Transition to parenthood after assisted reproductive treatment: Follow-up study of singleton pregnancies

Infertility treatments are relatively easily available in most Western countries today, but the psychological consequences of these high-tech treatments have scarcely been addressed. The purpose of this controlled longitudinal study was to explore the early environment of the infant born by assisted reproductive treatment (ART). We focused on the parents mental well-being, marital relations and experience of parenting. In addition to this, we assessed parent child interaction and parents mental representations of their child after long-standing infertility and several unsuccessful ART attempts. The subjects were infertile couples who achieved a singleton pregnancy by in vitro fertilization (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). The control group comprised of spontaneously conceiving couples with singleton pregnancies. ART women showed fewer depressive symptoms than controls during pregnancy and after delivery, but the difference vanished by the end of the child s first year. ART men consistently had lower levels of anxiety symptoms, sleeping difficulties, and social dysfunction than control men. Control women experienced a decrease in dyadic consensus during the child s first year, which did not happen among ART women. After the child was born, ART men reported a higher level of sexual affection compared with control men. Psychic symptoms and stressful life events were differently related to marital relations in ART and control groups. The parenting experiences of ART mothers were in general at a higher level, compared with controls, and they changed in a positive direction during the child s first year. Fathering experiences were at the same level in both groups, and they changed positively in both groups by the end of the child s first year. The parenting experiences of ART mothers and fathers were more resilient to certain child-related stressors than those of control group. Both mothers and fathers with long-term infertility showed more sensitive behaviour with their child in toddler-age than in infancy. Correspondingly, children s cooperation increased. Mothers often mentioned a fear of miscarriage and difficulty in creating representations of the child during pregnancy. Descriptions of the infants were mainly rich, vivid and loaded with positive features. In conclusion, ART parents in general seem to adapt well to the transition to parenthood. Former infertility and ART do not seem to constitute a risk for parents mental health, marital relations or experience of parenting. Even longstanding infertility with several unsuccessful treatment attempts did not create a risk as regards parenting behaviour or parents mental representations of their child. In this group, however, women were found to have fear for losing the child and difficulty in creating representations of the child during pregnancy, which in some cases may indicate need for psychosocial support. Even though our results are encouraging, infertility and infertility treatments are generally considered as a stressful experience. It is a challenge for health authorities to recognize those couples who need professional help to overcome the distressing experiences of infertility and ART.

School and choice : Anethnography of a primary school with bilingual classes

Based on a one-year ethnographic study of a primary school in Finland with specialised classes in Finnish and English (referred to as bilingual classes by research participants), this research traces patterns of how nationed, raced, classed and gendered differences are produced and gain meaning in school. I examine several aspects of these differences: the ways the teachers and parents make sense of school and of school choice; the repertoires of self put forward by teachers, parents and pupils of the bilingual classes; and the insitutional and classroom practices in Sunny Lane School (pseudonym). My purpose is to examine how the construction of differentness is related to the policy of school choice. I approach this questions from a knowledge problematic, and explore connections and disjunctions between the interpretations of teachers and those of parents, as well as between what teachers and parents expressed or said and the practices they engaged in. My data consists of fieldnotes generated through a one-year period of ethnographic study in Sunny Lane School, and of ethnographic interviews with teachers and parents primarily of the bilingual classes. This data focuses on the initial stages of the bilingual classes, which included the application and testing processes for these classes, and on Grades 1─3. In my analysis, I pursue poststructural feminist theorisations on questions of knowledge, power and subjectivity, which foreground an understanding of the constitutive force of discourse and the performative, partial, and relational nature of knowledge. I begin by situating my ethnographic field in relation to wider developments, namely, the emergence of school choice and the rhetoric of curricular reform and language education in Finland. I move on from there to ask how teachers discuss the introduction of these specialised classes, then trace pupils paths to these classes, their parents goals related to school choice, teachers constructions of the pupils and parents of bilingual classes, and how these shape the ways in which school and classroom practices unfold. School choice, I argue, functioned as a spatial practice, defining who belongs in school and demarcating the position of teachers, parents and pupils in school. Notions of classed and ethnicised differences entered the ways teachers and parents made sense of school choice. Teachers idealised school in terms of social cohesiveness and constructed social cohesion as a task for school to perform. The hopes parents iterated were connected to ensuring their children s futurity, to their perceptions of the advantages of fluency in English, but also to the differences they believed to exist between the social milieus of different schools. Ideals such as openmindedness and cosmopolitanism were also articulated by parents, and these ideals assumed different content for ethnic majority and minority parents. Teachers discussed the introduction of bilingual classes as being a means to ensure the school s future, and emphasised bilingual classes as fitting into the rubric of Finnish comprehensive schooling which, they maintained, is committed to equality. Parents were expected to accommodate their views and adopt the position of the responsible, supportive parent that was suggested to them by teachers. Teachers assumed a posture teachers of appreciating different cultures, while maintaining Finnishness as common ground in school. Discussion on pupils knowledge and experience of other countries took place often in bilingual classes, and various cultural theme events were organized on occasion. In school, pupils are taught to identify themselves in terms of cultural belonging. The rhetoric promoted by teachers was one of inclusiveness, which was also applied to describe the task of qualifying pupils for bilingual classes, qualifying which pupils can belong. Bilingual classes were idealised as taking a neutral, impartial posture toward difference by ethnic majority teachers and parents, and the relationship of school choice to classed advantage, for example, was something teachers, as well as parents, preferred not to discuss. Pupils were addressed by teachers during lessons in ways that assumed self responsibility and diligence, and they assumed the discursive category of being good, competent pupils made available to them. While this allowed them to position themselves favourably in school, their participation in a bilingual class was marked by the pressure to succeed well in school.

