Timo Toikko
Biographic Data
| ID | 255352 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Timo Toikko |
| GIVEN NAMES | Timo |
| FAMILY NAME | Toikko |
| SIGNATURE | TOIKKO T |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Eastern Finland |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9452-8022 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 37 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 34 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 37 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
The association between locus of control and quality of life in involuntary psychiatric treatment – the mediating effect of social inclusion
This study examines the association between locus of control (LoC) and quality of life (QoL), focusing on the mediating role of social inclusion. Survey data (n = 69) were collected from two Finnish state forensic psychiatric hospitals and analyzed using mediation analysis. Participants were in long-term involuntary care wih chronic psychotic disorders. Results show that stronger LoC and greater social inclusion are linked to higher QoL. Social i…
Explaining the gender pay gap at the Nace-classified economic sector level
Despite growing scholarly attention to the gender pay gap (GPG), limited research has examined how fertility patterns interact with welfare policies to shape gendered wage inequalities across economic sectors. This study analyses the relationship between fertility rates (FR), social protection benefits (SPB), and the GPG across 14 NACE-classified sectors in 27 EU member states between 2008 and 2023. Using fixed-effects panel regression models, th…
Motherhood and Systemic Gender Pay Gap Faced by Women in European Union Countries
Despite progress in reducing gender pay disparities, wage inequalities remain persistent across European Union (EU) countries, and due to motherhood penalties, the situation for mothers is even more disadvantageous compared to childless women. As women are often perceived through the lens of stereotypical maternal roles—even if they are not yet mothers—these expectations frequently intersect with personal choices as well as the embodied and mater…
Rebalancing prevention and protection services
Social-economic determinants of women’s reproductive health in Almaty (Kazakhstan)
In the Almaty metropolitan area with the significant social-economic stratification, the relevance of the study is determined by the need to understand how household income affects women’s reproductive strategies and identity. The article aims at identifying the relationship between subjective well-being, financial difficulties, family plans and reproductive health symptoms of 18-49-year-old women in Almaty. The authors conducted a cross-sectiona…
Protective effects of belief in a just world on mental health in urban Chinese young adults
This study examined the distinct impacts of personal belief in a just world (hereinafter, PBJW) and general belief in a just world (hereinafter, GBJW) on the mental health of employed and unemployed youth in urban China, highlighting the mediating role of the presence of meaning in life (hereinafter, PML). Using a sample of 2075 young adults, structural equation modeling was employed to assess the relationship between PBJW, GBJW, PML, and mental …
Exploring the ongoing important role of meaning in life on young people’s mental health
This study highlights the importance of meaning in life as a protective factor for mental health among urban Chinese youth. The findings suggest that tailored mental health interventions should consider socio-economic status and life stages to address the unique needs of different youth groups. Policies and programs should enhance both the search for and the presence of meaning in life to promote better mental health outcomes
Women’s political empowerment moderates socio-economic drivers of child poverty
This study explores the moderating role of women’s political empowerment in addressing child poverty across European Union (EU) countries, using macro-panel data from 27 EU countries between 2006 and 2023. The study investigates how key socio-economic factors – such as unemployment and government expenditure as mitigating factors – interact with women’s political empowerment in affecting child poverty. The findings show that the political empower…
A Risk or a Buffer? The Dual Role of Poverty in Community Perceptions of Child Protection Demand
The relationship between poverty and child protection demand is complex. Using macro‐level data from 293 Finnish municipalities, this study applies hierarchical linear regression and mediation analysis to examine how poverty shapes community perceptions of child protection demand. The hierarchical linear regression findings reveal that poverty is independently associated with higher child protection demand, confirming the role of poverty as a sig…
Investigating the Capability Approach
Capability Approach (CA) extends our understanding of wellbeing by underlining the importance of freedoms. There is a need to operationalize CA components for empirical measurement in different settings and population groups. This study investigated the conversion process from perceived resources to perceived capabilities by investigating the role of perceived conversion factors (personal and contextual) among a particular population group of Fin…
Latent Profile Analysis of Excessive Internet Use in Adolescents
