IKÄÄNTYNEEN SEKSUAALISUUS : Opaslehtinen yli 65-vuotiaille

Seksuaalisuus on olennainen ja tärkeä osa ihmisyyttä, seksuaalisuuden ilmentäminen vaikuttaa tutkitusti positiivisesti terveyteen ja hyvinvointiin. Ikääntyneen seksuaalisuus on vähän käsitelty aihe, vaikka jo yli viidennes suomalaisista on yli 65-vuotiaita. Seksuaalisuus ei katoa ikääntyessäkään, mutta se voi muuttaa muotoaan ja usein eri asiat korostuvat kuin nuorempana. Ikääntyminen itsessään vaikuttaa oletettua vähemmän seksuaaliseen suorituskykyyn ja nautintoon, mutta ongelmia voivat aiheuttaa muun muassa sairaudet, käytetty lääkitys, erektiovaikeudet, haluttomuus ja yhteiskunnan asenteet. Aloitetta seksuaalisuudesta puhumiseen odotetaan terveydenhuollon ammattilaisilta. Opinnäytetyön tarkoituksena oli lisätä ikääntyvien tietoutta seksuaalisuuteen vaikuttavista tekijöistä ja seksuaalisuuden muutoksista ikääntyessä. Opinnäytetyön tehtävänä oli tuottaa opaslehtinen ikääntymisen vaikutuksista seksuaalisuuteen yli 65-vuotiaille. Opinnäytetyön tavoitteena oli tukea seksuaalisuuden säilymistä hyvinvoinnin ja terveyden ylläpitävänä tekijänä ikääntyessäkin. Opinnäytetyössä ja opaslehtisessä käsiteltiin ikääntymistä, ikääntyneen seksuaalisuutta sekä ikääntymisen ja lääkityksen vaikutuksia seksuaalisuuteen. Ikääntymisen vaikutuksista perehdyttiin estrogeenin vähenemiseen, erektio-ongelmiin, haluttomuuteen, psykososiaalisiin tekijöihin ja leskeyteen. Lisäksi opinnäytetyössä perehdyttiin ikääntyneen seksuaaliohjaukseen ja - neuvontaan. Toimeksiantaja voi hyödyntää opaslehtistä Siun soten koko toiminta-alueella. Aihetta voisi jatkokehittää tekemällä ikääntyneille opaslehtisen keinoista edistää seksuaaliterveyttä. Lisää tutkimusta kaipaisi myös ikääntyneiden seksuaalivähemmistöjen tarpeiden huomioiminen.Sexuality is an important part of humanity, since the expression of sexuality affects health and well-being positively. Sexuality in older people is a topic little addressed although more than a fifth of Finns are over 65. Sexuality does not disappear along aging, but it can change shape and often different things become more emphasized. Aging itself is less likely to affect sexual performance and enjoyment, but problems can be caused by illnesses, used medication, erectile dysfunction, reluctance and social atti-tudes. An initiative to talk about sexuality is expected of healthcare professionals. The purpose of this thesis was to increase awareness of aging people on factors affecting sexuality and changes in sexuality brought by aging. The assignment was to produce an information leaflet on the effects of aging on sexuality in people over 65. The aim of the thesis was to support the preservation of sexuality as a factor in maintaining well-being and health while aging. The thesis and the information leaflet discuss aging, aging sexuality and the effects of aging and medication on sexuality. The effects of aging focus on the reduction of estro-gen, erection problems, reluctance, psychosocial factors and widowhood. Furthermore, the thesis focused on sexual guidance and counselling among older people. The client can use the leaflet throughout the area of Siun sote. A further development idea is to compile a leaflet for older people providing information on ways to promote sexual health. More research could also be aimed at the needs of aging sexual minorities

Adolescent Attachment Profiles Are Associated With Mental Health and Risk-Taking Behavior

This person-oriented study aimed to identify adolescents’ hierarchical attachment profiles with parents and peers, and to analyze associations between the profiles and adolescent psychosocial adjustment. Participants were 449 Finnish 17–19-year-olds reporting their attachments to mother, father, best friend, and romantic partner and details on mental health (internalizing symptoms, inattention/hyperactivity, and anger control problems) and risk-taking behavior (substance use and sexual risk-taking). Attachment was measured with Experiences in Close Relationships – Relationship Structures (ECR-RS); internalizing, inattention/hyperactivity, and anger control problems with Self-Report of Personality — Adolescent (SRP—A) of the Behavior Assessment System for Children, third edition (BASC-3); substance use with the Consumption scale of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT-C) and items from the Finnish School Health Promotion Study; and sexual risk-taking behavior with the Cognitive Appraisal of Risky Events (CARE). Latent profile analysis identified five attachment profiles: “All secure” (39%), “All insecure” (11%), “Parents insecure – Peers secure” (21%), “Parents secure – Friend insecure” (10%), and “Parents secure – Partner insecure” (19%). “All insecure” adolescents showed the highest and “All secure” adolescents the lowest levels of mental health problems and substance use. Further, parental attachment security seemed to specifically prevent substance use and anger control problems, while peer attachment security prevented internalizing problems. Our findings help both understand the organization of attachment hierarchies in adolescence and refine the role of specific attachment relationships in psychosocial adjustment, which can be important for clinical interventions in adolescence.Peer reviewe

