Katariina Salmela-Aro
Biographic Data
| ID | 136406 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Katariina Salmela-Aro |
| GIVEN NAMES | Katariina |
| FAMILY NAME | Salmela-Aro |
| SIGNATURE | SALMELA-ARO K |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Helsinki |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1901-4712 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 120 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 352 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 120 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1996 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 11 |
Seeking effective school and family supports for adolescents' curiosity in learning
BACKGROUND: Curiosity in learning is a driving force for students' knowledge acquisition and academic achievement, yet its declining trend during adolescence has been observed across multiple countries. AIMS: This study aimed to identify key supports for adolescents' learning curiosity across countries by examining the associations of learning curiosity with psychological need-based supports from family and school and further comparing the effect…
Distinguishing climate change worry from state climate anxiety across 32 countries
The concepts of “climate change worry” and “climate change anxiety” are often used interchangeably in climate research, but they may reflect distinct emotional responses to climate change, which could potentially have different implications for public mental health. This research brief aims to empirically examine the differences between these two constructs by comparing their associations with key indicators of subjective wellbeing. Using survey …
Identification Environment, School Identification and School Burnout
Most research on well‐being in social psychology has focused on individuals. Based on the social identity approach to health, we examined how the average strength of social identification within a group—a measure of the ‘identification environment’—affects group members’ burnout symptoms and moderates the association between their social identification and burnout. We analysed these issues using two samples of lower‐secondary‐school‐age learners …
School principals’ job burnout and job satisfaction in Finland
School principals often experience job-related stress and burnout due to their competing roles. Previous research has primarily focused on administrative and individual factors, overlooking social and role-related factors that principals face at work and home. Using the job demands–resources (JD-R) framework, this study investigated the effects of work–family conflict, role conflict, and sense of community on principals’ job burnout and satisfact…
Crisis-resilient school leadership and the role of job crafting
The present study aimed to investigate school principals’ perspectives on resilient leadership, drawing from their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the role of job crafting as a strategy for enhancing principals’ self-efficacy in crisis leadership was examined. Using a mixed-method approach, the research integrates qualitative insights from open-ended survey responses and quantitative analyses of job crafting's impact on cr…
Promoting university students' situational engagement in online learning for climate education
Disengagement in online learning is known to pose a risk to student learning and wellbeing. In this paper, we first introduce the development and implementation process of a set of online university climate education courses aimed at enhancing student situational engagement through diverse learning activities. Second, engagement (conceptualized here as the co-occurrence of interest, skill, and challenge, i.e., optimal learning moments), and activ…
The importance of socio-emotional skills obtained before the Covid-19 pandemic in supporting study engagement during the pandemic and transition to higher education
This study investigated the development of study engagement from the end of upper secondary school through the first and second years of higher education. The participants experienced the challenges related to the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic while they were either university students or preparing for university entrance exams. The study employed a person-oriented approach to determine what kind of developmental trajectories emerge in stud…
Adolescents’ social-emotional skills profiles, relationships at school, school anxiety, and educational aspirations
This study examined adolescents’ social-emotional skills profiles before the educational transition to upper secondary education. Further, the study examined differences in gender; socioeconomic status (SES); and perceived social relationships, educational aspirations, and school anxiety across the profiles. The study used OECD data collected from 2452 adolescents aged 15 from 53 schools in Helsinki. Using latent profile analysis, five social-emo…
Belongingness to groups, adolescent loneliness trajectories, and their consequences
While loneliness for short periods of time is normal, prolonged loneliness has severe health risks. This study aims to discover what loneliness trajectories can be found in a cohort of adolescents, how belongingness to different groups may be associated with these trajectories, and the mental, physical, and academic consequences of these trajectories. Adolescents ( N = 2,765) born in the year 2000 and attending Helsinki schools participated in an…
