Katja Kokko
Biographic Data
| ID | 91026 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Katja Kokko |
| GIVEN NAMES | Katja |
| FAMILY NAME | Kokko |
| SIGNATURE | KOKKO K |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Jyväskylä |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8747-2080 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 36 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 213 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 36 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Mental well-being and generativity as predictors of retirement preferences at the beginning of late adulthood
The study aimed to investigate whether mental well-being and generativity predict retirement preferences. Longitudinal data ( n = 201) were drawn from the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (JYLS). Life satisfaction, psychological well-being, social well-being, and generativity were assessed at ages 42, 50, and 61. Preferred retirement age and willingness to continue working after retirement were assessed at age 61…
Longitudinal associations between emotional well-being and subjective health from middle adulthood to the beginning of late adulthood
OBJECTIVE: Emotional well-being may predict future health and vice versa. We examined the reciprocal associations between emotional well-being and subjective health from age 36 to 61. METHODS AND MEASURES: = 336). The emotional well-being indicators included life satisfaction and negative and positive mood. The subjective health indicators were self-rated health and psychosomatic symptoms. The analyses were conducted with random intercept cross-l…
Stability in health behavior patterns in middle adulthood
Objective: This study investigated subgroups of adults with particular health behavior patterns, their stability over 19 years, and the role of sociodemographic and personality characteristics in these.Methods and Measures: Data on smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical activity were collected at ages 42, 50, and 61 in the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (n = 205–302). Latent class, latent transition, and lo…
The associations of positive and negative mental well-being with physical activity during the Covid-19 across late adulthood
ISRCTN52388040 (the PASSWORD study)
Pathways from childhood socioemotional characteristics and cognitive skills to midlife health behaviours
Objective This longitudinal study investigated the pathways from childhood socioemotional characteristics and cognitive skills to health behaviours in midlife. Methods: Participants in the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (JYLS) were followed from age 8 (n = 369) to age 50 (n = 271). Outcomes included physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption and body mass index (BMI) assessed at ages 36, 42 and 50. Predict…
The structure of mental well-being and its relationship with generativity in middle adulthood and the beginning of late adulthood
Previous studies have linked higher generativity with better mental well-being. However, most of these studies investigated the predictive role of generativity in well-being, while the converse relation, that is, how mental well-being contributes to generativity, has been ignored. This study first investigated the structure and stability of multidimensional mental well-being, that is, emotional (including happiness, life satisfaction, and positiv…
Child socioemotional behavior and adult temperament as predictors of physical activity and sedentary behavior in late adulthood
Although few weak associations of socioemotional behavior and temperament with physical activity and sedentary behavior were detected in women, they were observed over several decades, and thus, deserve attention in future studies. In addition to other factors contributing to physical activity and sedentary behavior, health professionals may be sensitive to individual characteristics, such as a tendency to experience more negative emotions, when …
Personality Traits and Changes in Health Behaviors and Depressive Symptoms during the Covid-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing measures targeting the transmission of the virus impacted everyday life in 2020. This study investigated pre- to in-pandemic changes in health behaviors and depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic and the role of personality traits in these changes in Finland. Data from a larger population-based cohort study of 51-59-year-old Finnish women were used ( n = 358). Self-reported questionnaires gath…
Associations of physical performance and physical activity with mental well-being in middle-aged women
Of the physical performance dimensions, aerobic component was associated with positive mental well-being independently of PA level. In relation to other physical performance components, the results point to the benefits of physical activity for mental well-being
Maintenance of high quality of life as an indicator of resilience during Covid-19 social distancing among community-dwelling older adults in Finland
During social distancing, psychosocial resources helped to maintain good QoL regardless how restrictive the social distancing recommendations were perceived to be. Better physical capacity was important for constant high QoL only among those perceiving restrictiveness presumably because it enabled replacing blocked activities with open outdoor physical activities
Associations of temperament and personality traits with frequency of physical activity in adulthood
Temperament and physical activity (PA) have been examined in children and adolescents, but little is known about these associations in adulthood. Personality traits, however, are known to contribute to PA in adults. This study, which examined both temperament and personality characteristics at age 42 in relation to frequency of PA at age 50 (JYLS, n = 214–261), also found associations with temperament traits. Positive associations were found betw…
Identity Status Change Within Personal Style Clusters
