Asko Tolvanen

University of Jyväskylä | JYU · Department of Psychology

Check-in/Check-out (CICO) behavioral support has been implemented in Finnish School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Support (SWPBIS) schools to cater to students who require personalized behavior support beyond the universal level. Previous studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of CICO as a behavioral support method. However, further...

The aim of the present longitudinal study was to profile the occupational well-being (burnout, work engagement) of highly educated employees (n=442) at three measurement points: in 2017 (T1), 2019 (T2), and 2021 (T3). We were interested in whether profile transitions would occur during the follow-up, and if so, whether the three dimensions of perce...

This study explores the directionality of the associations between reading fluency and arithmetic fluency development from Grade 1 through Grade 9 (ages 7 to 16) in a large Finnish sample of 2,518 participants. Participants’ reading and arithmetic fluency skills were assessed at seven time points across Grades 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 9. A random inte...

Background Personalized interventions aiming to increase physical activity in individuals are effective. However, from a public health perspective, it would be important to stimulate physical activity in larger groups of people who share the vulnerability to be physically inactive throughout adulthood. To find these high-risk groups, we identified...

Introduction The skill domains of fundamental movement skills (FMS), emphasizing gross motor movements, including locomotor skills (LMS) and object control skills (OCS), along with process- and product-oriented measures of FMS, may predict cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and muscular fitness (MF) differently. This study investigates the longitudina...

Background The adult reading history questionnaire (ARHQ) is frequently used in research on adult dyslexia and family risk for dyslexia. However, this measure is lengthy (23 items), reducing its applicability in studies with extensive assessment batteries. Methods We identified the best‐performing ARHQ items in a sample of 396 Finnish adults using...

The worldwide increase in childhood overweight and obesity underscores the need to study variables like fundamental movement skill (FMS) levels from early childhood. This study investigated the bidirectional longitudinal relationship between body mass index (BMI) and process-oriented FMSs, including locomotor skills and object control skills in 675...

The early prediction of math difficulties (MD) is important as it facilitates timely support. MD are multifaceted, and several factors are involved in their manifestation. This makes the accurate early prediction of MD particularly challenging. In the present study, we aim to predict MD in Grade 6 with kindergarten-age (age 6) measures by applying...

Applying job demands–resources theory, this quasiexperimental, three-wave study investigated whether work engagement can be increased via an eLearning intervention aiming to increase job crafting behavior. Furthermore, proposing a refinement to job demands–resources theory, that is, adding “a health enhancement process,” this study also investigate...

In this four-year longitudinal study, we examined how reading comprehension, as assessed with PISA reading achievement, literacy motivation, and school burnout symptoms at the end of comprehensive school predict the choice of educational track (academic or vocational) and educational attainment in upper secondary education. The sample consisted of...

The social identity approach to health argues that well‐being depends on the psychosocial circumstances of the groups to which individuals belong. However, little is known about how the average level of identification in the group – ‘the identification environment’ – buffers the negative health consequences of stressors. We used multilevel modellin...

The aim of the present study was to examine the kinds of developmental profiles of arithmetic fluency skills that can be identified across Grades 1–9 (ages 7–16) in a large Finnish sample (n = 2,518). The study also examined whether membership in the developmental profiles could be predicted using a comprehensive set of kindergarten-age factors, in...

The social identity approach to health argues that well-being depends on the psychosocial circumstances of the groups to which individuals belong. However, little is known about how the average level of identification in the group – ‘the identification environment ’ – buffers the negative health consequences of stressors. We used multilevel modelli...

The study aims were to (1) identify perceived motor competence (PMC) and actual motor competence (AMC) profiles in children at two time points (early and middle childhood) 3 years apart, (2) explore transitions between the profiles from T1 to T2, and (3) investigate how PMC‐AMC profiles at T1 differ in their mean values for AMC and PMC variables at...

Objectives: The association between leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) and a lower risk of mortality is susceptible to bias from multiple sources. We investigated the potential of biological ageing to mediate the association between long-term LTPA and mortality and whether the methods used to account for reverse causality affect the interpretati...

Schools are key settings for the promotion of students' physical activity, fitness, and motor competence. The purpose of our study was to investigate the efficacy of a 5‐month‐long intervention program that aimed to increase students' motor competence and health‐related fitness during school days. We conducted a quasi‐experimental study with 325 Fi...