Posttraumatic stress symptoms among school personnel after the Jokela school shooting : A longitudial study of exposure, interventions, and symptom changes

Objectives. School personnel who are exposed to school violence are at risk in developing post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In Finland there have been two such events in recent years, Jokela school shooting on 7.11.2007 and Kauhajoki school shooting about a year later. The aim of the present study was to examine the presence and change in PTSD symptoms during the first year after the Jokela school shooting. A second aim was to study how the initial exposure and treatment affects the symptom levels of PTSD. There were four hypotheses: 1) The PTSD symptoms are higher for the people who were exposed to the school shooting than for the people who did not face the stressor. 2) The PTSD symptoms increase in the follow up for the people at the school which was not attacked because of the second incident brought up the memories from the Jokela school shooting. 3) Those who have greater exposure to the shooting will have higher level of PTSD symptoms at both 4 and 11 months after the shooting than those who were not directly exposed to the shooting. 4) The PTSD symptoms are reduced more in the group that starts treatment right after the traumatic event than in other groups. Methods. A sample of 24 members of Jokela school personnel were examined four months after the incident and 16 were reassessed 11 month after the incident. To study the change and level of symptoms in other schools during the same period, a group with no exposure to the shooting was used as a control group (n=22). The assessment included Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist Specific (PCL-S) and a social and professional support questionnaire. In addition questions about timing of support and experiences of psychological debriefing were asked. Results and conclusions. Most participants in the study group experienced some symptoms of PTSD at both 4 and 11 months. In both measures three participants from the study group fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for PTSD. The study group and control group differed significantly in overall symptom levels. The study group had more PTSD symptoms in the first measure but in the follow-up the study group’s PTSD symptoms decreased and the control group’s increased. There was a significant change in the study groups PTSD symptom level for those who started treatment right after the traumatic event. The results from this study showed that an exposure to school shooting has long-term effects on school personnel. The findings suggest that it is crucial to plan a comprehensive and long-term treatment for school personnel in the aftermath of school shooting.

Lasten vaikeiden ja stressaavien tilanteiden hallinta yläkouluun siirtymisen vaiheessa

This study examined year seven students´ proactive coping, self-efficacy and social support seeking. Proactive coping was defined as a behaviour where obstacles are seen as a challenge. In proactive coping, individuals set goals, build up resources and regulate their behaviour to achieve the goals. Self-efficacy can be seen as people’s beliefs about their capabilities. Social support seeking was divided into instrumental support seeking and emotional support seeking. According to the theoretical frame of this study self-efficacy and social support seeking were seen as resources to proactive coping (Greenglass 2002). The participants were 445 year seven students (Mo= 13 years) from seven secondary schools. The data was collected in March-May 2008. The survey consisted 37 Likert-scaled items from the Proactive Coping Inventory and from the General Self-Efficacy Scale. The survey consisted of four scales: Proactive Coping, Instrumental Support Seeking, Emotional Support Seeking and General Self-Efficacy. The participants' age, gender and studying in specialist streams were asked as background information. As a result, most of the participants (62 % girls, 38 % boys) reported fairly strong proactive coping: they can see obstacles as a challenge and they set goals and regulate their behaviour to achieve the goals. Most of the participants reported that they seek instrumental and emotional support when having troubles. Girls reported more social support seeking than did boys and the mean difference was statistically significant. Most of the participants had fairly high sense of self-efficacy. However, 4 % of the participants reported that they don’t believe in their capabilities. Some of these participants reported that they neither use proactive coping nor seek informational or emotional support when having troubles. Proactive coping correlated positively with self-efficacy and with social support seeking. In this study self-efficacy and social support seeking explained 47 % of proactive coping. It was discussed that children’s high sense of self-efficacy and social relationships can act as protective factors in transition to secondary school. When supporting children’s self-efficacy and social relationships one also assists children’s proactive coping. Proactive coping can be seen to support children’s personal growth.

