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Theoretical models suggest that the emotion disgust or threat overestimates are important in the aetiology and maintenance of contamination-based obsessive–compulsive disorder. In the current study, both threat and disgust were manipulated and 115 non-clinical participants (mean age 20.46 years, 94 females) were randomly allocated to one of four conditions: high-disgust/low-threat (n = 29), high-disgust/high-threat (n = 29), low-disgust/low-threat (n = 27), and low-disgust/high-threat (n = 30). Participants completed a hierarchical Behavioural Avoidance Task (BAT). Those in the high-threat and high-disgust conditions completed less BAT steps and showed more latency to begin each step than those in the low-threat and low-disgust conditions. A significant interaction effect was observed for the high-disgust/high-threat condition as significantly more task avoidance was found. However, handwashing duration was not significantly different between the high and low-disgust conditions or the high and low-threat conditions. The overall low mean washing duration of 30 s possibly due to the testing conditions and/or the ethnic heterogeneity of the sample may account for these results. There were also no significant differences in the level of anxiety for participants in the high-threat compared with the low-threat conditions. It is possible that anxiety remained relatively low across conditions as a result of the graduated BAT. Future research and theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.

The present study examined the academic antecedents of declining peer social status. Participants included 545 (311 boys, 234 girls) Finnish students followed from the 1st through the 4th grade (ages 6–8 at outset). Each year, teachers completed assessments of academic task avoidance and students completed standardized measures of reading and math achievement. Acceptance was assayed through peer nominations. Supporting the hypothesized model, the results indicated that a lack of interest and motivation at the outset of primary school leads to a downward spiral of academic difficulties and diminished peer acceptance. Specifically, academic task avoidance in 1st and 2nd grade anticipated declining math and reading achievement one year later, which in turn, anticipated decreases in peer acceptance the following year. The findings held after controlling for factors known to contribute to school and peer difficulties, such as friendlessness, school readiness, and emotional and behavioural problems. peerReviewed

PurposeThis study focuses on how young adults face the COVID-19 pandemic by investigating their personal concerns about mental well-being, career/studies and economic situation. The authors investigated how young adults' (aged 18–29) personal concerns differ from older people's concerns (aged 30–65) and which person- and context-related antecedents relate to personal concerns.Design/methodology/approachData of Finnish young adults aged 18–29 (n = 222), who participated in the “Corona Consumers” survey (N = 1,000) in April 2020, were analyzed by path analysis and compared to participants aged 30–65 by independent samples t-test.FindingsYoung adults were significantly more concerned about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on their mental well-being, career/studies and economic situation than older people. Females were more concerned about their mental well-being than males. Among youth, lower life satisfaction was related to concerns about mental well-being, and lower satisfaction with financial situation was related to concerns about career/studies and economic situation. Young adults' predisposition to avoid difficult situations was related to more frequent concerns in all domains, whereas generalized trust and education were not.Research limitations/implicationsDue to cross-sectional data, causal COVID-19 interpretations should be made cautiously.Practical implicationsStrong youth policies are needed for youth empowerment, mental health and career advancement in the pandemic aftermath.Originality/valueThe study highlights the inequality of the effects of COVID-19: The pandemic has radically influenced young adults as they exhibit significant personal concerns in age-related life domains.

In this 3-year longitudinal study, we examined the interplay of children’s motivational orientations, spontaneous focusing on numerosity (SFON) and number sequence and arithmetical skills from kindergarten (at age 6) to grade 1 (at age 7). We also examined the direct and indirect contributions of motivation and SFON to the acquisition of arithmetical skills from grades 1 to 2 (at age 8). The study involved 136 Finnish-speaking, typically developing children. Teacher ratings were used to assess the children’s motivational orientations (i.e., task orientation, task avoidance orientation and social dependence orientation) in kindergarten and grade 1. Number sequence skills and SFON were evaluated in kindergarten, and arithmetical skills were assessed in kindergarten, grade 1 and grade 2. A theoretical model of the relationships among the variables was proposed, and the associations were analysed using path analysis. The results showed that task orientation, social dependence orientation and task avoidance orientation were each unique predictors of later arithmetical achievement. Furthermore, together with arithmetical skills in grade 1 and counting abilities in kindergarten, they helped to predict arithmetical achievement in grade 2. Motivational orientations did not explain the significant contributions of SFON to later arithmetical skills. The study suggests that both motivational orientations and SFON require attention and scaffolding in educational contexts, such as assessment and teacher-child interaction from early on.