Fostering Media Literacy
Investigating the effectiveness of media literacy interventions is essential to identify the most promising programs. This 2022 systematic evidence review, guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guideline, aimed to collect and synthesize scientific evidence on effective media literacy intervention programs across different target groups and the used frameworks. A comprehensive search across major scientif…
Is social connectedness still in decline after the Covid-19 pandemic? Cohort trends in secondary school students in Finland between 2017 and 2023
Several previous cohort studies suggest declining social connectedness in young people since 2000, the pattern accelerated during the covid-19 pandemic. Little is known whether social connectedness had recovered to the pre-pandemic levels. We investigated whether the declining pattern in experienced social connectedness in secondary school students between 2017 and 2021 changed in 2023. We also investigated the role of individual and school chara…
Electronic screen use and children’s socioemotional problems
Satisfied or frustrated? Basic psychological needs profiles and their associations with work-related outcomes among teachers
Teachers' optimal functioning and well-being depend on the fulfillment of their basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. This study examined how the satisfaction and frustration of these needs configure in teachers' experiences. Using latent profile analysis on two cross-sectional samples of Finnish teachers (2021: N = 993; 2023: N = 1279), we identified three profiles that appeared consistently across both samples (Do…
Achievement Goals as Mediators of the Links Between Self-Esteem and Depressive Symptoms From Mid-Adolescence to Early Adulthood
Teacher observations of loneliness and ostracism among five-year-olds
Future Life Plans and Relationship Formation
Objective This study examines the prospective and bidirectional association between personal identity processes and relationship formation using longitudinal survey data from Finland. Background Although psychological factors have increasingly been studied as determinants for family formation processes, the role of identity exploration and commitment processes for relationship formation has been underexplored. We show that identity (un)certainty …
School principals’ job crafting profiles and their differences during the prolonged Covid-19 pandemic
Purpose The purpose of this study was to explore school principals’ job crafting profiles during the prolonged COVID-19 crisis in 2021, and investigate profile differences regarding principals’ own perceived servant leadership, stress and work meaningfulness. Design/methodology/approach Using latent profile analysis (LPA), two job crafting profiles were identified: (1) active crafters (55%) and (2) average crafters (45%). By auxiliary measurement…
Networks and directed acyclic graphs
Identity profiles, motivations for attending university and study-related burnout
Research suggests that the reported increase in student mental health issues such as study burnout might be related to students’ identity problems and their motivations for undertaking higher education. The present study added to this line of research by investigating the associations between identity profiles, motives for attending university and study burnout in a sample of Finnish first-year university students ( N = 430). Field of study (prof…
Profiles of climate change distress and climate denialism during adolescence
This study investigates adolescents’ climate change distress and climate denialism profiles with two cohorts (born in 2008 and 2006) using longitudinal data from two waves collected in 2020 and 2021 ( N = 3,002). In addition, the explanatory similarity of the subgroups regarding general well-being and pro-environmental behavior was studied. Four profiles were identified. The largest group was named the normative-carefree group because they had lo…
Early career gender differences in job burnout trajectories in Finland
The gender gap in job burnout research indicates that women score higher on job burnout. However, this gender difference has rarely been studied from developmental perspectives. Moreover, the underlying gender differences in job resources—driven by gendered socialization in early career years—have been under-investigated. The present study examined the trajectory of early career job burnout, gender differences in job burnout development, and gend…
Developmental heterogeneity of school burnout across the transition from upper secondary school to higher education
This study utilized piecewise linear growth mixture analysis to examine the developmental heterogeneity of school burnout among a sample of 513 (67.6% females) Finnish students as they transitioned from upper secondary school to higher education (ages 17-25 years). Encompassing five measurement points (two before the transition and three after), our results revealed four distinct burnout trajectory profiles, including (a) High and Decreasing (Pro…
Profiles of Loneliness and Ostracism During Adolescence