Time to rest : Signals in shoot apex developmental transitions underlying dormancy

Vuodenajat rytmittävät monivuotisten kasvien elämää pohjoisella pallonpuoliskolla, jolla varmin merkki lähestyvästä talvikaudesta on asteittain lyhenevä päivänpituus. Kun päivänpituus on lyhentynyt tiettyyn raja-arvoon saakka, kasvu hiipuu ja kasvin kehityksessä tapahtuu suuria muutoksia. Väitöskirjatyössäni tutkittiin mekanismeja, jotka liittyvät pituuskasvun päättymiseen, silmujen lepotilan kehittymiseen ja kärkisilmun muodostumiseen hybridihaavan ja koivuntaimilla lyhyen päivänpituuden seurauksena kasvihuoneolosuhteissa. Vain lepotilaiset silmut selviytyvät luonnossa ankaran talvikauden yli, joten etenkin lepotilan kehittymisen tutkiminen on keskeistä pyrittäessä selvittämään monivuotisille kasveille tyypillisen kasvutavan mekanismeja. Jo pitkään on tiedetty, että täysikasvuiset lehdet vastaanottavat tiedon päivänpituudesta ja lähettävät signaaleja varren johtojänteissä ylöspäin kohti kasvin kärkiosaa. Sen sijaan varren kärjen ja kärkikasvupisteen roolia lepotilan kehittymisessä on selvitetty vain vähän. Kuitenkin juuri kärkikasvupisteen selviytyminen vuodesta toiseen on tärkeää, koska sen jakautumiskykyiset solukot tuottavat kasvin maanpäälliset osat. Tässä työssä tehdyissä varttamiskokeissa osoitettiin, että varren kärki ei ainoastaan vastaanota signaaleja lehdistä ja ajoita toimintaansa niiden mukaan, vaan myös kärjellä itsellään on aktiivinen rooli lepotilan kehittymisessä. Erityisesti kiinnitettiin huomiota kärkikasvupisteen eri alueiden, ns. apikaalimeristeemin ja rib-meristeemin erilaisiin tehtäviin ja pääteltiin, että molemmat vaikuttavat lepotilan kehittymiseen. Kokeissa käytettiin normaalien hybridihaapojen lisäksi siirtogeenisiä hybridihaapoja, jotka eivät lopeta kasvuaan lyhyt päivä –olosuhteissa. Siirtogeeniset hybridihaavat ilmensivät voimakkaasti fytokromi A -nimistä valon vastaanottajamolekyyliä rib-meristeemin alueella, mikä saattoi osaltaan vaikuttaa poikkeavaan pituuskasvukäyttäytymiseen. Myös useiden lepotilan kehittymiseen liittyvien geenien ilmenemisessä havaittiin poikkeavuuksia verrattuna ei-siirtogeenisiin kontrolleihin, joiden silmuissa kehittyi lepotila lyhyt päivä –altistuksen seurauksena. Väitöskirjatyössäni havaittiin, että myös kaasumainen kasvihormoni etyleeni toimii viestinvälittäjänä silmujen lepotilan kehittymisessä ja vaikuttaa etenkin lepotilan oikeaan ajoittumiseen. Etyleenillä huomattiin olevan määräävä rooli päätesilmun muodostumisessa: siirtogeeniset koivut, jotka eivät aisti etyleeniä, eivät muodostaneet päätesilmua. Silti siirtogeeniset koivut vaipuivat lepotilaan, joskin myöhemmin kuin ei-siirtogeeniset kontrollit. Tämän perusteella todettiin, että lepotilan ja päätesilmun kehittyminen ovat erillisiä kehitystapahtumia, vaikka ne saattavatkin ajoittua osaksi päällekkäin.