Excessive internet use (EIU) has emerged as a significant concern for adolescent mental health, yet existing research often overlooks the heterogeneity of its psychological impact. This study draws on a nationally representative sample of 71,640 Finnish adolescents to identify distinct EIU profiles using latent profile analysis (LPA) and to examine whether loneliness mediates the EIU–depression relationship differently across profiles and gender …
Research-policy-practice in developing a systems approach to child protection
From Notifications to Removals
This study examines the relationship between international migration and child welfare protection at the municipal level in Finland, utilizing macro-panel data from 293 municipalities between 2010 and 2022. The findings indicate that the child welfare protection process does not follow a consistent pattern within municipalities as immigration increases over time. Specifically, while child welfare notifications and child removals rise, family-supp…
Impacts of women's political and economic empowerment on social protection expenditures in the EU
Purpose This study investigates the impact of women's political and economic empowerment on social protection expenditures across 27 European Union countries (2006–2023). Design/methodology/approach Using fixed-effects panel regressions with Driscoll–Kraay standard errors, we explore both linear and conditional (interaction and non-linear) effects of selected dimensions of women's empowerment on shaping total social welfare spending and welfare-c…
"How Can I Trust People When They Know Exactly What My Weakness Is?" Daily Life Experiences, and Resilience Strategies of Stateless Afghans in Iran
This study aimed to explore the daily life experiences of stateless Afghans in Iran and to describe their resilience strategies that enabled them to manage life deprivations. Using narrative analysis, we interviewed 34 individual stateless Afghans in Iran. Four main themes were identified in their daily life experiences: ignored as nonexistent, second-class Muslims, institutional discrimination, and unpredictability of the future. In terms of res…
Child Maltreatment and Self-rated Health
Child maltreatment seriously affects children's psychological and social well-being, as well as their physical health. The study aimed to explore the impact of violence experienced by children on their self-rated health. It also examined whether this effect is mediated by parent-child conversations and whether it varies based on the child's gender. The study was based on the Child Victim Survey of 2013 (FSD2943) in Finland. Mediation and moderati…
Narratives of experts by experience
This study focuses on the narratives of participants of a long-term expert-by-experience training programme for people with a history of crime about their past, and how they use their life experience in their work as experts by experience. The research data was collected during interviews of respondents with a history of crime (N=19). The interviews were analysed using a narrative identity framework, and the data further examined in light of vari…
The role of political orientation in shaping deservingness perceptions and immigration attitudes in Europe
In this study, we focus on European immigration attitudes in the perspective of deservingness perceptions and political orientation. Our data are conducted from the European Social Survey (2016) database, which contains 21 European countries and 39,400 participants. We used the multilevel method to study the relationship between immigration attitudes and deservingness perceptions. The results demonstrate that the more negative deservingness perce…
Macro-level predictors of child removals
The purpose of this macro-level study is to examine the effects of social welfare benefits and services on the demand for child removals. The study is based on the panel data of Finnish municipalities (N = 293) and their social welfare indicators for the period 2010–2021. Linear regression analysis was conducted to analyze the associations between the dependent variable (child removals) and the main predictors (child welfare notifications, family…
The effects of individual and cultural factors on digital inclusion in European countries
Purpose With digitisation, a new kind of inequality has emerged in society between people and groups of people. A lack of digital inclusion creates challenges for the economic and social development of society and citizen participation. This study analyses how the country-level cultural factors defined by Hofstede are associated with citizens' digital skills and internet usage and how they moderate the effects of age, gender, educational level an…
Female immigrant entrepreneurship – predicted by women’s empowerment in host country
Purpose The social inclusion of immigrants has been a central public policy issue in European countries, and entrepreneurship is often promoted as a form of integration. Female immigrants face double discrimination of gender and ethnicity while becoming entrepreneurs. The aim of the paper is to investigate the female empowerment in the host country as a predictor of immigrant women engagement in entrepreneurship. Design/methodology/approach Based…
The role of financial support in preventing the need for child protection services