Differences in identity stability and change from age 36 through 42 to 50 were examined between three male and female personal style clusters extracted at age 27. We expected, first, the identity statuses to consistently differ between the clusters and, second, those with the least mature identity to move closer to others during midlife. Differences between the personal style clusters were discovered on all identity statuses across ages. Although…
Active aging – resilience and external support as modifiers of the disablement outcome
The current study will renew research on positive gerontology through the novel approach to active aging and by suggesting new biomarkers of resilience and active aging. Therefore, high interdisciplinary impact is expected. This cross-sectional study will not provide knowledge on temporal order of events or causality, but an innovative cross-sectional dataset provides opportunities for emergence of novel creative hypotheses and theories
Developing an Assessment Method of Active Aging
Objective: To develop an assessment method of active aging for research on older people. Method: A multiphase process that included drafting by an expert panel, a pilot study for item analysis and scale validity, a feedback study with focus groups and questionnaire respondents, and a test-retest study. Altogether 235 people aged 60 to 94 years provided responses and/or feedback. Results: We developed a 17-item University of Jyvaskyla Active Aging…
Effects of a 9-month resistance training intervention on quality of life, sense of coherence, and depressive symptoms in older adults
Resistance training is beneficial for environmental quality of life and sense of coherence. Attending resistance training twice a week seems to be the most advantageous for these aspects of psychological functioning
Antisocial and human capital pathways to socioeconomic exclusion
Nordic welfare states have been very successful at reducing poverty and inequality among their citizens. However, the presence of a strong social safety net in these countries has not solved the problem of socioeconomic exclusion, manifesting in such outcomes as chronic unemployment and welfare dependency. In an effort to understand this phenomenon, the current study builds on the assumption that psychological risk factors emerge as important det…
Identity Formation in Adulthood
Longitudinal patterns of identity formation were analyzed in a representative cohort group of Finnish men and women born in 1959 across ages 27, 36, 42, and 50. The data were drawn from the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality. Identity status (diffused, moratorium, foreclosed, achieved) from all four ages was available for 172 participants (54% females). Marcia’s Identity Status Interview used in this research included five domains: relig…
Parental Identity and Its Relation to Parenting and Psychological Functioning in Middle Age
Objective. This article focuses on identity as a parent in relation to parenting and psychological functioning in middle age. Design. Drawn from the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development, 162 participants (53% females) with children (age 36), represented the Finnish age-cohort born in 1959. Parental identity was assessed at ages 36, 42, and 50. Results. In both women and men, parental identity achievement increased fr…
Country, sex, and parent occupational status
Using data from two American and one Finnish long-term longitudinal studies, we examined continuity of general aggression from age 8 to physical aggression in early adulthood (age 21-30) and whether continuity of aggression differed by country, sex, and parent occupational status. In all samples, childhood aggression was assessed via peer nominations and early adulthood aggression via self-reports. Multi-group structural equation models revealed …
Associations between personality traits and psychological well-being across time in middle adulthood
Personality traits and unemployment
Paths from socioemotional behavior in middle childhood to personality in middle adulthood
Continuity in individual differences from socioemotional behavior in middle childhood to personality characteristics in middle adulthood was examined on the assumption that they share certain temperament-related elements. Socioemotional characteristics were measured using teacher ratings at ages 8 (N = 369; 53% males) and 14 (95% of the initial sample). Personality was assessed at age 42 (63% of the initial sample; 50% males) using a shortened ve…
Personality and Turnout
Scholars in the field of electoral participation have for long been aware that turnout is strongly connected to sociopsychological variables such as religiosity, party identification, political interest and sense of political efficacy. The impact of personality characteristics has remained largely unexplored until recently. Based on the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (JYLS, original N = 369), this article analy…
Intensity of Aggression in Childhood as a Predictor of Different Forms of Adult Aggression
This study examined the prediction of different forms of adult aggression in two countries from child and adolescent aggression. It was based on two longitudinal projects: the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (JYLS; N = 196 boys and 173 girls) conducted in Finland and the Columbia County Longitudinal Study (CCLS; N = 436 males and 420 females) conducted in the USA. The same peer-nominated items for aggression wer…
Life success of males on nonoffender, adolescence‐limited, persistent, and adult‐onset antisocial pathways
A random sample of 196 males, drawn from the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development, was divided into four groups of offenders using information from government registers of convictions between ages 21 and 47, from local police registers searched at age 21, from a Self‐Report Delinquency Scale administered at age 36, from a Life History Calendar for ages 15–42, and from personal interviews at ages 27, 36, and 42. The g…
Aggression in childhood and long-term unemployment in adulthood