Dimensional Reduction Near the Deconfinement Transition

When ordinary nuclear matter is heated to a high temperature of ~ 10^12 K, it undergoes a deconfinement transition to a new phase, strongly interacting quark-gluon plasma. While the color charged fundamental constituents of the nuclei, the quarks and gluons, are at low temperatures permanently confined inside color neutral hadrons, in the plasma the color degrees of freedom become dominant over nuclear, rather than merely nucleonic, volumes. Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) is the accepted theory of the strong interactions, and confines quarks and gluons inside hadrons. The theory was formulated in early seventies, but deriving first principles predictions from it still remains a challenge, and novel methods of studying it are needed. One such method is dimensional reduction, in which the high temperature dynamics of static observables of the full four-dimensional theory are described using a simpler three-dimensional effective theory, having only the static modes of the various fields as its degrees of freedom. A perturbatively constructed effective theory is known to provide a good description of the plasma at high temperatures, where asymptotic freedom makes the gauge coupling small. In addition to this, numerical lattice simulations have, however, shown that the perturbatively constructed theory gives a surprisingly good description of the plasma all the way down to temperatures a few times the transition temperature. Near the critical temperature, the effective theory, however, ceases to give a valid description of the physics, since it fails to respect the approximate center symmetry of the full theory. The symmetry plays a key role in the dynamics near the phase transition, and thus one expects that the regime of validity of the dimensionally reduced theories can be significantly extended towards the deconfinement transition by incorporating the center symmetry in them. In the introductory part of the thesis, the status of dimensionally reduced effective theories of high temperature QCD is reviewed, placing emphasis on the phase structure of the theories. In the first research paper included in the thesis, the non-perturbative input required in computing the g^6 term in the weak coupling expansion of the pressure of QCD is computed in the effective theory framework at an arbitrary number of colors. The two last papers on the other hand focus on the construction of the center-symmetric effective theories, and subsequently the first non-perturbative studies of these theories are presented. Non-perturbative lattice simulations of a center-symmetric effective theory for SU(2) Yang-Mills theory show --- in sharp contrast to the perturbative setup --- that the effective theory accommodates a phase transition in the correct universality class of the full theory. This transition is seen to take place at a value of the effective theory coupling constant that is consistent with the full theory coupling at the critical temperature.

Exploring primary school sex education in Greece : policies and praxis

This study examines how sex education is currently developed and implemented in Greek primary schools. The four publications that comprise it explore the following themes: (1) the position and visibility of sex education as one of the topics for health education programme development; (2) the inhibiting and enhancing factors in the development and implementation of primary school sex education programmes; (3) how issues of sex, sexuality, the human body and romantic relationships are visually and textually represented in primary school textbooks; (4) the impact of sex education on teachers and pupils; and (5) teachers experiences as practitioners who deal with sexuality- related issues at school. -- The research was based on conducting multiple sub-studies using a mixed-methods approach. Specifically, qualitative and quantitative data were collected and analysed. The initial quantitative data that had been obtained by questionnaire was followed by the collection and analysis of qualitative data. The qualitative data were acquired by way of examining one particular case, various texts, interviews with teachers and self-reflective material. The results of the sub-studies are presented in a more detailed manner in the study s four publications. -- In general, the sub-studies found that sex education as an educational activity occupies a marginal place within the instructional practices of Greek primary school teachers, since the subject is hardly mentioned in classroom material, such as textbooks. However, engaging in the provision of sex education programmes can become a meaningful and rewarding experience for many teachers as well as pupils and their families. Further, teachers classroom experiences pointed to school settings as sexualized environments. These contextual factors and conditions nevertheless affected teachers practices and perceptions on a personal and professional level.Health indicators in Greece provide a picture of a population that faces various sexual health related problems. However, as many studies (including this work) indicate, sex education programmes that meet specific standards can have a positive impact on students overall health and well-being. Sex education teaching has always been a controversial issue. Its successful implementation in Greece demands knowledgeable educators and responsible policy-makers. The findings of this study suggest that the content of Greek primary school textbooks needs to be revised in order to include texts and pictures that deal with the human body and human sexuality, encourage pupils to become involved in designing the content and methods of programmes and give teachers the opportunity to reflect on and discuss their experiences. Keywords: sex education, primary school, Greece