This longitudinal study (N = 1078, 46% boys; 54% girls) examined profiles of loneliness and ostracism during adolescence and their consequences and antecedents. Longitudinal latent profiles analyses identified four distinct profiles: (1) High emotional loneliness (25%), High and increasing social loneliness (15%), High peer exclusion and high social impact (9%) and No peer problems (51%). Subsequent internalizing problems were typical for the Hig…
Facilitating Youth’s Curiosity in Learning
Latent profiles of adolescents’ digital skills across six European countries
Digital skills are considered critical for functioning in contemporary society, yet there are differences between adolescents’ skills depending on demographic and socioeconomic variables. This study, utilising data from six EU countries ( N = 6221; M age = 14.5; SD = 1.4), takes a person-oriented approach to examine adolescents digital skill profiles and associations with socioeconomic, digital activity, and socioemotional antecedents. Using late…
Schoolwork engagement and burnout among Finnish high school students and young adults
Applying a person-centered approach, the primary aim of this study was to examine what profiles of schoolwork engagement and burnout (i.e., exhaustion, cynicism, inadequacy) can be identified in high school (N = 979) and among the same participants in young adulthood (ages ranging from 17 to 25). We also examined gender differences, group differences in academic and socioemotional functioning and long-term educational outcomes, and temporal stabi…
Task value profiles across subjects and aspirations to physical and IT-related sciences in the United States and Finland
Two independent studies were conducted to extend previous research by examining the associations between task value priority patterns across school subjects and aspirations toward the physical and information technology- (IT-) related sciences. Study 1 measured task values of a sample of 10th graders in the United States (N = 249) across (a) physics and chemistry, (b) math, and (c) English. Study 2 measured task values of a sample of students in …
The link between perceived maternal and paternal autonomy support and adolescent well-being across three major educational transitions
To what extent does maternal and paternal autonomy support enhance well-being across the major transitions of high school? We tested the degree to which perceived autonomy supportive parenting facilitated positive changes in self-esteem and life satisfaction and buffered against negative changes in depressive symptoms and school related burnout in 3 Finnish longitudinal studies, each with a measurement point before and after a major transition (m…
Personal Goals During Emerging Adulthood
To examine (a) how young adults' personal goals change as they progress from emerging to young adulthood in their university studies and immediately after and (b) the extent to which such changes are associated with the normative transitions and the life events they experience and their age, 297 university students completed the revised Personal Project Analysis and a life-event questionnaire five times over 10 years. The changes in young adults'…
School burnout and engagement in the context of demands-resources model
BackgroundA four-wave longitudinal study tested the demands-resources model in the school context.AimTo examine the applicability of the demands-resources to the school context.MethodData of 1,709 adolescents were gathered, once during the transition from comprehensive to post-comprehensive education, twice during post-comprehensive education, and once 2 years later.ResultsThe hypotheses were supported, path analysis showing that study demands we…
Trajectories of educational expectations from adolescence to young adulthood in Finland
The purpose of this person-oriented, 5-wave longitudinal study was to examine the trajectories of educational expectations from adolescence to young adulthood in the context of the expectancy-value theory (Eccles et al., 1983). Altogether, 853 (48% female; M age = 16 years) Finnish adolescents reported their educational expectation, 1st in the last year of comprehensive school and 4 times during the following 5 years. Latent class analysis showed…
Adolescents' Longitudinal School Engagement and Burnout Before and During Covid‐19—The Role of Socio‐Emotional Skills
This longitudinal study examined school engagement and burnout profiles among early and middle adolescents before and during COVID-19, and within-class latent change and stability in students' socio-emotional skills the profiles. The longitudinal data were collected in fall 2019 and 2020 from 1381 5th to 6th, and 1374 7th to 8th grade students. Using repeated measures latent profile analyses based on school engagement and burnout we identified fi…
Selecting and Retaining Friends on the Basis of Cigarette Smoking Similarity
This study examines whether friend selection, deselection, and socialization differ as a function of the level of cigarette smoking in the friendship group. A total of 1419 students (median age = 16) from upper secondary and vocational schools in Finland were included as targets in the peer network. Targets in the peer network were asked to nominate friends and describe their own cigarette smoking at two time points one year apart. Network analys…
Reducing teacher burnout
Couples share similar changes in depressive symptoms and marital satisfaction anticipating the birth of a child
