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The teaching of physical education (PE) to educators in Finland has shifted from didactic techniques focusing on teachers’ actions towards more holistic pedagogy that questions how pupils learn. These changes can be seen in physical education teacher education (PETE) and study books and in the development of PE curriculums for basic education. The national curriculum for basic education changes approximately every ten years and, recently, the national learning outcomes of PE of the two previous curriculums were evaluated. Reflecting on these learning outcomes, the latest research results and feedback from PE teachers, the groundwork for the latest PE curriculum was laid out. The objectives of the current PE curriculum are operationalised into physical, social and psychological functions, encouraging pupils to adopt physically active and healthy lifestyles. These are sought to be achieved by implementing pupil-centred teaching methods based on improving competence, autonomy and psychological relatedness and by creating task-oriented climates during PE lessons. Research on sport psychology has been complementary to research on sport didactics and pedagogy, and the amount of PE-related research has increased in recent years. However, there is still a need to increase the number of multidisciplinary PE research studies. Future research should try to find ways to motivate pupils who do not enjoy PE lessons. The adolescent years are not an easy period, and the current lifestyle of many adolescents revolves around social media, which can negatively affect their emotional development and place them at risk of negative body image. In this context, PE can be a sensitive subject, and PE teachers face challenges in creating a supportive atmosphere. The search for new and innovative pedagogical and didactic solutions is important in order to promote children and adolescents to adopt healthy lifestyles and have a better quality of life. Given the rapidly changing human environment, care should to be taken to ensure that new technological innovations improve human livelihoods. However, more and more research is showing that technology in fact serves to alienate children from their bodies. PE is a sensitive school subject where pupils are faced with the shape and functional capacity of their own body. Future research is needed to find ways to increase intrinsic motivation and to motivate children to be physically active during their lifespan. Therefore, there is a need for multidisciplinary research and methods to open the door for physically active and healthier lifestyles. peerReviewed

This is a pre-print of a published study: Renko, E., Koski-Jännes, A., Absetz, P. et al. A qualitative study of pre-service teachers’ experienced benefits and concerns of using motivational interaction in practice after a training course. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 9, 458 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01484-y Despite its positive effects on physical activity promotion, motivational style of interaction by health professionals is not easily taken up, as shown by meta-analyses of training courses. The concerns professionals experience for taking up the novel skills remain an open question. Preservice physical education teachers were offered a 16-hour training course on motivational interaction, an approach to teacher-student interaction based on the synthesis of self-determination theory and motivational interviewing. This study investigates what benefits and concerns pre-service PE teachers’ experience when trying to adopt this new style of interaction and use its specific techniques. Individual interviews (N=19) of pre-service PE teachers were conducted after the training course. Narrative approach was first used to analyze participants’ experiences of using motivational interaction. Two types of storylines emerged, one enthusiastic and optimistic and the other one partly reluctant. Concerns and benefits of using specific techniques were then selected as suitable units of analysis and inductive content analysis was employed to further analyze the units. The analysis process included open coding, creating categories, and abstraction. Participants described positive professional transformation through learning motivational interaction. Expressed benefits included reducing conflicts and developing good relationships. Participants also voiced concerns that were grouped under four categories: (1) problems in delivering the techniques in group situations, (2) mismatch with professional role demands, (3) undesired effects on personal interaction, and (4) target behaviour (technique-) related concerns. These overarching categories covered a variety of concerns e.g., losing control of situations, and the challenge of allocating time and feedback equally among students. To successfully uptake style and techniques of motivational interaction, pre-service teachers may have to re-evaluate their role and the power relations within the target group. Utilizing the Theoretical Framework of Acceptability, we discuss how interaction trainings can address experienced concerns in order to improve the delivery, effectiveness, and acceptability of such training programs.

Purpose of Review The internet and virtual environments have enabled the formation of online communities around a variety of interests. Online communities focused on gambling are increasingly popular and attract users to interact and share ideas and experiences with likeminded others. This study reviews evidence from the latest research examining the role of online communities in gambling behaviors and gambling problems. Recent Findings A systematic literature search resulted in 17 studies. Research shows that online communities are used for diverse reasons like discussing gambling experiences and problems, sharing tips, and celebrating winnings with others. These reasons of online community use can have both adaptive and maladaptive implications. Online gambling communities often grow through social means by inviting friends or social media contacts to join. Active users of online gambling communities are more likely at-risk or problem gamblers. Summary Online communities have an increasingly central role in learning about gambling, continuing, and spreading of gambling behaviors. Participation in communities that support harmful gambling habits involves risks for problem gambling.