Previous studies show that household economic insecurity is associated with poor child health and an increased risk of child maltreatment. Therefore, it can be assumed that family financial support can also prevent the need for child protection services. This study asks: What is the association of families' poverty and granted additional income support with the need for child protection services, and through which pathways does this effect arise?…
Quality of Governance and Welfare Generosity as Institutional Predictors of Entrepreneurship
The aim of this article is to examine whether the cross-country and gender variations of entrepreneurship can be explained within the institutional framework. The study addresses normative forces to which entrepreneurs are expected to adapt within European welfare states. The normative forces are focused on norm-based factors of governmental quality and value-based factors of governmental generosity, which are both hypothesized to be associated w…
Family support services reduce the demand for emergency child removals at the community level
This study aims to examine whether the characteristics of the child protection systems can explain the demand for emergency child removals at the community level. The material of the study consists of Finnish municipalities (N = 292) and their child protection indicators. The study was undertaken by using a conditional process analysis software programme and estimating the regression coefficients in the conditional model. It was found that family…
The Quality of Child Protection Buffers the Need for Emergency Child Removals—An Analysis of the Finnish Child Protection System
This study aims to determine which level of quality of child protection services reduces the demand for emergency child removals at the system level in Finland. A moderation analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between the dependent variable (the proportion of emergency child removals) and its predictors (the number of economically insecure families, and the proportion of completed needs assessment cases for child protection service…
How does the welfare state model influence social political attitudes? An analysis of citizens' concrete and abstract attitudes toward poverty
This study examines the relationship between the welfare state models and social political attitudes. The data are based on the sixth round of the European Social Survey. The study revealed a mechanism of how the relationship between concrete and abstract attitudes differs between the welfare states. In the Anglo-Saxon and Nordic welfare states the relationship is a positive one, which indicates that the welfare state has a broad support among ci…
Family support services buffer the effect of child welfare notifications on child removals
Previous studies have found mixed results about the effects of family support services within the child protection system. The purpose of the study is to examine whether family support services are associated with the need for child removals at the community level. The material of the study consists of Finnish municipalities ( N = 292) and their child protection indicators. Linear regression analysis was conducted to analyse the associations betw…
"How Can I Trust People When They Know Exactly What My Weakness Is?" Daily Life Experiences, and Resilience Strategies of Stateless Afghans in Iran
This study aimed to explore the daily life experiences of stateless Afghans in Iran and to describe their resilience strategies that enabled them to manage life deprivations. Using narrative analysis, we interviewed 34 individual stateless Afghans in Iran. Four main themes were identified in their daily life experiences: ignored as nonexistent, second-class Muslims, institutional discrimination, and unpredictability of the future. In terms of res…
Association between individualism and welfare attitudes
The present study examines the association between individualistic values and citizens ́ attitudes towards the state’s welfare responsibility (welfare attitudes). This study also examines the association between political placement and welfare attitudes. Data from the European Social Survey (N = 37,743 in 20 countries) are analyzed using a two-level regression analysis. The findings indicate that individualism at the cultural culture is a signifi…
Do Finnish young people support the Nordic welfare state
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine young people’s attitudes toward social welfare and their perceptions of who is responsible for providing social welfare benefits. Design/methodology/approach – Social welfare attitudes were examined related to three themes: government responsibility, trust in society, and individual responsibility. A sample of 725 students from 12 high and vocational schools in south Finland was used for analysis.…
Community belongingness and subjective well-being among unemployed people in a Finnish community
Purpose Community belongingness (CB) has been found to be positively associated with subjective well-being (SWB). Scholars have verified this connection with different social groups. In the present study, the authors are interested in the group of unemployed people and compare their situation to employed people. Specifically, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether a sense of community belonging prevents negative impacts of unemployment o…
Research-policy-practice in developing a systems approach to child protection
The role of political orientation in shaping deservingness perceptions and immigration attitudes in Europe