This international study compared motivational tendencies among pre-school children from Israel, Finland and the Netherlands. Teachers were asked to rate students’ behaviours during semi-structured...

International audience; Mentally demanding tasks feel effortful and are usually avoided. Furthermore, prolonged cognitive engagement leads to mental fatigue, consisting of subjective feeling of exhaustion and decline in performance. Despite the intuitive characterization of fatigue as an increase in subjective effort perception, the effect of fatigue on effort cost has never been tested experimentally. To this end, sixty participants in 2 separate experiments underwent a forced-choice working memory task following either a fatigue-inducing (i.e. cognitive task involving working memory, conflict and switch costs) or a control manipulation. We measured fatigue in terms of subjective feeling and performance decrement and assessed effort in terms of subjective perception and task avoidance. Subjects exhibited only weak avoidance of the working memory task, with stronger influence of reward than task difficulty on their decisions. In addition, we found that task avoidance did not systematically change following the fatigue manipulation but that variations in task avoidance correlated with fatigue-induced performance decline. The other measures of fatigue and effort were unrelated to each other. Our findings suggest that subjective fatigue may develop independently of task avoidance and suggest an "anticipatory regulation" model in which fatigue urges subjects to stop in anticipation of possible, future adverse consequences.

This study examined the role of temperament, prereading skills, and age at school entry in the development of Finnish children's task avoidance. Teachers rated the task-avoidant behavior of 198 participants in kindergarten and twice in Grades 2 and 3. Parents rated the children's temperament at age 3 and children's prereading skills were measured at age 5. The results showed that, on average, the level of children's task avoidance remained the same from kindergarten to Grade 2 fall, but decreased from Grade 2 fall to Grade 3 spring. A low task avoidance level was predicted by good prereading skills, high effortful control, and high negative affectivity. Low surgency predicted a decrease in task avoidance from kindergarten to Grade 2 fall, whereas high negative affectivity predicted a decrease from Grade 2 fall to Grade 3 spring. Finally, task avoidance of the oldest children in the classrooms decreased more from kindergarten to Grade 2 fall, whereas younger children's task avoidance decreased particularly from Grade 2 fall onward. peerReviewed

This study is designed to investigate friend influence over mathematical reasoning in a sample of 374 children in 187 same-sex friend dyads (184 girls in 92 friendships; 190 boys in 95 friendships). Participants completed surveys that measured mathematical reasoning in the 3rd grade (approximately 9 years old) and one year later in the 4th grade (approximately 10 years old). Analyses designed for dyadic data (i.e., longitudinal Actor-Partner Interdependence Models) indicated that higher achieving friends influenced the mathematical reasoning of lower achieving friends, but not the reverse. Specifically, greater initial levels of mathematical reasoning among higher achieving partners in the 3rd grade predicted greater increases in mathematical reasoning from 3rd grade to 4th grade among lower achieving partners. These effects held after controlling for peer acceptance and rejection, task avoidance, interest in mathematics, maternal support for homework, parental education, length of the friendship, and friendship group norms on mathematical reasoning.

Past research suggests that indecisiveness and trait anxiety may both decrease the likelihood of performing risk-mitigating preparatory behaviors (e.g., preparing for natural hazards) and suggests two cognitive processes (perceived control and worrying) as potential mediators. However, no single study to date has examined the influence of these traits and processes together. Examining them simultaneously is necessary to gain an integrated understanding of their relationship with risk-mitigating behaviors. We therefore examined these traits and mediators in relation to wildfire preparedness in a two-wave field study among residents of wildfire-prone areas in Western Australia (total N = 223). Structural equation modeling results showed that indecisiveness uniquely predicted preparedness, with higher indecisiveness predicting lower preparedness. This relationship was fully mediated by perceived control over wildfire-related outcomes. Trait anxiety did not uniquely predict preparedness or perceived control, but it did uniquely predict worry, with higher trait anxiety predicting more worrying. Also, worry trended toward uniquely predicting preparedness, albeit in an unpredicted positive direction. This shows how the lack of performing risk-mitigating behaviors can result from distinct cognitive processes that are linked to distinct personality traits. It also highlights how simultaneous examination of multiple pathways to behavior creates a fuller understanding of its antecedents.