The present study was designed to shed light on specific risk mechanisms and protective factors in the relation between aggression in childhood and long-term unemployment in adulthood. Participants were drawn from the ongoing Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development; data gathered at the ages of 8 (N = 369), 14, 27, and 36 years (n = 311) were used in the present study. Teacher-rated aggression at age 8 was related to su…
Trajectories of Prosocial Behavior and Physical Aggression in Middle Childhood
Trajectories of prosocial behavior and physical aggression between 6 and 12 years of age were identified for a sample ( N =1,025) of males. The trajectories were then used to predict school dropout and physical violence at age 17. Using a group‐based semi‐parametric method, two trajectories of prosociality (low and moderate declining) and three trajectories of physical aggression (low, moderate, and high declining) were obtained. Only a small min…
Personality and Turnout
Scholars in the field of electoral participation have for long been aware that turnout is strongly connected to sociopsychological variables such as religiosity, party identification, political interest and sense of political efficacy. The impact of personality characteristics has remained largely unexplored until recently. Based on the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (JYLS, original N = 369), this article analy…
Parental Identity and Its Relation to Parenting and Psychological Functioning in Middle Age
Objective. This article focuses on identity as a parent in relation to parenting and psychological functioning in middle age. Design. Drawn from the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development, 162 participants (53% females) with children (age 36), represented the Finnish age-cohort born in 1959. Parental identity was assessed at ages 36, 42, and 50. Results. In both women and men, parental identity achievement increased fr…
Life success of males on nonoffender, adolescence‐limited, persistent, and adult‐onset antisocial pathways
A random sample of 196 males, drawn from the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development, was divided into four groups of offenders using information from government registers of convictions between ages 21 and 47, from local police registers searched at age 21, from a Self‐Report Delinquency Scale administered at age 36, from a Life History Calendar for ages 15–42, and from personal interviews at ages 27, 36, and 42. The g…
Identity Development in Adulthood
Implications of Timing of Entering Adulthood for Identity Achievement
Five external markers of adulthood, self-perceived adulthood at age 27, and identity achievement at ages 27, 36, and 42 were explored for 95 women and 94 men in a cohort of Finns born in 1959. Earlier transition to adulthood in family life (moving from the parental home, entering marriage or cohabitation, having a child) anticipated higher identity achievement in adulthood. However, later transition to adulthood in working life, composed of the f…
Middle childhood and adolescent contextual and personal predictors of adult educational and occupational outcomes
The authors examined the prediction of occupational attainment by age 40 from contextual and personal variables assessed during childhood and adolescence in 2 participant samples: (a) the Columbia County Longitudinal Study, a study of 856 third graders in a semirural county in New York State that began in 1960, and (b) the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development, a study of 369 eight-year-olds in Jyväskylä, Finland, tha…
Personality traits and unemployment
Trajectories Based on Postcomprehensive and Higher Education
The aim of this study was to investigate different trajectories of education, based on annual attendance in postcomprehensive and higher education between ages 15 and 42, and their correlates and antecedents. A special focus was on education that occurred after spending several years in the labor market (i.e., off‐time education). Analyses were based on the Finnish Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development in which the sa…
Intensity of Aggression in Childhood as a Predictor of Different Forms of Adult Aggression
This study examined the prediction of different forms of adult aggression in two countries from child and adolescent aggression. It was based on two longitudinal projects: the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (JYLS; N = 196 boys and 173 girls) conducted in Finland and the Columbia County Longitudinal Study (CCLS; N = 436 males and 420 females) conducted in the USA. The same peer-nominated items for aggression wer…
Stability of aggressive behavior from childhood to middle age in women and men
The aim of this study was to investigate the stability of aggression from childhood to middle age in women and men. The participants were drawn from the Finnish Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development, where aggression in 145 women and 154 men was assessed at ages 8, 14, 36, and 42. Data were collected at ages 8 and 14 by teacher ratings and peer nominations, and at ages 36 and 42 by self-ratings on aggression. The stab…
Developing an Assessment Method of Active Aging
Objective: To develop an assessment method of active aging for research on older people. Method: A multiphase process that included drafting by an expert panel, a pilot study for item analysis and scale validity, a feedback study with focus groups and questionnaire respondents, and a test-retest study. Altogether 235 people aged 60 to 94 years provided responses and/or feedback. Results: We developed a 17-item University of Jyvaskyla Active Aging…
Paths from socioemotional behavior in middle childhood to personality in middle adulthood
Continuity in individual differences from socioemotional behavior in middle childhood to personality characteristics in middle adulthood was examined on the assumption that they share certain temperament-related elements. Socioemotional characteristics were measured using teacher ratings at ages 8 (N = 369; 53% males) and 14 (95% of the initial sample). Personality was assessed at age 42 (63% of the initial sample; 50% males) using a shortened ve…