The aim of the present study was to examine the kinds of developmental profiles of arithmetic fluency skills that can be identified across Grades 1 to 9 (ages 7 to 16) in a large Finnish sample (n = 2,518). The study also examined whether membership in the developmental profiles could be predicted using a comprehensive set of kindergarten-age facto...

Objective: To investigate post-stroke return-to-work and its associations with cognitive performance, motivation, perceived working ability, and self-perceived barriers to returning to work. Design: Prospective cohort study of a clinical sample. Subjects and methods: Participants were 77 stroke patients younger than age 69 years. Assessment in...

Daily workloads of adolescent student-athletes can be extremely high because of their investment in both school and sport. Adolescents are especially vulnerable to mood disturbances and disorders and thus mental health problems, as they experience psychological, physiological, and social shifts at this key stage of human development. The present st...

Background The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed guidelines for 24-h physical activity (PA), sedentary behaviour and sleep for young children. Lower socioeconomic status (SES) has been linked to a lower likelihood of meeting these guidelines. The outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) raised concerns about young children’s...

This mixed methods study examines the structure of the multiple-choice exam for student selection in Finnish teacher education. Through qualitative content analysis, we categorized multiple-choice questions into items that assessed lower- and higher-order cognitive processes based on the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy. Exploratory and confirmatory factor...

Background: Adolescence is a stage of fast growth and development. Exposures during puberty can have long-term effects on health in later life. This study aims to investigate the role of adolescent lifestyle in biological aging. Methods: The study participants originated from the longitudinal FinnTwin12 study (n = 5114). Adolescent lifestyle-rel...

Purpose This study examines the developmental interplay between silent reading fluency and reading comprehension from Grade 1 to Grade 9 (age 7 to 15) in a large Finnish sample (N = 2,518). Of particular interest was whether the associations are bidirectional or unidirectional. Methods Children’s silent reading fluency and reading comprehension sk...

Adolescence is a stage of fast growth and development. Exposures during puberty can have long-term effects on health in later life. This study aims to investigate the role of adolescent lifestyle in biological aging. The study participants originated from the longitudinal FinnTwin12 study (n = 5114). Adolescent lifestyle-related factors, including...

Aims To investigate women's childbirth experiences and their relation to self‐esteem development in the postpartum year. Design A mixed methods study. Methods Women (N = 125) completed survey questionnaires regarding their self‐esteem and childbirth experiences at three time points in 2020–2021: third trimester of pregnancy (T1), 4–8 weeks postpa...

The associations among readers’ cognitive skills (general cognitive ability, reading skills, and attentional functioning), task demands (easy versus difficult questions), and process measures (total fixation time on relevant and irrelevant paragraphs) was investigated to explain task-oriented reading accuracy and efficiency (number of scores in a g...

Children who like to read and write tend to be better at it. This association is typically interpreted as enjoyment impacting engagement in literacy activities, which boosts literacy skills. We fitted direction‐of‐causation models to partial data of 3690 Finnish twins aged 12. Literacy skills were rated by the twins’ teachers and literacy enjoyment...

Objective Fear of childbirth (FOC), also referred to as tokophobia, can have detrimental consequences for a woman’s well-being during pregnancy and for their subjective birth experience. However, it is unknown what role self-esteem plays in the relationship between FOC and the experience of childbirth. This study investigates the relation between F...

An awareness of school-related antecedents of children's physiological stress at the beginning of school helps educators to prevent and mitigate children's stress, the one of the major obstacles to their well-being and academic progress. We aimed to study the effect of reading skills and social competence on first-grade students' salivary cortisol...

The present study investigates whether task engagement mediates the effects of reading-related self-efficacy and motivation on reading comprehension. Finnish-speaking students from Grades 3 and 4 performed a computer-based reading comprehension task. Engagement was measured by two indicators retrieved from log files: time-on-task (behavioral engage...

Research indicates that the dominant discourses of gender are ingrained in dual career (DC) practices critically influencing athletes’ motivation to construct a DC pathway. While it is important to ensure that all athletes have an equal access to construct a DC pathway despite their gender, there is a gap in the literature examining the role that c...

This article introduces a new theoretical and psychometric framework describing moment-to-moment development and inter-dependencies of achievement motivation in terms of the situated expectancy-value theory, by introducing dynamical systems concepts into this line of research. As a first empirical example of a study using this framework, we examine...