Although students' affects and behaviors in achievement situations have been shown to be influenced by their previous learning experiences, less is known about how they relate to students' dispositional characteristics, such as temperament. This study examined to what extent children's temperament is related to their affective and behavioral responses in achievement situations. Teachers rated first-graders' ( n = 153) temperamental characteristics in the Fall semester. Children's active task avoidance, anxiety, and helplessness were rated in test situations in the Fall and Spring semesters. The results showed that the more easily distracted the children were, the more task avoidance they showed, and the more their task avoidance increased during the first grade. Moreover, children's high level of inhibition was related to high levels of anxiety and helplessness. The findings suggest that characteristics that are related to students' behavioral regulation and inhibition are particularly important for their affective and behavioral responses in achievement situations.

The study investigated how students’ motivational strategies and epistemologies are related to study engagement. Participants were engineering students (n = 246) who attended a student-activating philosophy course in spring 2011. Regression analysis, cluster analysis and ANOVAs were used as statistical methods. The results in both variable-oriented and person-oriented analyses showed that study engagement was higher in those students who appreciated reflective learning, were optimistic, and did not avoid tasks. Three student groups were defined based on students’ motivational strategies and epistemologies. Groups were called cook-book students, theorists and reflective professionals. Theorists and reflective professionals experienced stronger study engagement than cook-book students. Students in these groups scored high on reflective learning and optimism and low on task avoidance.

Background Task avoidance is a significant predictor of literacy skills. However, it remains unclear whether the relation between the two is reciprocal and whether it is affected by the type of literacy outcome, who is rating children's task avoidance, and the children's gender. Aim The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine the cross-lagged relations between teacher and parent ratings of children's task avoidance and different literacy skills. Sample One hundred and seventy-two Greek children (91 girls, 81 boys) were followed from Grade 1 to Grade 3. Methods Children were assessed on reading accuracy, reading fluency, and spelling to dictation. Parents and teachers rated the children's task-avoidant behaviour. Results Results of structural equation modelling showed that the cross-lagged relations varied as a function of the literacy outcome, who rated the children's task avoidance, and children's gender. Earlier reading and spelling performance predicted subsequent parent-rated task avoidance, but parent-rated task avoidance did not predict subsequent reading and spelling performance (with the exception of spelling in Grade 3). Teacher-rated task avoidance and reading fluency/spelling had a reciprocal relationship over time. In addition, the effects of teacher-rated task avoidance on future spelling were significantly stronger in boys than in girls. Conclusions This suggests that poor reading and spelling performance can lead to subsequent task avoidance in both classroom and home situations. The fact that task avoidance permeates across different learning environments is alarming and calls for joint action from both parents and teachers to mitigate its negative impact on learning.

Research and clinical practitioners have mixed views whether reading and spelling difficulties should be combined or seen as separate. This study examined the following: (a) if double dissociation between reading and spelling can be identified in a transparent orthography (Finnish) and (b) the cognitive and noncognitive precursors of this phenomenon. Finnish-speaking children (n = 1963) were assessed on reading fluency and spelling in grades 1, 2, 3, and 4. Dissociation groups in reading and spelling were formed based on stable difficulties in grades 1–4. The groups were compared in kindergarten phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, letter knowledge, home literacy environment, and task-avoidant behavior. The results indicated that the double dissociation groups could be identified even in the context of a highly transparent orthography: 41 children were unexpected poor spellers (SD), 36 were unexpected poor readers (RD), and 59 were poor in both reading and spelling (RSD). The RSD group performed poorest on all cognitive skills and showed the most task-avoidant behavior, the RD group performed poorly particularly on rapid automatized naming and letter knowledge, and the SD group had difficulties on phonological awareness and letter knowledge. Fathers’ shared book reading was less frequent in the RD and RSD groups than in the other groups. The findings suggest that there are discernible double dissociation groups with distinct cognitive profiles. This further suggests that the identification of difficulties in Finnish and the planning of teaching and remediation practices should include both reading and spelling assessments. peerReviewed