In this study, we focus on European immigration attitudes in the perspective of deservingness perceptions and political orientation. Our data are conducted from the European Social Survey (2016) database, which contains 21 European countries and 39,400 participants. We used the multilevel method to study the relationship between immigration attitudes and deservingness perceptions. The results demonstrate that the more negative deservingness perce…
The effects of individual and cultural factors on digital inclusion in European countries
Purpose With digitisation, a new kind of inequality has emerged in society between people and groups of people. A lack of digital inclusion creates challenges for the economic and social development of society and citizen participation. This study analyses how the country-level cultural factors defined by Hofstede are associated with citizens' digital skills and internet usage and how they moderate the effects of age, gender, educational level an…
Additional income support buffers the demand for child protection services at the municipality level
This study explored in the Finnish context whether additional income support for economically insecure households reduces the demand for child protection services at the municipality level. The data were retrieved from the Official Statistics of Finland from 294 municipalities in 2017–2019. Mediation and moderation analyses were used for testing the hypotheses. According to the results, household economic insecurity was associated with the demand…
Does the immigration issue divide the left’s attitudes towards social welfare? A study on public support of social benefits and services in the Nordic countries
Purpose The paper presents a study on whether citizens’ immigration attitudes shape their attitudes towards social welfare in three Nordic countries. Design/methodology/approach The main analysis was performed using linear regression analysis. Data were retrieved from the eighth round of the European Social Survey (2016). The data cover the Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish respondents ( N = 5,021). Findings The analyses indicate that citizens’ immi…
A marketization process in dispute
Marketization can be viewed as a potential response to the economic challenges of the public sector. The present study is focused on the development of marketization in serviced housing for the elderly in municipalities within Finland. Marketization is approached by asking the question: What kind of municipality‐level factors are associated with marketization and its development? The data consist of 290 municipalities and cover the years 2000–14.…
Do Finnish young people support the Nordic welfare state
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine young people’s attitudes toward social welfare and their perceptions of who is responsible for providing social welfare benefits. Design/methodology/approach – Social welfare attitudes were examined related to three themes: government responsibility, trust in society, and individual responsibility. A sample of 725 students from 12 high and vocational schools in south Finland was used for analysis.…
How does the welfare state model influence social political attitudes? An analysis of citizens' concrete and abstract attitudes toward poverty
This study examines the relationship between the welfare state models and social political attitudes. The data are based on the sixth round of the European Social Survey. The study revealed a mechanism of how the relationship between concrete and abstract attitudes differs between the welfare states. In the Anglo-Saxon and Nordic welfare states the relationship is a positive one, which indicates that the welfare state has a broad support among ci…
Community belongingness and subjective well-being among unemployed people in a Finnish community
Purpose Community belongingness (CB) has been found to be positively associated with subjective well-being (SWB). Scholars have verified this connection with different social groups. In the present study, the authors are interested in the group of unemployed people and compare their situation to employed people. Specifically, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether a sense of community belonging prevents negative impacts of unemployment o…
A marketization process in dispute
Marketization can be viewed as a potential response to the economic challenges of the public sector. The present study is focused on the development of marketization in serviced housing for the elderly in municipalities within Finland. Marketization is approached by asking the question: What kind of municipality‐level factors are associated with marketization and its development? The data consist of 290 municipalities and cover the years 2000–14.…
Association between individualism and welfare attitudes
The present study examines the association between individualistic values and citizens ́ attitudes towards the state’s welfare responsibility (welfare attitudes). This study also examines the association between political placement and welfare attitudes. Data from the European Social Survey (N = 37,743 in 20 countries) are analyzed using a two-level regression analysis. The findings indicate that individualism at the cultural culture is a signifi…
A Systematic Review of the Protective and Risk Factors Influencing the Mental Health of Forced Migrants
