behaviour, such as self-cutting or burning, with the intention of inflicting harm on his or her self. Interpersonal difficulties have been shown to be a risk factor for DSH, but the association between subjective experience of loneliness and DSH have rarely been examined. Objective To examine the frequency of DSH or its ideation and loneliness among 16-year-olds to determine if associations exist between DSH and loneliness, loneliness-related factors, self-rated health and satisfaction with life. Design The study population (n=7,014) was taken from Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 (N=9,432). Cross-tabulations were used to describe the frequency of DSH by factors selected by gender. Logistic regression analysis was used to describe the association between DSH and loneliness and other selected factors. Results Nearly 8.7% (n=608) of adolescents reported DSH often/sometimes during the preceding 6 months, with girls (n=488, 13.4%) reporting DSH almost 4 times than that of boys (n=120, 3.6%). Nearly 3.2% of the adolescents (girls: n=149, 4.1%; boys: n=72, 2.2%) expressed that the statement I feel lonely was very/often true, and 26.4% (girls: n=1,265, 34.8%; boys: n=585, 17.4%) expressed that the statement was somewhat/sometimes true. Logistic regression showed that those who reported to be very/often lonely (girls: odds ratio (OR) 4.1; boys: OR 3.2), somewhat/sometimes lonely (girls: OR 2.4; boys: OR 2.4) were dissatisfied with life (girls: OR 3.3; boys: OR 3.3), felt unliked (girls: OR 2.2; boys: OR 6.0) and had moderate self-rated health (girls: OR 2.0; boys: OR 1.7), were more likely to report DSH than those without these feelings. Conclusion The results show that loneliness is associated with DSH, and that loneliness should be considered as a risk for individual health and well-being.

Earn Yo’ Respect! Respect in the Status Struggle of Finnish School Boys

What is respect among school boys and how can it be earned? Reaching across disciplines, this article contends that respect is a dimension of status in the context of masculinities in peer relations, as are peer likeability and power positions. Drawing on longitudinal interviews and observational material, the authors scrutinize violence, physicality, materiality, and performances, exploring how school boys use these resources strategically to gain respect and to affect power relations. The authors conceptualize respect further, suggesting that respect among school boys refers not only to peer likeability but to a self-oriented stance tied to power and masculine veneration. This research aims to dig deeply into the complexities of masculinities, status, and power; to openly subvert, change, and make room for ‘‘fair power’’ instead of ‘‘fear power’’ in schools.

Standing by?…?Standing off--Troublesome Compassion in the Relationships of School Boys.

This paper draws on the story of ‘Mikael’, a schoolboy from northern Finland, to examine how his affective ties of compassion and his pursuit of dominant forms of masculinity evolve in his journey from middle childhood to young adulthood. In his earlier years, Mikaels speech regarding his relationships with peers and family members indicates a non-hierarchical sympathetic orientation, enabling sensitivity to diverse vulnerabilities. Over time, his speech reflects more and more the ideals of dominating masculinity and hierarchical relationality, and it is marked by ‘inner-circle’ compassion that excludes people considered vulnerable and/or ‘Other’. The authors argue that the challenge of balancing compassionate concern, masculinity and social position generates heavy costs, imposing on young men not only the heavy burden of fulfilling the requirements of culturally esteemed masculinity, but also a partial loss of being in touch with ones inner faculties of emotions and imagination.

Associations between school liking, loneliness and social relations among adolescents: Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 study

Abstract School is an important social environment, but it can also be a devastating place for those who experience loneliness, are bullied or have problematic social relations. These negative experiences might be associated with school dislike, which in turn can negatively affect pupil’s motivation, academic success and overall well-being. This study examined the associations between school liking with self-reports of experiences of loneliness and social relations in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986. The answers of 16-year-olds to two adolescents’ questionnaires were investigated (n = 5817) using binomial logistic regression. For girls, variables associated with school dislike were being somewhat or very lonely, for girls and boys hanging around with friends/kids who get in trouble and for boys being afraid of going to school and not getting along with other adolescents. Schools should pay attention to creating safe and supporting social and learning environment so that everyone can thrive at school.

Reconfigurings of Non-violence as a Matter of Sustainability and Response-ability

ABSTRACT In this paper, we explore non-violence and the responsibility for non-violence inspired by Karen Barad’s work on the material–discursive notion of response-ability. Our analysis, by way of thinking with theory, is based on a careful engagement with the life of one woman, Lena, as told by her in writing and interviews between the years 2007 and 2015. Based on her talk about violence and non-violence in her life, we produced three stories of non-violence “in-becoming”. Through these stories, our aim is to shed light on non-violence as relational; that is, how it is reconfigured in the complex entanglements of bodies, things, abstractions, and histories and how these different entanglements enable an ethically sustainable response for non-violence. In the end, by foregrounding relationality, response, and sustainability, we argue that nurturing sustainable non-violence could be enriched by expanding the focus from individual agency or collective action to the co-constituted conditions of possibilities for response-ability.