This study examined adolescent and maternal factors of the quality of maternal homework involvement and the extent to which the factors predicted adolescents' subsequent achievement through adolescents' and mothers' perceptions of the quality of maternal homework involvement. The sample consisted of 847 Finnish adolescents and their 662 mothers who both rated the quality of homework involvement (i.e., autonomy support and psychological control) in the fall of Grade 6. Adolescents rated their positive and negative academic emotions. Mothers rated their beliefs about adolescents' school success, their positive and negative emotions, and adolescents' task avoidance in homework situations. Information on adolescents' achievement was obtained from school registers. The results showed that adolescent and maternal factors were differently associated with adolescent- and mother-perceived quality of maternal homework involvement. Moreover, higher levels of adolescent task avoidance, mothers' lower beliefs, and negative emotions predicted poorer subsequent achievement via mothers' perception of high psychological control. peerReviewed

Background Children who are not accepted in their peer group are at risk of developing internalizing problem behaviors. It is possible, however, that supportive parenting can provide a buffer against the detrimental effects of low peer acceptance. Objective This study examined maternal and paternal affection and psychological control as moderators of the association between children’s peer acceptance during the critical transition to primary school and level and subsequent development of internalizing problem behaviors from first to sixth grade. Method A total of 608 children (264 girls, 344 boys) were rated by their teachers on their internalizing problems in grades 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6. Children’s peer acceptance was measured in the first grade using a sociometric nomination procedure. At the same time point, mothers (n = 432) and fathers (n = 281) completed questionnaires measuring their levels of affection and psychological control. Results The results of latent growth curve modelling showed, first, that on average children’s internalizing problems decreased over the school years. Second, peer acceptance was associated with the development of internalizing problems: the higher the peer acceptance, the bigger the decrease—and the lower the peer acceptance, the smaller the decrease—in the level of internalizing problems across time. However, high maternal affection provided a buffer against this impact of low peer acceptance. Among boys, low levels of maternal psychological control also provided a buffer against the effects of low peer acceptance. No significant results were found on the moderating role of fathers’ parenting styles. Conclusion Overall, the results suggested that mothers’ emotionally sensitive and supporting caregiving may protect children from the harmful long-term effects of low peer acceptance. peerReviewed

Only abstract. Paper copies of master’s theses are listed in the Helka database (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Electronic copies of master’s theses are either available as open access or only on thesis terminals in the Helsinki University Library. Vain tiivistelmä. Sidottujen gradujen saatavuuden voit tarkistaa Helka-tietokannasta (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Digitaaliset gradut voivat olla luettavissa avoimesti verkossa tai rajoitetusti kirjaston opinnäytekioskeilla. Endast sammandrag. Inbundna avhandlingar kan sökas i Helka-databasen (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Elektroniska kopior av avhandlingar finns antingen öppet på nätet eller endast tillgängliga i bibliotekets avhandlingsterminaler. This study represents the results of a comparative econometric analysis of the determinants of earnings and unemployment durations. The analysis uses two sets of panel data, one drawn from the outflows of unemployment and another from the working age population. The earnings of people leaving unemployment are modelled in order to obtain estimates for starting wages in subsequent jobs. With these estimates, the expected income changes associated with labour market transitions are evaluated at the household level. Some 8% of the unemployed are estimated to be unable to increase disposable income of their households through employment, while as much as 43% have to be content with a 25% increase or less. The income variables, with controls for other factors, are then mapped into a flexible competing risks model of unemployment duration. The expected returns to employment is found to be an important determinant of the probability of becoming employed. It appears also that the relative importance of economic incentives has been strengthened in the recession years. Tutkimuksessa analysoidaan työtulojen ja työttömyyden keston määräytymistä ekonometrisin menetelmin. Analyysi perustuu kahteen yksilötason paneeliaineistoon, joista toinen on poimittu työttömyytensä päättäneistä henkilöistä ja toinen koko työikäisestä väestöstä. Työllistyneiden alkupalkkoja mallintamalla saadaan estimaatit työttömyyden jälkeisille alkupalkoille. Näiden estimaattien avulla lasketaan työmarkkinasiirtymien aiheuttamat odotetut muutokset kotitalouksien tuloissa. Tulosten mukaan noin 8% työttömistä on tilanteessa, jossa työllistyminen ei lisää kotitalouden käytettävissä olevia tuloja, kun taas 43%:n arvioidaan joutuvan tyytymään enintään 25%:n tulojen lisäykseen. Tulomuuttujia käytetään myös selittäjinä kilpailevien riskien duraatiomallissa työttömyyden kestoa mallinnettaessa. Työllistymisen aiheuttama odotettu tulonlisäys osoittautuu merkittäväksi työllistymistodennäköisyyteen vaikuttavaksi tekijäksi. Lisäksi taloudellisten kannustimien merkityksen havaitaan korostuneen lamavuosina.