Tuning and stability of a singly resonant continuous-wave optical parametric oscillator close to degeneracy

Wavelength tuning and stability characteristics of a singly resonant continuous-wave optical parametric oscillator (cw OPO) in the proximity of signal-idler degeneracy have been studied. The OPO is made singly resonant by using a Bragg grating as a spectral filter in the OPO cavity. The signal-idler frequency difference can be tuned from 0.5 to 7 THz, which makes the OPO suitable for cw THz generation by optical heterodyning. The operation of the OPO within this singly-resonant regime is characterized by a strong self-stabilization effect. A gradual transition to an unstable, doubly-resonant regime is observed for a signal-idler detuning smaller than ~ 0.5 THz.

Kadonneet pojat : Monitapaustutkimus ESY-poikien kompleksisesta koulu-urasta ja elämänkulusta

Lost boys. A multiple case study of the complex school career and life-course of male students who have attended special classes for the emotionally and behaviourally maladjusted The purpose of this thesis is to describe the school career and the life-course of eight former special-class students from the comprehensive school to their further education and into adulthood. The members of the target group have been students of special classes for pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties in southern Finland. The interviews were made 1994-1997 at school and for follow-up interviews 2002-2003, when the participants were already adults. Six mothers were also interviewed. The qualitative data was gathered using individual interviews and Adult Attachment Interview. The aim was to explore the life-histories of subjects from early childhood to early adulthood. Information was gathered also from the documents concerning the students´ school attendance. Every single life-history is illustrated as a life-course graphic. The data has been analysed using different frames of reference and combining different theories. In addition to theories considering developmental risk factors and protective factors, the data is considered using theories of control over life, attribution, self-efficacy and identity and attitudes towards education. The experiential living mode of the students has been studied, as well. The results of this study show that the frames of references which are used complement each other. The target students clustered identically in spite of the frames of reference. As a result, the study has illustrated the same phenomenon from different points of view. The results of the study consist of three types of school careers: The winding career, the vicious circle career and the straight career. The three careers differ from each other in developmental risk and protective factors and post-school life-courses of the students. The type of childhood families and especially the fathers´ attention to the school education as well as the free time of their sons was important. Keywords: Pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties, maladjustment to school, life-course, identity

Kestävä kehitys globaalin ajan hyvinvointiyhteiskunnan haasteena

The objective of the dissertation was to determine the concept of sustainable development according to current understanding and to analyze the structuration of sustainable daily life and how it varies between different groups. The present dissertation is both a literature-based theoretical study and data-based empirical research. The theoretical framework of the study was a greated model of the Structuration of Sustainability in Everyday Life. The model is based on a synthesis of Giddens Theory of Structuration (1984), Spaargaren JA van Vliet's Theory of Consumption as Social Practices (2000) and principles of sustainable development. According to the model created, sustainable everyday life is generated in a context of internal and external factors compromising the interests of ecosystems, society and business. The literature used in the thesis included international and national statements on sustainable development and research into sustainability and the transition to sustainable societies. The data were collected at Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences. The discretionary sample consisted of students of social services (n = 210) and were collected using the semantic differential technique. The data were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative methods. The results showed that the value placed on ecological, economic and social sustainability increased with age. Activity in non governmental organizations was associated with the acceptance of sustainable development as a whole and especially with global responsibility. Women's everyday life promoted sustainability more than men´s. People living in Helsinki had more sustainable ways of living than those living in the surrounding municipalities because of greater recycling and the low importance given to ownership. Prefering vegetarian food turned out to be a real opportunity for a more sustainable way of living because there were few barriers identified. Contradictory human behavior occurred when advanced sustainable consumer were ready to risk their health. The importance of communality was high and it was considered an aspect of health. The most significant obstacles to sustainable development in daily life were high costs, lack of knowledge and busyness. Similar attitudes towards sustainable development translate into different people´s behavior, which indicates complexities of the behaviour change in the context of sustainable development. The role of non governmental organizations is significant in increasing global responsibility. Education presents an opportunity to increase sustainability, but there are challenges to face from system thinking and in understanding entities in a state of transition towards sustainable everyday life. The responsibility of policy makers is paramount because high costs create a barrier to a sustainable way of living. The implementation of the concept of sustainable development should be focused on the planetary ethics which cover humans, animals, plants and ecosystems. Keywords: Sustainable development, sustainable thinking, behaviour change  

