How do teachers’ beliefs predict children’s interest in math from kindergarten to sixth grade?

The present study investigated to what extent teachers' beliefs about children's achievement contribute to the development of children's math interest. In addition, the extent to which other possible predictors, such as performance in math, gender, and race/ethnicity would contribute to the development of children's math interest was examined. Three cohorts of children (N = 849) and their teachers participated in the study starting from kindergarten through their sixth grade. The results showed that especially teachers' beliefs about children's effort and potential performance positively predicted children's interest in math across the primary school years, whereas teachers' beliefs about children's math ability predicted children's math interest only at the beginning of primary school. Further, all the models were similar for boys and girls and for children in different cohort groups

Developmental dynamics between young adults’ life satisfaction and engagement with studies and work

The present five-wave longitudinal study investigated the cross-lagged associations between young adults’ life satisfaction and study/work engagement over the transition from post-comprehensive studies to higher education or work during the second and third decades of life. Gender, educational track, academic performance and family socioeconomic status were also examined. The study is part of the longitudinal Finnish Educational Transitions (FinEdu) study, and used data from secondary education onwards, following 821 participants from age 17 to 25. The developmental dynamics showed that, in particular, young adults’ life satisfaction predicted their study/work engagement both during their post-comprehensive education and after the transition to higher education or work. Moreover, study/work engagement positively predicted young adults’ life satisfaction during their third decade of life. In addition, high initial life satisfaction was more typical among males. However, no differences related to gender or academic track were observed in the developmental dynamics of life satisfaction and study/work engagement. These results suggested that general wellbeing spills over to study/work domain-specific characteristics of wellbeing and promotes positive personal development and adjustment to study/work transitions during the third decade of life.Peer reviewe

Positive Youth Development Through Student Engagement : Associations with Well-Being

High engagement in studies is an important strength of adolescents, which promotes positive development, successful educational and occupational transitions, and overall well-being. This chapter reviews relevant evidence on students’ positive development through student engagement during a major transition to higher education and employment. In addition, different pathways of student engagement and the role of personal (e.g., gender, performance) and contextual antecedents (e.g., parenting styles, autonomy support) of engagement are discussed. The review showed that the positive continuum of engagement in studies and work is often associated with indicators of well-being (e.g., life satisfaction, career satisfaction), and negatively associated with ill-health (e.g., burnout, depressive symptoms) during the transition to higher education/work. The chapter concludes that student engagement facilitates late adolescents’ positive development in multiple ways and enhances their future career development.Peer reviewe

Social demands and resources predict job burnout and engagement profiles among Finnish employees

Background and Objectives:Latent profiles of employees' job burnout (e.g., exhaustion, cynicism, feelings of inadequacy) and work engagement (e.g., energy, dedication, absorption) were examined. Moreover, the role of social work-related (multicultural, interpersonal, and project work demands) and personal demands (relationship demands) and social work-related resources (servant leadership, team climate) and personal resources (resilience, self-efficacy) in predicting the latent profiles were examined. Design:This study is a part of an Occupational Health Study in which 766 employees participated twice. Methods:The results were analyzed using latent profile analysis. Results:Two longitudinal profiles of burnout and engagement could be identified, namely high engagement (84% of the participants) and increasing burnout (16%) profiles. Employees who experienced high work-related social resources (servant leadership) and high personal resources (resilience, self-efficacy) were more likely to belong to the high engagement group than to the increasing burnout group. Employees who experienced high work-related social demands (multicultural, interpersonal, and project work demands) and personal social demands (relationship demands) more often belonged to the increasing burnout group. Conclusions:Social resources may help in promoting employees' job engagement, whereas social demands are often associated with increasing burnout symptoms.Peer reviewe

Latent Profiles of Parental Burnout During COVID-19 : The Role of Child-Related Perceptions

The present study examined latent profiles of parental burnout dimensions (e.g., exhaustion in parental role, contrast with previous parental self, feelings of being fed up, and emotional distancing, measured with a shortened version of the parental burnout assessment scale) among Finnish parents of sixth and eighth grade children. In addition, the role of children’s strengths and difficulties (e.g., prosocial skills, hyperactivity, somatic problems, conduct problems, and peer problems) and parents’ growth mindset in predicting membership in the latent parental burnout profiles was examined. The participants were 1,314 parents (80% mothers) from the Helsinki Metropolitan area who filled in a questionnaire concerning their parenting burnout and child-related perceptions during the fall 2020. The results were analyzed using latent profile analysis (LPA) and three-step procedure. Three latent profiles of parental burnout were identified as: low parental burnout (85.7% of the parents), high parental burnout (8%), and emotionally distanced (6.3%) profiles. Parents who reported their children having some challenges (e.g., hyperactivity, somatic problems, conduct problems, and peer problems) more often belonged to the high burnout or emotionally distanced profiles rather than to the low parental burnout profile. Parents whose children had high prosocial skills and who employed growth mindset more often belonged to the low parental burnout rather than to the distanced profilePeer reviewe

Role of demands-resources in work engagement and burnout in different career stages