This systematic review followed the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) statement. The primary aim of this research was to identify risks and protective factors for the mental health of forced migrants. The secondary aim was to suggest an alternative, more comprehensive approach in social work that surpasses usual diagnoses and intrinsically contradicts the medicalization of mental health …
Does the immigration issue divide the left’s attitudes towards social welfare? A study on public support of social benefits and services in the Nordic countries
Purpose The paper presents a study on whether citizens’ immigration attitudes shape their attitudes towards social welfare in three Nordic countries. Design/methodology/approach The main analysis was performed using linear regression analysis. Data were retrieved from the eighth round of the European Social Survey (2016). The data cover the Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish respondents ( N = 5,021). Findings The analyses indicate that citizens’ immi…
Trust in European Institutions in Explaining the Entrepreneurship in European Union Countries
Entrepreneurship is believed to be shaped by institutions; however, the paper assumes that trust in institutions is a fundamental prerequisite for the impact of institutions on entrepreneurship. The aims of the paper are to determine (i) whether trust in European institutions affects the level of entrepreneurship in European Union countries, and (ii) whether there are any differences in this impact regarding the types of institutions and (iii) a …
Additional income support buffers the demand for child protection services at the municipality level
This study explored in the Finnish context whether additional income support for economically insecure households reduces the demand for child protection services at the municipality level. The data were retrieved from the Official Statistics of Finland from 294 municipalities in 2017–2019. Mediation and moderation analyses were used for testing the hypotheses. According to the results, household economic insecurity was associated with the demand…
Family support services buffer the effect of child welfare notifications on child removals
Previous studies have found mixed results about the effects of family support services within the child protection system. The purpose of the study is to examine whether family support services are associated with the need for child removals at the community level. The material of the study consists of Finnish municipalities ( N = 292) and their child protection indicators. Linear regression analysis was conducted to analyse the associations betw…
Financial support for households and the demand for child protection services – a municipality-level analysis of income support for single-parent households and reimbursements for depression medicines
Purpose The study covers two different forms of financial support for households, income support for single parents and reimbursements for depression medicines, and explores their relationships with the demand for child protection services. Design/methodology/approach The data were retrieved from the Sotkanet, the Finnish Indicator Bank, and included 292 Finnish municipalities. It was hypothesised that the effect of income support for single-pare…
Quality of Governance and Welfare Generosity as Institutional Predictors of Entrepreneurship
The aim of this article is to examine whether the cross-country and gender variations of entrepreneurship can be explained within the institutional framework. The study addresses normative forces to which entrepreneurs are expected to adapt within European welfare states. The normative forces are focused on norm-based factors of governmental quality and value-based factors of governmental generosity, which are both hypothesized to be associated w…
Family support services reduce the demand for emergency child removals at the community level
This study aims to examine whether the characteristics of the child protection systems can explain the demand for emergency child removals at the community level. The material of the study consists of Finnish municipalities (N = 292) and their child protection indicators. The study was undertaken by using a conditional process analysis software programme and estimating the regression coefficients in the conditional model. It was found that family…
The Quality of Child Protection Buffers the Need for Emergency Child Removals—An Analysis of the Finnish Child Protection System
This study aims to determine which level of quality of child protection services reduces the demand for emergency child removals at the system level in Finland. A moderation analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between the dependent variable (the proportion of emergency child removals) and its predictors (the number of economically insecure families, and the proportion of completed needs assessment cases for child protection service…
Does the Immigration Issue Divide German Attitudes toward Social Welfare
This article explores the association of German attitudes toward social welfare and immigration, and how regional and political factors affect that relationship. The data was retrieved from Round 8 of the European Social Survey, which includes 2,852 German participants. Quantitative methodology was used to study the hypotheses. Analyses demonstrate that attitudes on immigration and social welfare are associated. However, the regional factor of Ea…