Isotopic records of terrestrial ice age environments in mammoth bioapatite

Palaeoenvironments of the latter half of the Weichselian ice age and the transition to the Holocene, from ca. 52 to 4 ka, were investigated using isotopic analysis of oxygen, carbon and strontium in mammal skeletal apatite. The study material consisted predominantly of subfossil bones and teeth of the woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius Blumenbach), collected from Europe and Wrangel Island, northeastern Siberia. All samples have been radiocarbon dated, and their ages range from >52 ka to 4 ka. Altogether, 100 specimens were sampled for the isotopic work. In Europe, the studies focused on the glacial palaeoclimate and habitat palaeoecology. To minimise the influence of possible diagenetic effects, the palaeoclimatological and ecological reconstructions were based on the enamel samples only. The results of the oxygen isotope analysis of mammoth enamel phosphate from Finland and adjacent nortwestern Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Denmark and Sweden provide the first estimate of oxygen isotope values in glacial precipitation in northern Europe. The glacial precipitation oxygen isotope values range from ca. -9.2±1.5 in western Denmark to -15.3 in Kirillov, northwestern Russia. These values are 0.6-4.1 lower than those in present-day precipitation, with the largest changes recorded in the currently marine influenced southern Sweden and the Baltic region. The new enamel-derived oxygen isotope data from this study, combined with oxygen isotope records from earlier investigations on mammoth tooth enamel and palaeogroundwaters, facilitate a reconstruction of the spatial patterns of the oxygen isotope values of precipitation and palaeotemperatures over much of Europe. The reconstructed geographic pattern of oxygen isotope levels in precipitation during 52-24 ka reflects the progressive isotopic depletion of air masses moving northeast, consistent with a westerly source of moisture for the entire region, and a circulation pattern similar to that of the present-day. The application of regionally varied δ/T-slopes, estimated from palaeogroundwater data and modern spatial correlations, yield reasonable estimates of glacial surface temperatures in Europe and imply 2-9°C lower long-term mean annual surface temperatures during the glacial period. The isotopic composition of carbon in the enamel samples indicates a pure C3 diet for the European mammoths, in agreement with previous investigations of mammoth ecology. A faint geographical gradient in the carbon isotope values of enamel is discernible, with more negative values in the northeast. The spatial trend is consistent with the climatic implications of the enamel oxygen isotope data, but may also suggest regional differences in habitat openness. The palaeogeographical changes caused by the eustatic rise of global sea level at the end of the Weichselian ice age was investigated on Wrangel Island, using the strontium isotope (Sr-87/Sr-86) ratios in the skeletal apatite of the local mammoth fauna. The diagenetic evaluations suggest good preservation of the original Sr isotope ratios, even in the bone specimens included in the study material. To estimate present-day environmental Sr isotope values on Wrangel Island, bioapatite samples from modern reindeer and muskoxen, as well as surface waters from rivers and ice wedges were analysed. A significant shift towards more radiogenic bioapatite Sr isotope ratios, from 0.71218 ± 0.00103 to 0.71491 ± 0.00138, marks the beginning of the Holocene. This implies a change in the migration patterns of the mammals, ultimately reflecting the inundation of the mainland connection and isolation of the population. The bioapatite Sr isotope data supports published coastline reconstructions placing the time of separation from the mainland to ca. 10-10.5 ka ago. The shift towards more radiogenic Sr isotope values in mid-Holocene subfossil remains after 8 ka ago reflects the rapid rise of the sea level from 10 to 8 ka, resulting in a considerable reduction of the accessible range area on the early Wrangel Island.

Kirkon vai valtion kirjat? : Uskontokuntasidonnaisuuden ongelma Suomen väestökirjanpidossa 1839-1904