Integrating the life-span approach with the Job-Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, this study examined the associations between personal and job demands and resources and work burnout and engagement during the early, mid, and late career stages. A further aim was to include novel job-related demands caused by digitalization, globalization and diversity. We also examined the extent to which work engagement and burnout were associated with general well-being, i.e., life satisfaction and depressive symptoms, among employees in different career stages. Employees (N = 1415) from three large organizations participated in the study via their occupational health services. The research questions were analyzed using structural equation modeling. In line with the life-span approach, the results for personal demands showed that, especially during the early career stage, economic problems were associated with work burnout symptoms, whereas during the late career stage caregiving demands were associated with work burnout and, negatively, with work engagement. In line with the JD-R model, job resources were related to work engagement in all career stages and high resilience buffered against the associations between demands and work engagement and burnout. The results for job demands showed that ICT demands were associated with work burnout during the early career stage and multicultural job demands with work burnout during the middle career stage. Finally, work engagement was associated with life satisfaction and work burnout was associated with depressive symptoms in all career stages. To conclude, an integrative life-span framework can be applied in the context of the demands-resources model.Peer reviewe

The Co-Development of Science, Math, and Language Interest Among Spanish and Finnish Secondary School Students

The present two studies with a 3-year longitudinal design examined the co-development of science, math, and language (e.g., Spanish/Finnish) interest among 1,317 Spanish and 804 Finnish secondary school students across their transition to post-compulsory secondary education, taking into account the role of gender, performance, and socioeconomic status (SES). The research questions were analyzed with parallel process latent growth curve (LGC) modeling. The results showed that Spanish students' interest in each domain slightly decreased over time, whereas Finnish students experienced an overall high and relatively stable level of interest in all domains. Further, boys showed greater interest in math and science in both countries, whereas girls reported having a greater interest in languages. Moreover, Spanish and Finnish students with high academic achievement typically experienced high interest in different domains, however, some declines in their interest occurred later on.Peer reviewe

School Burnout and Psychosocial Problems among Adolescents : Grit as a Resilience Factor

Introduction: The present study investigated whether grit can mitigate the associations between school burnout, loneliness, and depressive symptoms among adolescents. It also examined gender differences. Methods: This study included 1296 seventh and 1166 eighth graders from Finland. The study variables were self-reported and regression analysis was performed. Results: This study found that two grit facets - consistency of interest and perseverance of effort - played resilient roles in school burnout. A high level of grit substantially reduced reported depressive symptoms when adolescents experienced high school burnout. Our further analysis showed that the role of grit was more pronounced among boys than among girls. When male adolescents were at risk of school burnout, both consistency of interest and perseverance of effort protected them and they had only low levels of loneliness and depressive symptoms. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that grit can act as a resilience factor among adolescents.Peer reviewe

Job crafting and well-being among school principals : The role of basic psychological need Satisfaction and frustration

This study investigates the associations between school principals’ job crafting and well-being. Drawing on the job demands-resources approach of the job crafting model and self-determination theory, we hypothesized that need satisfaction and need frustration act as likely mechanisms between the positive and negative effects of job crafting behaviors and work-related well-being (work engagement and burnout). Using cross-sectional data collected from a sample of Finnish school principals (n = 518), our structural equation model revealed that crafting structural job resources was positively associated with need satisfaction and negatively with need frustration. Increasing challenge job demands was positively associated with need satisfaction, which, in turn, was associated with higher work-related well-being. In addition, crafting structural job resources was directly positively linked to burnout as well as work engagement. Moreover, we found that decreasing hindrance demands was positively associated with burnout and negatively associated with work engagement via need frustration. No associations were found between crafting social resources, indicators of basic psychological needs, or work-related well-being. These findings provide insights into how principals determine their own basic psychological needs via job crafting, and how this is reflected in their work-related well-being. The study advances job crafting theory and self-determination theory, with important implications for practice and future research.Peer reviewe

From job demands and resources to work engagement, burnout, life satisfaction, depressive symptoms, and occupational health

This study investigated the cross-lagged associations between work engagement and burnout, and life satisfaction and depressive symptoms, their demands (i.e., workload) and resources (i.e., servant leadership, self-efficacy, resilience) and relationships with occupational health outcomes (i.e., recovery, number of mental health diagnoses, workaholism). This study is a part of an ongoing Occupational Health Study in which 1 415 employees (586 men, 829 women) were followed twice during two years 2011–12 through their occupational health services. The participants filled in a questionnaire on their work engagement, burnout symptoms, well-being, personal and work environmental resources and demands, and occupational health. The results showed that spillover existed, in particular, from work engagement to depressive symptoms (negatively), and to life satisfaction (positively) and from depressive symptoms to work engagement (negatively), and to burnout (positively). Work engagement was also negatively associated with work burnout, and depressive symptoms were negatively associated with life satisfaction. Moreover, servant leadership was positively associated with work engagement, which, in turn, was positively associated with high life satisfaction and recovery, and negatively associated with work burnout and depressive symptoms. High workload, in turn, was positively associated with burnout and depressive symptoms, which, in turn, were further positively associated with increased mental health diagnoses, and negatively associated with recovery.Peer reviewe