Determinants of adolescent sleep : Early family environment, obstetric factors, and emotion regulation

Peer reviewe

Paternal mental health trajectory classes and early fathering experiences : Prospective study on a normative and formerly infertile sample

Peer reviewe

Do family members sleep alike? Sleep features among mothers, fathers, and adolescents

Objective To identify within-family groups according to sleep schedule, problems, and impact, reflecting similarities or differences in adolescents, mothers, and fathers and to examine how mental health and attachments associate with these triadic sleep groups.Background Family relationships shape sleeping, but within-family research in adolescence is scarce.Method Adolescents (17-18 years; 60% girls; n = 438), mothers (n = 448), and fathers (n = 358) filled in the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. The adolescents reported mental health problems by the Behavior Assessment System and the parents by the General Health Questionnaire. All reported attachments by the Experiences in Close Relationships.Results Cluster analysis identified four triadic sleep groups: "Good family sleep" (47%), "Poor adolescent and maternal sleep" (29%), "Poor paternal sleep" (16%), and "Poor family sleep" (8%). Adolescents in the "Poor family sleep" group had more mental health problems than they did in other groups, and fathers in the "Poor paternal sleep" group showed higher psychiatric symptoms than in the "Good family sleep" or "Poor adolescent and maternal sleep" groups. Adolescents in the "Poor family sleep" group reported higher insecure-anxious attachments than they did in other groups, and fathers reported higher insecure-avoidant and insecure-anxious attachments in the "Poor paternal sleep" than they did in other groups.Conclusion A family systems approach provides new insight into sleep, mental health, and attachments.Implications Interventions to improve sleep quality should consider family dynamics that may underlie potential sleep problems, and sleep as a public health issue can benefit from knowledge about family mental health and attachments.</p

Do family members sleep alike? Sleep features among mothers, fathers, and adolescents

Objective: To identify within-family groups according to sleep schedule, problems, and impact, reflecting similarities or differences in adolescents, mothers, and fathers and to examine how mental health and attachments associate with these triadic sleep groups. Background: Family relationships shape sleeping, but within-family research in adolescence is scarce. Method: Adolescents (17–18 years; 60% girls; n = 438), mothers (n = 448), and fathers (n = 358) filled in the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. The adolescents reported mental health problems by the Behavior Assessment System and the parents by the General Health Questionnaire. All reported attachments by the Experiences in Close Relationships. Results: Cluster analysis identified four triadic sleep groups: “Good family sleep” (47%), “Poor adolescent and maternal sleep” (29%), “Poor paternal sleep” (16%), and “Poor family sleep” (8%). Adolescents in the “Poor family sleep” group had more mental health problems than they did in other groups, and fathers in the “Poor paternal sleep” group showed higher psychiatric symptoms than in the “Good family sleep” or “Poor adolescent and maternal sleep” groups. Adolescents in the “Poor family sleep” group reported higher insecure–anxious attachments than they did in other groups, and fathers reported higher insecure–avoidant and insecure–anxious attachments in the “Poor paternal sleep” than they did in other groups. Conclusion: A family systems approach provides new insight into sleep, mental health, and attachments. Implications: Interventions to improve sleep quality should consider family dynamics that may underlie potential sleep problems, and sleep as a public health issue can benefit from knowledge about family mental health and attachments.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Early life stress is associated with the default mode and fronto-limbic network connectivity among young adults

Exposure to early life stress (ELS) is associated with a variety of detrimental psychological and neurodevelopmental effects. Importantly, ELS has been associated with regional alterations and aberrant connectivity in the structure and functioning of brain regions involved in emotion processing and self-regulation, creating vulnerability to mental health problems. However, longitudinal research regarding the impact of ELS on functional connectivity between brain regions in the default mode network (DMN) and fronto-limbic network (FLN), both implicated in emotion-related processes, is relatively scarce. Neuroimaging research on ELS has mostly focused on single nodes or bi-nodal connectivity instead of functional networks. We examined how ELS is associated with connectivity patterns within the DMN and FLN during rest in early adulthood. The participants (n = 86; 47 females) in the current functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study were young adults (18-21 years old) whose families had participated in a longitudinal study since pregnancy. ELS was assessed both prospectively (parental reports of family relationship problems and mental health problems during pregnancy and infancy) and retrospectively (self-reported adverse childhood experiences). Inter-subject representational similarity analysis (IS-RSA) and multivariate distance matrix regression (MDMR) were used to analyze the association between ELS and the chosen networks. The IS-RSA results suggested that prospective ELS was associated with complex alterations within the DMN, and that retrospective ELS was associated with alterations in the FLN. MDMR results, in turn, suggested that that retrospective ELS was associated with DMN connectivity. Mean connectivity of the DMN was also associated with retrospective ELS. Analyses further showed that ELS-related alterations in the FLN were associated with increased connectivity between the prefrontal and limbic regions, and between different prefrontal regions. These results suggest that exposure to ELS in infancy might have long-lasting influences on functional brain connectivity that persist until early adulthood. Our results also speak for the importance of differentiating prospective and retrospective assessment methods to understand the specific neurodevelopmental effects of ELS.Peer reviewe