The Population Register – run by the Church or the state? The problem posed by the obligation to belong to a religious community in the registration of births and deaths in Finland between 1839 and 1904 The Lutheran Church of Finland is the nation’s largest church; approximately 82 per cent of Finns were members in 2007. The Church ran an official register of its members until 1999, when the state then undertook this task. The registration of births and deaths by the Church has a long history dating back to the 17th century, when Bishop Johannes Gezelius Sr. decreed that all parish members would have to be recorded in parish registers. These registers were used to control how well parish members knew the Christian doctrine and, gradually, also if they were literate. Additionally, the Church attempted to ensure by means of the parish registers that parish members went to Holy Communion annually. Since everyone was a member of the Lutheran Church, the state also took advantage of the parish registers and used them for the purposes of tax collection and conscription. The main research theme of “The Population Register – run by the Church or the state?” goes back to these times. The actual research period covers the years of 1839–1904. At that time Finland was under Russian rule, although autonomous. In the late 19th century the press and different associations in Finland began to engage in public debate, and the country started moving from a submissive society to a civic one. The identity of the Lutheran Church also became more prominent when the Church Act and the General Synod were realised in 1869. A few years earlier, municipal and parish administrations had been separated, but the general registration of births and deaths was left to the Church to see to. In compliance with the constitution of the country, all the inhabitants in principle still had to be Lutheran. In practice, the situation was different. The religious and ideological realms diversified, and the Lutheran concept of religion was no longer acceptable to everyone. The conflict was reflected in the registration of births and deaths, which was linked to the Lutheran Church and its parish registers. Nobody was allowed to leave the Church, there was no civil register, and the Lutheran Church did not consent to record unbaptized children in the parish registers. Therefore such children were left without civil rights. Thus the obligation to belong to a religious community had become a problem in the registration of births and deaths. The Lutheran clergy also appealed to the 1723 privileges, according to which they had been exempted from the drawing up of additional population registers. In 1889 Finland passed the Dissenters Act. By virtue of this act the Baptists and the Methodists left the state Church, but this was not the case with the members of the free churches. The freethinkers had to retain their church membership, as the law did not apply to them. This meant that the unbaptized children of the members of the free churches or those of freethinkers were still not entered in any registers. The children were not able to go to school, work for the state or legally marry. Neither were they able to inherit property, as they did not legally exist. The system of parish registers was created when everyone was required to be a member of the Lutheran Church, but it did not work when liberal attitudes eventually penetrated the sphere of religion, too. The government´s measures to solve the problem were slow and cautious, partly because Finland was part of Russia, partly because there were only about 100 unbaptized children. As the problem group was small and the state´s resources were limited, no general civil register was established. The state accepted the fact that in spite of the problems, the Evangelical Lutheran Church and the congregations of dissenters were the only official establishments to run populations registers in the country, and for social purposes, too. In 1900 the Diet of Finland finally approved a limited civil register, which unbaptized children and unregistered foreigners would be recorded in. Due to political reasons the civil register did not come into existence until 1917, after the actual research period.

Vaikeavammaisen nuoren aikuistuminen : Yksilöllinen ja erilainen elämänkulku

Transition to adulthood of severely disabled adolescents. Diversity in individual life courses. The focus of this study is to examine the transition to adulthood of severely disabled adolescents as part of their life course. The data for this study were gathered through interviews with nine severely disabled adolescents, who were interviewed several times over a period of eight years. At the beginning of the study the adolescents were between 18 and 24 years old. The informants had severe disabilities manifesting themselves as physical incapacity, cerebral palsy, vision or hearing impairment, neurological disease, or developmental disability. One of the adolescents communicated with symbols. All except one used a wheelchair. As severely disabled adolescents, they received benefits from Kela for persons with severe disabilities, such as the higher-rate or special disability allowance or disability pension, the higher-rate or special pensioners' care allowance, or medical rehabilitation services. The interviews focused on a number of selected themes such as relationships, family, education, work, leisure-time activities, dating, decision-making, independence, happiness, and one s self-image and identity. Data were also derived from interviews with five experts. Two of the experts interviewed were severely disabled themselves. The theoritical foundation of the study lies in perviuos research on the severly disabled, the transition to adulthood and the life course. The method of analysis and interpretation is qualitative and based on interviews with the adolescents. In terms of the analytical process, the focus is on recognizing individual events in the transition process to adulthood and identifying the meanings assigned to them by the adolescents. The narratives also provide a method to shed light on the individuality of the transition. The individual situations of severely disabled adolescents vary, and their disability impacts the range of options available to them as they plan their life course. The medical and social models of disability also have an effect on life courses. Although severely disabled adolescents are able to attain some goals, they remain outsiders in many respects. Key words: Disabled person, severely disabled person, adolescent, transition to adulthood, identity, life course.