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the regulation of goal orientations and strong “oughts” in students with learning disabilities (LD). Participants were 132 Greek students with state-identified LD using the achievement-discrepancy criterion, and 538 typical students. The first hypothesis tested was that feeling obliged to engage in an activity is grounded on fear and is associated with a network of avoidance-related behaviors. Results confirmed this hypothesis, as the ought-self explained significant amounts of variability in task avoidance, performance avoidance, and fear of failure. The second hypothesis was that the ought-self was associated with failure to regulate. Student groups were formed based on their adoption of mastery, performance approach, task avoidance, multiple-approach goals, and strong “oughts.” Results indicated that students with strong “oughts” persisted significantly less than students with approach forms of motivation. Regardless of their lack of persistence, however, students with strong “oughts” were not inferior in achievement, nor did they display heightened negative affect. By modeling the relationship between goals, achievement and psychopathology, results showed that the ought- self was negatively associated with achievement and positively associated with indices of anxiety and depression. Mean group analyses pointed to salient differences between students with and without LD on motivation, achievement and psychopathology.

To investigate the prospective relationships between individuals’ success expectation and task-avoidance, and their academic achievement and satisfaction, 231 students were examined yearly throughout their university careers in Study 1. It was found that students’ success expectation predicted academic achievement and satisfaction; which, in turn, increased their subsequent success expectation. Moreover, task-avoidance predicted low academic achievement and dissatisfaction, which again was predictive of subsequent task-avoidance. In Study 2, the task-avoidant behavior, and pre-examination anxiety, of 198 students who had participated in Study 1 were examined, and compared with their subsequent grades. Students’ dispositional task-avoidance predicted their grades only to the extent to which it was reflected in their task-avoidant behavior. In Study 3, 249 students were investigated to determine their achievement beliefs and strategies, causal attributions, and academic achievement. Students who reported a high level of task-avoidance frequently also referred to a lack of effort after failure, whereas students who reported success expectation often mentioned their abilities as a reason for their success.

Educational transitions and the transition from school to working life present substantial challenges for youth in modern societies. This chapter presents results from two longitudinal studies, the FinEdu study and Helsinki Longitudinal Student Study (HELS), in which young people were followed for several years during critical educational transitions. These longitudinal studies focus on how engagement and burnout change and what role these two factors play during transitions, as well as investigating the effect of motivation and the strategies young people apply during their studies. The FinEdu study presents findings on how young people navigate their educational transitions from comprehensive school to upper-secondary education and further education, whereas the HELS study shows how young people navigate their university studies and the related transition to working life.

This study investigated what kinds of studying profiles could be identified in terms of achievement strategies (optimism, task avoidance) and experienced challenge-competence balance, and whether such profiles are related to students’ academic engagement or disengagement. The participants (n=785) were Finnish undergraduate students from University of Helsinki (teacher education, chemistry, theology, law) and Aalto university (engineering). Three profiles were identified by K-means cluster analysis: pessimistic, bored and optimistic . Pessimistic expressed the highest task avoidance and lowest optimism and competence. Optimistic reported the lowest task avoidance and highest optimism and competence. Bored experienced the lowest challenge as compared to both pessimistic and optimistic . ANOVAs revealed that optimistic expressed the highest engagement, whereas pessimistic were the most disengaged. Bored students’ problem appeared to be lack of interest rather than any other study problems.

Previous studies have shown that self-regulation plays a major role in learning in academic contexts. The ability to regulate one’s behaviors guides us towards goals that we are trying to achieve. The theoretical background includes perspectives to self-regulation. The aim of the study was to investigate university students’ self-regulation in relation to their academic achievement in a Flipped Classroom learning context. A total of 230 university students of a multidisciplinary research university participated in this study. The students were asked to complete an on-line questionnaire. The questionnaire included various items on self-regulation of learning, time-management, lack of regulation, and task-avoidance. The various perspectives related to students’ self-regulation of learning seemed to form reliable dimensions and a functional structure in accordance with the composite variable from earlier studies. The students were divided into three statistically significant profile groups: Students with high self-regulation skills, Students with low self-regulation skills and Students with low self-regulation skills and high task-avoidance. The results showed that the students’ self-regulation profile was related to academic achievement in Flipped Classroom courses. Especially students with low self-regulation skills and high task-avoidance were struggling. Self-regulation plays a major role in academic achievement and the choices that students make at universities. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.18.13.5