The birth of a child is a demanding family life situation. This longitudinal study investigated to what extent spouses' depressive symptoms and marital dissatisfaction associated with pregnancy and childbirth (and their changes over time) were characteristic of the spousal relationship and/or the individual spouses. Pregnant women (N= 320) and their spouses (N = 259) were examined twice before and twice following childbirth. Results indicated tha…
Teacher–working-environment fit as a framework for burnout experienced by Finnish teachers
Associations between Adolescents’ Interpersonal Relationships, School Well-being, and Academic Achievement during Educational Transitions
A youth’s ability to adapt during educational transitions has long-term, positive impacts on their academic achievement and mental health. Although supportive relationships with parents, peers, and teachers are protective factors associated with successful educational transitions, little is known about the reciprocal link between the quality of these interpersonal relationships and school well-being, with even less known about how these two const…
The role of educational track in adolescents' school burnout
BackgroundTransition from comprehensive school to later educational tracks is challenging for many adolescents. The present three-wave longitudinal study conducted in Finland considers this issue from the perspective of school burnout.AimsThe study investigated the extent to which school-related burnout (exhaustion, cynicism, and feelings of inadequacy) changes during the transition from comprehensive school to an academic or vocational track.Sam…
Trajectories of Life Satisfaction Across the Transition to Post-Compulsory Education
Maternal affection moderates friend influence on schoolwork engagement
This study investigated friend influence over adolescent schoolwork engagement in 160 same-sex friend dyads (94 female dyads and 66 male dyads). Participants were approximately 16 years of age at the outset. Each friend described his or her own schoolwork engagement, school burnout, and perceptions of maternal affection. The results revealed that maternal affection moderated the influence that the higher burnout friend exerted over the subsequent…
Depressive Symptoms and School Burnout During Adolescence
Goal reconstruction and depressive symptoms during the transition to motherhood
Two cross-lagged longitudinal studies were carried out to investigate the extent to which the adjustment of personal goals to match the particular stage-specific demands of the transition to motherhood has consequences for women's depressive symptoms. In Study 1. 348 women filled out a revised version of Little's (1983) Personal Project Analysis and a revised version of Beck's Depression Inventory (A. T. Beck. C. H. Ward. M. Mendelsohn, L. Mock, …
Building Grit
Despite academics' enthusiasm about the concept of grit (defined as consistency of interest and perseverance of effort), its benefit for academic achievement has recently been challenged. Drawing from a longitudinal sample (N = 2018; 55.3% female; sixth-nineth grades) from Finland, this study first aimed to investigate and replicate the association between grit and achievement outcomes (i.e., academic achievement and engagement). Further, the pre…
The Dark Side of Internet Use
Uncertainty and Confidence in Interpersonal Projects
To examine the extent to which the appraisal of interpersonal projects influences people's social relationships and well-being, 202 female students were asked to complete the Personal Projects Analysis (PPA), the revised Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI) and Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale, and to answer several self-report measures of social relationships. Then, one year later, they completed the UCLA Loneliness scale, the Perceived Stress scale, …
The roles of social–emotional skills in students’ academic and life success
41); (b) inclusion of multi-informant ratings substantially enhanced the ability of social-emotional skills in predicting outcome variables, with parent- and self-rated skills playing important, unique roles; (c) by modeling skills at the facet level rather than at the domain level, we identified the key skills for different outcomes and found significant variation in facets' predictive utility even within the same domain; and (d) although the ol…
Mental health improves after transition from comprehensive school to vocational education or employment in England
Underpinned by stage-environment fit and job demands-resources theories, this study examined how adolescents' anxiety, depressive symptoms, and positive functioning developed as they transferred from comprehensive school to further education, employment or training, or became NEET (not in education, employment, or training), at age 16 years, in the longitudinal English national cohort study Next Steps (N = 13,342). Controlling for childhood achie…
Phase-adequate engagement at the post-school transition
The transition from general education (e.g., high school) to vocational and tertiary education (e.g., college, vocational school) or to the labor market presents a number of developmental challenges. These challenges include making career choices and, more broadly, managing the transition. Coping with these challenges depends on the individual, their social network, and wider societal, cultural, and institutional conditions. This article discusse…
Promoting positive motherhood among nulliparous pregnant women with an intense fear of childbirth