The study investigated the mediating role of teachers' psychological detachment between successive days' job stress and negative affect. Fifty-seven Finnish teachers answered to a mobile diary four times a day on two successive workdays assessing their negative affect, three times a day assessing their job stress and once a day after work assessing...

Adolescence is a stage of fast growth and development. Exposures during puberty can have long-term effects on health in later life. This study aims to investigate the role of adolescent lifestyle in biological aging. The study participants originated from the longitudinal FinnTwin12 study (n = 5114). Adolescent lifestyle-related factors, including...

This study investigates the reliability of multiple mini interviews (MMIs) to select students for classroom and special education teacher programs (n = 418) using intraclass correlations and cross-classified multilevel modeling. The results indicated mostly small effects of clustering of applicants to different interviewers and five-station circuit...

Self-efficacious children are expected to be more task-focused in challenging achievement situations and consequently have better chances of overcoming learning difficulties than children who have lower self-efficacy. The present study investigates this presumption with Finnish-speaking first graders struggling with reading acquisition (N = 285). T...

Successfully integrating elite sports with education requires motivation to commit oneself to both domains. This study examines the development of and gender differences in adolescent athletes’ task values for school and sports across the upper secondary school years. A total of 391 adolescents (aged 15–16 at the beginning of the study) were follow...

This study identified online research and comprehension (ORC) performance profiles of 436 sixth‐grade students (206 girls) aged 12–13 years. We included learner groups with different learning‐related difficulties and explored how students’ reading habits were represented in various performance profiles. First, students’ ORC performance was examined...

The key challenges in sustainable elite sports concern young athletes´ holistic development. Consequently, preparation for dual careers has been recommended to enhance athletes’ well-being and equip them for life after sports. The aim of this study was to examine the developmental associations between self-esteem and career adaptability among adole...

Despite the prominence of fitness testing in school physical education (PE), there is a sparsity of research examining the antecedents of students’ affective experiences during fitness testing lessons. This study aimed to investigate the associations among task- and ego-involving motivational climates, perceived physical competence, physical perfor...

To support holistic development, adolescent student-athletes are encouraged to integrate sport with education/academics (i.e., dual careers). Career adaptability, as a psychological resource, may help youth athletes cope with transitions and successfully manage their careers. Individuals with a plan and higher expectations for the future demonstrat...

Background The sex gap in life expectancy has been narrowing in Finland over the past four to five decades; however, on average, women still live longer than men. Epigenetic clocks are markers for biological aging that predict lifespan. In this study, we examined the mediating role of lifestyle factors on the association between sex and biological...

This study examined developmental profiles of reading fluency and reading comprehension in Grades 1 to 9 (ages 7 to 15) in a large Finnish sample (N = 2,518). In addition, early predictors of the profiles were analyzed with respect to kindergarten cognitive skills (phonological awareness, letter knowledge, rapid automized naming [RAN], number count...

Children who like to read and write tend to be better at it. This association is typically interpreted as enjoyment impacting engagement in literacy activities, which boosts literacy skills. We fitted direction-of-causation models to partial data of 3,690 Finnish twins aged 12. Literacy skills were rated by the twins’ teachers and literacy enjoymen...

Since parental burnout can have detrimental consequences for parents, couples, and children, easy-to-use, reliable, and valid practical tools for the early detection of parental burnout are required. We developed and validated a brief scale to identify burned-out parents and parents at burnout risk. In Study 1, we developed the 5-item Brief Parenta...

Positive mental health is central to adolescent well-being. The present study examines the prevalence of loneliness and positive mental health indicators (mental well-being and self-esteem) in four Nordic countries and associations between loneliness, mental well-being, and high self-esteem. This study is based on data from the Health Behaviour in...

This follow-up study investigated the associations of childhood learning disabilities (LDs) with adult-age anxiety, depression, and unemployment. Psychosocial problems in childhood and psychiatric diagnoses and lack of education in adolescence were studied as potential mediators, and gender and mother’s education as potential moderators of these as...

Objectives: Energy drink consumption among adolescents has become a notable global phenomenon, and has been associated with numerous negative health outcomes. In order to understand the popularity of energy drinks among adolescents, and to target interventions, it is important to identify the determinants underpinning consumption. Methods: The nati...

Sleep loss is known to contribute to road traffic accidents. Professional drivers are vulnerable to curtailment of sleep due to long driving bouts and shift work. To fill in the gap in the literature related to the build-up of sleep loss in irregular shift systems, we recorded the sleep and working hours of 47 shift-working long-haul truck drivers...