Adaptive Behavior in Childhood as an Antecedent of Psychological Functioning in Early Middle Age
Hostility, unemployment and health status
Associations between personality traits and psychological well-being across time in middle adulthood
Mental health and hostility as predictors of temporary employment
Stability in health behavior patterns in middle adulthood
Objective: This study investigated subgroups of adults with particular health behavior patterns, their stability over 19 years, and the role of sociodemographic and personality characteristics in these.Methods and Measures: Data on smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical activity were collected at ages 42, 50, and 61 in the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (n = 205–302). Latent class, latent transition, and lo…
Associations of temperament and personality traits with frequency of physical activity in adulthood
Temperament and physical activity (PA) have been examined in children and adolescents, but little is known about these associations in adulthood. Personality traits, however, are known to contribute to PA in adults. This study, which examined both temperament and personality characteristics at age 42 in relation to frequency of PA at age 50 (JYLS, n = 214–261), also found associations with temperament traits. Positive associations were found betw…
Antisocial and human capital pathways to socioeconomic exclusion
Nordic welfare states have been very successful at reducing poverty and inequality among their citizens. However, the presence of a strong social safety net in these countries has not solved the problem of socioeconomic exclusion, manifesting in such outcomes as chronic unemployment and welfare dependency. In an effort to understand this phenomenon, the current study builds on the assumption that psychological risk factors emerge as important det…
Identity Development in Adulthood
Aggression in childhood and long-term unemployment in adulthood
The present study was designed to shed light on specific risk mechanisms and protective factors in the relation between aggression in childhood and long-term unemployment in adulthood. Participants were drawn from the ongoing Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development; data gathered at the ages of 8 (N = 369), 14, 27, and 36 years (n = 311) were used in the present study. Teacher-rated aggression at age 8 was related to su…
Hostility, unemployment and health status
Identity Processes in Adulthood
Patterns of identity formation were analyzed in a longitudinal framework, from ages 27 to 36 and then to 42 years of age. Information from all 3 ages was available for 197 participants (100 women, 97 men). A variation of Marcia’s (1966) Identity Status Interview included 5 domains: religious beliefs, political identity, occupational career, intimate relationships, and lifestyle. Great variability in identity status assessments was found across th…
Stability of aggressive behavior from childhood to middle age in women and men
The aim of this study was to investigate the stability of aggression from childhood to middle age in women and men. The participants were drawn from the Finnish Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development, where aggression in 145 women and 154 men was assessed at ages 8, 14, 36, and 42. Data were collected at ages 8 and 14 by teacher ratings and peer nominations, and at ages 36 and 42 by self-ratings on aggression. The stab…
Mental health and hostility as predictors of temporary employment
Trajectories of Prosocial Behavior and Physical Aggression in Middle Childhood
Trajectories of prosocial behavior and physical aggression between 6 and 12 years of age were identified for a sample ( N =1,025) of males. The trajectories were then used to predict school dropout and physical violence at age 17. Using a group‐based semi‐parametric method, two trajectories of prosociality (low and moderate declining) and three trajectories of physical aggression (low, moderate, and high declining) were obtained. Only a small min…
Adaptive Behavior in Childhood as an Antecedent of Psychological Functioning in Early Middle Age
Middle childhood and adolescent contextual and personal predictors of adult educational and occupational outcomes
The authors examined the prediction of occupational attainment by age 40 from contextual and personal variables assessed during childhood and adolescence in 2 participant samples: (a) the Columbia County Longitudinal Study, a study of 856 third graders in a semirural county in New York State that began in 1960, and (b) the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development, a study of 369 eight-year-olds in Jyväskylä, Finland, tha…
Implications of Timing of Entering Adulthood for Identity Achievement
Five external markers of adulthood, self-perceived adulthood at age 27, and identity achievement at ages 27, 36, and 42 were explored for 95 women and 94 men in a cohort of Finns born in 1959. Earlier transition to adulthood in family life (moving from the parental home, entering marriage or cohabitation, having a child) anticipated higher identity achievement in adulthood. However, later transition to adulthood in working life, composed of the f…
Trajectories Based on Postcomprehensive and Higher Education
The aim of this study was to investigate different trajectories of education, based on annual attendance in postcomprehensive and higher education between ages 15 and 42, and their correlates and antecedents. A special focus was on education that occurred after spending several years in the labor market (i.e., off‐time education). Analyses were based on the Finnish Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development in which the sa…
Intensity of Aggression in Childhood as a Predictor of Different Forms of Adult Aggression
This study examined the prediction of different forms of adult aggression in two countries from child and adolescent aggression. It was based on two longitudinal projects: the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (JYLS; N = 196 boys and 173 girls) conducted in Finland and the Columbia County Longitudinal Study (CCLS; N = 436 males and 420 females) conducted in the USA. The same peer-nominated items for aggression wer…