This RCT intervention among nulliparous pregnant women with an intense fear of childbirth sought to promote preparedness for childbirth and to enhance positive parenting. Pregnant women (n = 8,611) filled in a 'fear of childbirth' questionnaire. Nulliparous women with severe fear of childbirth (n = 355) were randomized into intervention (n = 131; 41 refused) and control (n = 224) groups. They rated themselves on a preparedness scale in middle and…
I wish I had (not) taken a gap-year? The psychological and attainment outcomes of different post-school pathways
Existing gap-year research indicates a number of benefits of a gap-year at the end of school and before university enrollment. Life span theory of control, however, suggests that direct goal investment, rather than delay, at developmental transitions is associated with more adaptive outcomes. Comparing these perspectives, the authors undertook 2 studies: 1 in Finland (N = 384, waves = 3) and 1 in Australia (N = 2,259, waves = 5) both with an init…
Uncertainty and Confidence in Interpersonal Projects
To examine the extent to which the appraisal of interpersonal projects influences people's social relationships and well-being, 202 female students were asked to complete the Personal Projects Analysis (PPA), the revised Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI) and Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale, and to answer several self-report measures of social relationships. Then, one year later, they completed the UCLA Loneliness scale, the Perceived Stress scale, …
Planning-Oriented, Avoidant, and Impulsive Social Reaction Styles
Goal reconstruction and depressive symptoms during the transition to motherhood
Two cross-lagged longitudinal studies were carried out to investigate the extent to which the adjustment of personal goals to match the particular stage-specific demands of the transition to motherhood has consequences for women's depressive symptoms. In Study 1. 348 women filled out a revised version of Little's (1983) Personal Project Analysis and a revised version of Beck's Depression Inventory (A. T. Beck. C. H. Ward. M. Mendelsohn, L. Mock, …
Goal Construction, Reconstruction and Depressive Symptoms in a Life‐Span Context
This study focused on investigating the kinds of personal goals young adults have when they are faced with the transition from school to work; the extent to which they reconstruct these goals as a consequence of their success in dealing with this transition; and how their goals influence their depressive symptoms. In order to investigate these research questions, 250 young adults who were facing a transition from school to work were studied at th…
Couples share similar changes in depressive symptoms and marital satisfaction anticipating the birth of a child
The birth of a child is a demanding family life situation. This longitudinal study investigated to what extent spouses' depressive symptoms and marital dissatisfaction associated with pregnancy and childbirth (and their changes over time) were characteristic of the spousal relationship and/or the individual spouses. Pregnant women (N= 320) and their spouses (N = 259) were examined twice before and twice following childbirth. Results indicated tha…
Personal Goals During Emerging Adulthood
To examine (a) how young adults' personal goals change as they progress from emerging to young adulthood in their university studies and immediately after and (b) the extent to which such changes are associated with the normative transitions and the life events they experience and their age, 297 university students completed the revised Personal Project Analysis and a life-event questionnaire five times over 10 years. The changes in young adults'…
Letting go of your dreams—Adjustment of child-related goal appraisals and depressive symptoms during infertility treatment
The role of educational track in adolescents' school burnout
BackgroundTransition from comprehensive school to later educational tracks is challenging for many adolescents. The present three-wave longitudinal study conducted in Finland considers this issue from the perspective of school burnout.AimsThe study investigated the extent to which school-related burnout (exhaustion, cynicism, and feelings of inadequacy) changes during the transition from comprehensive school to an academic or vocational track.Sam…
School Burnout Inventory (SBI)
This study introduces a measure for school burnout and examines its validity and reliability among students in upper secondary high schools and vocational schools by using confirmatory factor analysis. School-related burnout comprises three dimensions: (a) exhaustion at school, (b) cynicism toward the meaning of school, and (c) sense of inadequacy at school. A total of 1418 (709 girls, 709 boys) adolescents from 13 postcomprehensive schools (6 up…
Transitions from School to Work
This volume made an important contribution to the growing literature on the transition from school to work. It provides a different perspective on the global changes that have transformed school-to-work transitions since the 1970s; offers an integrative conceptual framework for analysis; and promotes a comparative, cross-national understanding of school-to-work transitions in a changing social context. The articles assembled in this volume compar…
The Role of Task Values in Adolescents' Educational Tracks