Background Evidence on whether leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) facilitates individuals’ adoption of multiple healthy behaviors remains scarce. This study investigated the associations of diverse longitudinal LTPA trajectories from childhood to adulthood with diet, screen time, smoking, binge drinking, sleep difficulties, and sleep duration in...

Background Little previous research has analysed the relationship between schools’ indoor air problems and schools’ social climate. In this study, we analysed a) whether observed mould and dampness in a school building relates to students’ perceptions of school climate (i.e. teacher-student relationships and class spirit) and b) whether reported su...

Identifying the causes of sleepiness in various safety-critical work environments is necessary for implementing more efficient fatigue management strategies. In transportation, little is known about drivers' own perceptions of these causes. Therefore, we instructed shift-working tram (n = 23) and long-haul truck drivers (n = 52) to report at the en...

This study evaluated the relation between sixth graders' (N = 426) teacher-rated difficulties in attention and executive function (EF) and their comprehension skills. Reading comprehension was assessed with a multiple-choice task and online research and comprehension (ORC) with a problem-solving task. The analyses were controlled for gender, readin...

Background The sex gap in life expectancy has been narrowing in Finland over the past four to five decades; however, on average, women still live longer than men. Epigenetic clocks are markers for biological aging that predict lifespan. In this study, we examined the mediating role of lifestyle factors on the association between sex and biological...

This study introduces a new theoretical model describing the moment-to-moment development of expectancy-value experiences, based on dynamic systems concepts. As a first step to testing this model, we examined whether task values and success expectancies measured in a learning situation (time point t) predicted themselves and each other at the next...

Applying social investment theory (SIT), we examined whether employment trajectories until midlife, with differential investments in education and employment, are associated with social investments during early life and with work-related well-being in midlife, with a special reference to potential differences between self-employment and paid work....

This mobile diary study examined day-today variability during one study week among university students and study-related associated factors promoting and impairing their well-being. Specifically, we explored (1) what factors university students consider as promoting and as impairing their daily wellbeing, (2) what types of daily study profiles for...

Objectives While interventions using mindfulness have been effective in treating burnout, the mechanisms of change need more research. This study investigated which of five mindfulness facets (observing, describing, acting with awareness, non-judging, and non-reacting) mediated the intervention effects on three burnout dimensions (exhaustion, cynic...

The aim of the present study was to investigate the reliability and utility of the Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) format in initial teacher education selections in Finland. The data was comprised of applicants’ scores in a five-station MMI (n=418), their perceptions of the validity of MMI collected using a web-survey (n=304) as well as the interview...

Emotional intelligence is an important variable related to the interaction and functioning of sports teams. The present study examined the relationship between players' trait emotional intelligence and functional and dysfunctional psychobiosocial states. In particular, we examined the mediating effects of intra-team communication efficacy and role...

Driver sleepiness contributes to traffic accidents. However, sleepiness in urban public transport remains an understudied subject. To fill this gap, we examined the sleepiness, sleep, and on-duty sleepiness countermeasures (SCMs) in 23 tram drivers working morning, day, and evening shifts for three weeks. Sleepiness was measured using Karolinska Sl...

Work engagement is expected to result from job resources such as autonomy. However, previous results have yielded that the autonomy–work engagement relationship is not always particularly strong. Whereas previous longitudinal studies have examined this relationship as an average at a specific point in time, this study examined whether this relation...

Purpose: Greater leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) associates with healthier lives, but knowledge regarding occupational physical activity (OPA) is more inconsistent. DNA methylation (DNAm) patterns capture age-related changes in different tissues. We aimed to assess how LTPA and OPA are associated with three DNAm based epigenetic age estimate...

The objective of this work was to examine the connections between problematic digital gaming and various health-related behavior characteristics in a population of vocational school students. Data collection was performed (N = 1335) via an online survey in vocational school units in northern Finland. The survey incorporated the Internet Gaming Diso...

Background: Fitness testing is a commonly applied learning and teaching practice implemented in both secondary and elementary school physical education (PE). Many teachers believe that by using a variety of different tests, they are able to provide students with feedback regarding their fitness status, and furthermore, increase students’ willingnes...

Moisture damage can influence the subjective assessment of indoor air quality (subjective IAQ) in various ways. We studied whether the frequency of symptoms reported across students at school level mediates the relationship between observed mold and dampness in a school building and students’ subjective IAQ. To answer this research question, we tes...