Life success of males on nonoffender, adolescence‐limited, persistent, and adult‐onset antisocial pathways
A random sample of 196 males, drawn from the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development, was divided into four groups of offenders using information from government registers of convictions between ages 21 and 47, from local police registers searched at age 21, from a Self‐Report Delinquency Scale administered at age 36, from a Life History Calendar for ages 15–42, and from personal interviews at ages 27, 36, and 42. The g…
Personality and Turnout
Scholars in the field of electoral participation have for long been aware that turnout is strongly connected to sociopsychological variables such as religiosity, party identification, political interest and sense of political efficacy. The impact of personality characteristics has remained largely unexplored until recently. Based on the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (JYLS, original N = 369), this article analy…
Personality traits and unemployment
Paths from socioemotional behavior in middle childhood to personality in middle adulthood
Continuity in individual differences from socioemotional behavior in middle childhood to personality characteristics in middle adulthood was examined on the assumption that they share certain temperament-related elements. Socioemotional characteristics were measured using teacher ratings at ages 8 (N = 369; 53% males) and 14 (95% of the initial sample). Personality was assessed at age 42 (63% of the initial sample; 50% males) using a shortened ve…
Associations between personality traits and psychological well-being across time in middle adulthood
Country, sex, and parent occupational status
Using data from two American and one Finnish long-term longitudinal studies, we examined continuity of general aggression from age 8 to physical aggression in early adulthood (age 21-30) and whether continuity of aggression differed by country, sex, and parent occupational status. In all samples, childhood aggression was assessed via peer nominations and early adulthood aggression via self-reports. Multi-group structural equation models revealed …
Identity Formation in Adulthood
Longitudinal patterns of identity formation were analyzed in a representative cohort group of Finnish men and women born in 1959 across ages 27, 36, 42, and 50. The data were drawn from the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality. Identity status (diffused, moratorium, foreclosed, achieved) from all four ages was available for 172 participants (54% females). Marcia’s Identity Status Interview used in this research included five domains: relig…
Parental Identity and Its Relation to Parenting and Psychological Functioning in Middle Age
Objective. This article focuses on identity as a parent in relation to parenting and psychological functioning in middle age. Design. Drawn from the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development, 162 participants (53% females) with children (age 36), represented the Finnish age-cohort born in 1959. Parental identity was assessed at ages 36, 42, and 50. Results. In both women and men, parental identity achievement increased fr…
Effects of a 9-month resistance training intervention on quality of life, sense of coherence, and depressive symptoms in older adults
Resistance training is beneficial for environmental quality of life and sense of coherence. Attending resistance training twice a week seems to be the most advantageous for these aspects of psychological functioning
Antisocial and human capital pathways to socioeconomic exclusion
Nordic welfare states have been very successful at reducing poverty and inequality among their citizens. However, the presence of a strong social safety net in these countries has not solved the problem of socioeconomic exclusion, manifesting in such outcomes as chronic unemployment and welfare dependency. In an effort to understand this phenomenon, the current study builds on the assumption that psychological risk factors emerge as important det…
Active aging – resilience and external support as modifiers of the disablement outcome
The current study will renew research on positive gerontology through the novel approach to active aging and by suggesting new biomarkers of resilience and active aging. Therefore, high interdisciplinary impact is expected. This cross-sectional study will not provide knowledge on temporal order of events or causality, but an innovative cross-sectional dataset provides opportunities for emergence of novel creative hypotheses and theories
Developing an Assessment Method of Active Aging
Objective: To develop an assessment method of active aging for research on older people. Method: A multiphase process that included drafting by an expert panel, a pilot study for item analysis and scale validity, a feedback study with focus groups and questionnaire respondents, and a test-retest study. Altogether 235 people aged 60 to 94 years provided responses and/or feedback. Results: We developed a 17-item University of Jyvaskyla Active Aging…
Identity Status Change Within Personal Style Clusters
Differences in identity stability and change from age 36 through 42 to 50 were examined between three male and female personal style clusters extracted at age 27. We expected, first, the identity statuses to consistently differ between the clusters and, second, those with the least mature identity to move closer to others during midlife. Differences between the personal style clusters were discovered on all identity statuses across ages. Although…
Psychology (34 works) · Developmental psychology (25 works) · Medicine (23 works) · Social Psychology (22 works) · Personality (18 works) · Longitudinal study (15 works) · Social Psychology (13 works) · Clinical Psychology (11 works) · Demography (11 works) · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development (10 works)