Child Maltreatment and Self-rated Health
Child maltreatment seriously affects children's psychological and social well-being, as well as their physical health. The study aimed to explore the impact of violence experienced by children on their self-rated health. It also examined whether this effect is mediated by parent-child conversations and whether it varies based on the child's gender. The study was based on the Child Victim Survey of 2013 (FSD2943) in Finland. Mediation and moderati…
Narratives of experts by experience
This study focuses on the narratives of participants of a long-term expert-by-experience training programme for people with a history of crime about their past, and how they use their life experience in their work as experts by experience. The research data was collected during interviews of respondents with a history of crime (N=19). The interviews were analysed using a narrative identity framework, and the data further examined in light of vari…
The role of political orientation in shaping deservingness perceptions and immigration attitudes in Europe
In this study, we focus on European immigration attitudes in the perspective of deservingness perceptions and political orientation. Our data are conducted from the European Social Survey (2016) database, which contains 21 European countries and 39,400 participants. We used the multilevel method to study the relationship between immigration attitudes and deservingness perceptions. The results demonstrate that the more negative deservingness perce…
Macro-level predictors of child removals
The purpose of this macro-level study is to examine the effects of social welfare benefits and services on the demand for child removals. The study is based on the panel data of Finnish municipalities (N = 293) and their social welfare indicators for the period 2010–2021. Linear regression analysis was conducted to analyze the associations between the dependent variable (child removals) and the main predictors (child welfare notifications, family…
The effects of individual and cultural factors on digital inclusion in European countries
Purpose With digitisation, a new kind of inequality has emerged in society between people and groups of people. A lack of digital inclusion creates challenges for the economic and social development of society and citizen participation. This study analyses how the country-level cultural factors defined by Hofstede are associated with citizens' digital skills and internet usage and how they moderate the effects of age, gender, educational level an…
Female immigrant entrepreneurship – predicted by women’s empowerment in host country
Purpose The social inclusion of immigrants has been a central public policy issue in European countries, and entrepreneurship is often promoted as a form of integration. Female immigrants face double discrimination of gender and ethnicity while becoming entrepreneurs. The aim of the paper is to investigate the female empowerment in the host country as a predictor of immigrant women engagement in entrepreneurship. Design/methodology/approach Based…
The role of financial support in preventing the need for child protection services
Previous studies show that household economic insecurity is associated with poor child health and an increased risk of child maltreatment. Therefore, it can be assumed that family financial support can also prevent the need for child protection services. This study asks: What is the association of families' poverty and granted additional income support with the need for child protection services, and through which pathways does this effect arise?…
Social-economic determinants of women’s reproductive health in Almaty (Kazakhstan)
In the Almaty metropolitan area with the significant social-economic stratification, the relevance of the study is determined by the need to understand how household income affects women’s reproductive strategies and identity. The article aims at identifying the relationship between subjective well-being, financial difficulties, family plans and reproductive health symptoms of 18-49-year-old women in Almaty. The authors conducted a cross-sectiona…
Protective effects of belief in a just world on mental health in urban Chinese young adults
This study examined the distinct impacts of personal belief in a just world (hereinafter, PBJW) and general belief in a just world (hereinafter, GBJW) on the mental health of employed and unemployed youth in urban China, highlighting the mediating role of the presence of meaning in life (hereinafter, PML). Using a sample of 2075 young adults, structural equation modeling was employed to assess the relationship between PBJW, GBJW, PML, and mental …
Exploring the ongoing important role of meaning in life on young people’s mental health
This study highlights the importance of meaning in life as a protective factor for mental health among urban Chinese youth. The findings suggest that tailored mental health interventions should consider socio-economic status and life stages to address the unique needs of different youth groups. Policies and programs should enhance both the search for and the presence of meaning in life to promote better mental health outcomes
Economics (21 works) · Political science (21 works) · Psychology (18 works) · Welfare (14 works) · Law (13 works) · Business (12 works) · Demographic economics (12 works) · Economic growth (11 works) · Politics (11 works) · Medicine (10 works)