Discursive Matrixes of Motherhood : Cultivating Decency and Emotion in Finnish and French Mother-talk

Discursive Matrixes of Motherhood examines women's discourse on their experiences of new motherhood in Finland and France. It sets out from two culturally prevalent turns of speech observed in different social forums: in conversations amongst mothers with tertiary education and in the print media. The pool of data includes: 30 interviews, 8 autobiographically inspired novels and 80 items from women's magazines. With instruments loaned from the toolbox of rhetorical analysis, the recurrence of certain expressions or clichés is analyzed with regard to the national, cultural, biographical, political and daily contexts and settings in which the speaking subjects are immersed. "Staying at home is such a short and special time", the first expression under scrutiny, caught the sociological eye because of its salience in Finland and because it appeared as contradictory with a core characteristic of the Finnish context:long family leave. The cliché was found to function as a discursive micromechanism which swept mothers' 'complaints' under the proverbial carpet. Proper emotions and decency in mother-talk thereby appear as collective achievements. An opposite phenomenon - that of the scaling up of rewards procured by children - was also discerned in the data. Indeed, the French expression "Profiter de mon enfant" ["making the most of my child"/"enjoying my child"] is interpreted as a crystallization of a hedonist ethos of motherhood in everyday language. Secondly, the recurrence of this utterance is analyzed in the light of a requisite located in child-rearing expert literature: that of pleasure that women should take in mothering. Hence, one of the rules found to structure the discursive matrixes of motherhood is the laudability and audibility of enjoyment and conversely the discretion and discouragement of 'complaints'. The cultivation of decent matches between certain categories of emotions and certain categories of individuals also appears as a characteristic of discursive matrixes. One of the methodological findings relates to the fact that such matches may be constituted as sociological objects through the identification of recurrent discursive crystallizations in a given culture. Ideal matches may crystallize in turns of speech and mismatches can be managed through clichés. Becoming a mother entails an immersion in such a particular economy of speech. Key words: mothers, motherhood, transition to parenthood, family, emotions, morality, bonds, rhetorical analysis, discourse analysis, media analysis, France, Finland, comparative sociology

Luottamus koulussa : Tutkimus yhdeksännen luokan oppilaiden luottamus- ja epäluottamuskertomuksista ja niiden merkityksestä oppilaiden kouluarjessa

The aim of this study is to explore trust at school and its meaning for 9th grade students. The intent is to investigate students views about trust and mistrust in school relationships. Three research questions are posed: 1) what meanings do students give to their experiences of trust and mistrust at school and how do they evaluate connection of these experiences to their well-being and enjoyment in the classroom? 2) what and how important, is the teacher s role according to the students writings, and 3) what might the different pedagogical and administrative structures of schools reveal about trust and mistrust in a particular school culture? The data consists of 134 writings of 9th grade students (secondary school) from three schools in one of the biggest cities in Finland. The schools differ from others in terms of their pedagogical or structural backgrounds. The study is restricted to the micro-level of, disposition of Educational Sociology, focusing on trust in schools relationships. The theoretical framework of the study is trust, as a part of social capital; however trust is also approached from the sociological, the psychological and philosophical perspective. The methodological approach is narrative research concerning school practice . Analysis of narrative consist mostly content analysis, but also some elements of holistic-content reading, thematic reading and categorical content. The analysis found three main themes: 1) individual stories of trust, 2) the teachers role in making trust possible in the classroom, and 3) school as a community of trust. According to the study trust at school (1) is a complex phenomenon consisting of people s ability to work together and to recognize the demands that different situations present. Trust at school is often taken for granted. In the students experiences trust is strongly connected to friendship, and the teacher s ability to connect with students. Students experiences of mistrust stem from bulling, school violence, lack of respect as well as teachers lacking basic professional behavior. School relationships are important for some students as source of enjoyment, but some feel that it is difficult to evaluate the connection between trust and enjoyment. The study found that students trust of teachers (2) is linked to the teacher s professional role as a teacher, a caring human being open to dialogue. In other words, the students describe teachers abilities to create a sense of trust in terms of three expectations: the teacher was better, the same or worse than expected. Better than expected, means the teacher engender a high degree of trust and has excellent communication skills. Same as expected means the teacher comes across as familiar and secure, while lower than expected means the teacher creates no trust and has poor communication skills. Finally, it was shown that trust at school (3) should not only exist between some individuals, but between (all) members of the school community. In other words, according to the study there is some evidence that trust is strongly committed to school culture. Further, trust seems to depend on (school-) cultural background, values, beliefs, expectations, norms as well as staff behaviour. The basic elements of an optimum level of trust at school are favourable school structure and pedagogical background; however, good relationships between teachers and students as well as high professional skills are also needed. Trust at school is built by good communication, working together and getting to know each other.