Research

Our research project on traumatic experiences has two main novelties: 

1. Traditional research has focused on symptoms after a traumatic experience (“after-only research” with posttraumatic outcomes), including an assumption that individuals were generally in good health before the trauma (although without prospective examination). Our research, in turn, focuses on symptoms before a traumatic experience ("pre-event status") and how it can explain individual differences in posttraumatic responses. 
2. More than 50% of trauma-exposed individuals are reported to have moderate-to-high posttraumatic growth, referring to a personal reorientation or maturation after the trauma. Evidence is based, however,
   on retrospective reports, without prospectively verifying the pre-event status and including a control group of those non-exposed. Our research examines (a) whether posttraumatic growth is as common as suggested if considering the pre-event growth status and (b) which extent it reflects normative/spontaneous personality maturation (e.g., spiritual growth over age) or is provoked by trauma experiences. 

This project is funded by Research Council of Finland. 

Our research group has been working with the following research question: If a high polygenic risk for schizophrenia does not lead to psychoses, where does it lead to?

It is known that a vast majority of the individuals, who have a high genetic risk to schizophrenia, do not develop the disorder during their lifetime. Thus, it seems crucial to investigate whether they experience some other sorts of milder ill-being in their life. 

In this project, we suppose that polygenic risk for schizophrenia represents a latent liability factor that predicts varying phenotypes over the life span: certain outcomes may appear and disappear over age. Recently, we have been investigating that, in individuals without psychoses, does polygenic risk for schizophrenia predict altered trajectories in (a) social isolation, (b) affective ill-being, and (c) everyday functioning over age from adolescence to middle age. 

We are investigating these topics is done in close collaboration with researchers at University of Tampere (the group of professor Terho Lehtimäki) and University of Turku. 

This research is funded by the Emil Aaltonen Foundation. 
 

Our research group investigates the roles of various lifespan factors on epigenetic ageing. Most recently, we have investigated the roles of childhood family environment, early resilience factors, lifestyle factors (e.g., sleep, dietary factors), social relationships, and personality traits on epigenetic clocks. Here, we utilize population-based, prospective data from the Young Finns Study, including decades of follow-ups and multiple measurement points. 

This research is done in close collaboration with researchers at University of Tampere (the group of professor Terho Lehtimäki) and University of Turku. 

Previous studies have shown that various external factors (e.g., stress, life events, and traumatic experiences) can predict changes in an individual's personality traits. Conversely, certain personality traits are known to influence the types of external environments individuals find themselves in.

Our research, however, focuses primarily on the interplay between personality traits—that is, within-personality dynamics. Specifically, we investigate whether changes in one personality trait can predict changes in others. Currently, we focus on self-transcendence and whether its increase may account for changes in other personality traits. 

This has societal relevance: interventions enhancing a specific personality trait (e.g., mindfulness-enhancing interventions) have become increasingly popular, while it remains unclear whether a change in one personality trait may induce broader personality changes.

Our research is mostly based on data from the Young Finns Study (YFS). The YFS includes a population-based sample of Finnish citizens (n = 3596) and a prospective follow-up of decades. The baseline measurement was arranged in 1980 and follow-ups have been conducted since then (in 1983, 1986, 1989, 1992, 1997, 2001, 2007, 2011/2012, and 2018-2020). The dataset includes a broad set of medical, psychosocial, and lifestyle information of the participants. 

Please find more information from here: 

• The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study
• Expanding the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study into a multigenerational cohort