Determinants of adolescent sleep: Early family environment, obstetric factors, and emotion regulation

Optimal sleep quality fosters adolescents' wellbeing and, therefore, learning about its developmental determinants is essential. We examined how early family environment (i.e., parent-reported parenting, marital relationship quality, and mothers' mental health), obstetric factors (i.e., infertility history and assisted reproductive treatments, and pre- and perinatal complications and health risks), and children's emotion regulation in middle childhood predicted adolescents' sleep quality. We also tested the mediating role of emotion regulation in linking early determinants to adolescent sleep. Finnish families (N = 984) participated during pregnancy, infancy, middle childhood, and late adolescence. Results showed that only early maternal mental health problems predicted poor adolescent sleep quality. Contrary to hypotheses, emotion regulation did not mediate the effects of early family environment and obstetric factors on later sleep quality. Supporting the early family environment through improving maternal mental health can have long-term positive developmental impacts, including sleep.</p

Yhteenkuuluvuus ja mielenterveys maahanmuuttajataustaisilla ja Suomessa syntyneillä nuorilla

Tutkimus on osa RWS-RefugeeWellSchool projektia, jota rahoitti the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme; Apuraha No 754849. Suhteet vertaisiin solmitaan nuoruudessa usein koulumaailmassa. Koulussa koettu yhteenkuuluvuus on tärkeää muun muassa nuoren itsetunnon, koulumenestyksen sekä emotionaalisen hyvinvoinnin kannalta. Yhteenkuuluvuuden tunne on erityisen merkityksellistä maahanmuuttajanuorille, sillä uuteen kotimaahan muuttaessaan he kohtaavat tavanomaisten nuoruusiän muutosten lisäksi myös muita muutostarpeita, kuten uuden kielen ja kulttuurin omaksumisen. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena on selvittää yläkouluikäisten nuorten kokemusta koulussa koetusta yhteenkuuluvuudesta ja sitä eroavatko Suomessa syntyneiden ja maahanmuuttajataustaisten nuorten kokemukset tämän suhteen. Tutkimuksessa selvitetään myös, kuinka yhteenkuuluvuus koulussa on yhteydessä mielenterveyden ulottuvuuksiin (internalisoivat ja eksternalisoivat oireet, prososiaalisuus ja resilienssi). Tarkastelemme myös onko maahanmuuttajataustalla vaikutusta tähän yhteyteen. Tutkimuksen aineisto on kerätty osana Maahanmuuttajanuorten Psykososiaalinen Tukeminen Koulussa -interventiotutkimushanketta. Tutkimuksessa käytetään poikkileikkausaineistoa, joka pohjautuu nuorten kyselylomakevastauksiin hankkeen aloitusajankohdassa syksyllä 2019 (n = 1981). Tulokset osoittivat, että enemmistö nuorista koki yhteenkuuluvuutta koulussa. Lisäksi havaittiin, että Suomessa syntyneet nuoret kokivat enemmän yhteenkuuluvuutta koulussa kuin maahanmuuttajanuoret. Yhteenkuuluvuus koulussa oli yhteydessä vähäisempään määrään internalisoivia ja eksternalisoivia sekä suurempaan määrään prososiaalisuutta ja resilienssiä. Yhteenvetona voidaan todeta, että koulussa koettu yhteenkuuluvuus on nuorten mielenterveyttä tukeva elementti ja sen vahvistaminen näin ollen tärkeää, erityisesti pakolaistaustaisten nuorten kohdalla. Kouluissa tulisikin pohtia yhteisöllisyyttä ja sosiaalista tukea vahvistavien taitojen kehittämistapoja.acceptedVersionPeer reviewe

Early Family Relationships Predict Children’s Emotion Regulation and Defense Mechanisms

Early family relationships have been suggested to influence the development of children’s affect regulation, involving both emotion regulation and defense mechanisms. However, we lack research on the specific family predictors for these two forms of affect regulation, which have been conceptualized to differ in their functions and accessibility to consciousness. Accordingly, we examine how the (a) quality and (b) timing of family relationships during infancy predict child’s later emotion regulation and defense mechanisms. Parents (N = 703) reported autonomy and intimacy in marital and parenting relationships at the child’s ages of 2 and 12 months, and the child’s use of emotion regulation and immature and neurotic defenses at 7 to 8 years. As hypothesized, the results showed that functional early family relationships predicted children’s efficient emotion regulation, whereas dysfunctional relationships predicted reliance on defense mechanisms in middle childhood. Further, results showed a timing effect for neurotic defenses, partially confirming our hypothesis of early infancy being an especially important period for the development of defense mechanisms. The findings are discussed from the viewpoints of attachment and family dynamics, emotional self-awareness, and sense of security</p