The present study examined what kinds of patterns of task‐values adolescents show, and whether these patterns predict their educational and occupational expectations and school track. Six hundred and fourteen adolescents were examined twice before their transition to secondary education and once thereafter. The clustering‐by‐cases analyses identified 6 groups: (1) those who placed a high value on all school subjects, (2) those who did not value a…
Depressive Symptoms and School Burnout During Adolescence
Adolescents’ Life Satisfaction During the Transition to Post-Comprehensive Education
Personal goals and well-being
This chapter examines development through different life transitions, such as educational transitions and transition to parenthood during adolescence to adulthood in the context of the life-span model of personal goals. According to the life-span model of motivation, four key mechanisms-channeling, choice, co-regulation, and compensation-play a key role in how young people navigate their life. The aim is to describe how the conceptualized key fac…
Trajectories of Life Satisfaction Across the Transition to Post-Compulsory Education
Teacher–working-environment fit as a framework for burnout experienced by Finnish teachers
The Schoolwork Engagement Inventory
This study introduces the Schoolwork Engagement Inventory (EDA), which measures energy, dedication, and absorption with respect to schoolwork. Structural equation modeling was used to assess the validity and reliability of the inventory among students attending postcomprehensive schools. A total of 1,530 (769 girls, 761 boys) students from 13 institutions (six upper-secondary and seven vocational schools) completed the EDA 1 year apart. The resul…
Achievement goal orientations and academic well-being across the transition to upper secondary education
Personal goal orientations and subjective well‐being of adolescents
The present study examines the types of orientation that can be identified according to the personal goals of adolescents, and how these orientations differ in their subjective well‐being. In the context of the person‐oriented approach, 1144 17‐year‐olds (565 girls, 579 boys) filled in the revised Little's personal project analysis, school burnout, depression, life satisfaction, and self‐esteem inventories. Four goal orientations emerged from thi…
Individual and Group Effects in a Community-Based Implementation of a Positive Parenting Program
Objective: To examine the effects of individual and group factors on the changes in child-rearing practices in a parenting program. Method: At risk and non at-risk parents ( N = 496), who varied by sociodemographic factors, participated in 94 groups that differed by size and composition. Latent growth curve modeling was used to examine the impact of individual and group variables on pre–post changes in inductive, coercive, and permissive-neglecti…
Personal goals and personality traits among young adults
Trajectories of educational expectations from adolescence to young adulthood in Finland
The purpose of this person-oriented, 5-wave longitudinal study was to examine the trajectories of educational expectations from adolescence to young adulthood in the context of the expectancy-value theory (Eccles et al., 1983). Altogether, 853 (48% female; M age = 16 years) Finnish adolescents reported their educational expectation, 1st in the last year of comprehensive school and 4 times during the following 5 years. Latent class analysis showed…
Task value profiles across subjects and aspirations to physical and IT-related sciences in the United States and Finland
Two independent studies were conducted to extend previous research by examining the associations between task value priority patterns across school subjects and aspirations toward the physical and information technology- (IT-) related sciences. Study 1 measured task values of a sample of 10th graders in the United States (N = 249) across (a) physics and chemistry, (b) math, and (c) English. Study 2 measured task values of a sample of students in …
Phase-adequate engagement at the post-school transition
The transition from general education (e.g., high school) to vocational and tertiary education (e.g., college, vocational school) or to the labor market presents a number of developmental challenges. These challenges include making career choices and, more broadly, managing the transition. Coping with these challenges depends on the individual, their social network, and wider societal, cultural, and institutional conditions. This article discusse…
Promoting positive motherhood among nulliparous pregnant women with an intense fear of childbirth
This RCT intervention among nulliparous pregnant women with an intense fear of childbirth sought to promote preparedness for childbirth and to enhance positive parenting. Pregnant women (n = 8,611) filled in a 'fear of childbirth' questionnaire. Nulliparous women with severe fear of childbirth (n = 355) were randomized into intervention (n = 131; 41 refused) and control (n = 224) groups. They rated themselves on a preparedness scale in middle and…
Psychology (110 works) · Developmental psychology (82 works) · Social Psychology (80 works) · Clinical Psychology (48 works) · Medicine (36 works) · Social Psychology (33 works) · Burnout (31 works) · Longitudinal study (24 works) · Pedagogy (24 works) · Mathematics education (21 works)