Saara Nolvi
Ph.D (FT), adjunct professor (dos.)
FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study saara.nolvi@utu.fi Kiinamyllynkatu 10 Turku Office: Med A307/Pub 318 Contact requests by e-mail. ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4959-1473 |
Areas of expertise
prenatal stress; early life stress; postnatal stress; anxiety; temperament; fear reactivity; executive functioning; socioemotional development; cognitive development; structural equation modelling; milk cortisol; brain structure; amygdala; MRI; fMRI, DTI
prenatal stress; early life stress; postnatal stress; anxiety; temperament; fear reactivity; executive functioning; socioemotional development; cognitive development; structural equation modelling; milk cortisol; brain structure; amygdala; MRI; fMRI, DTI
Research community or research topic
Centre of Excellence for Learning Dynamics and Intervention (InterLearn); Department of Psychology and Speech-Language Pathology; the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study.
Centre of Excellence for Learning Dynamics and Intervention (InterLearn); Department of Psychology and Speech-Language Pathology; the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study.
Biography
Pronouns: she/hers
Research
I am adjunct professor (developmental psychology) and psychologist by background. I currently work as senior researcher in the Academy-funded Centrel of Excellence for Learning Dynamics and Intervention (InterLearn) in the Department of Psychology and Speech-Languge Pathology. In addition, I work as a senior in the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study.
My research focuses on early life environmental effects on child self-regulation development and the neural and other biological mechanisms underlying these associations. I am also interested in the inter-individual differences in sensitivity to stress and environment, and how these differences in plasticity are shaped by the environment across development. In the InterLearn study, we are specifically interested in the longitudinal development of self-regulation and its relation to child mental health and academic functioning. We also aim to identify environmental factors that may buffer from or exacerbate the risk for academic and emotional difficulties.
Teaching
Teacher education (60 ects); experience from teaching and lecturing from all age groups and educational levels
Taught courses currently:
PSYK3933 Developmental psychology I
PSYK4323 Master's thesis (Psychology)
Publications 
1 of 4
- Maternal Emotional Availability Supports Child Communicative Development Regardless of Child Temperament: Findings From the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study (2025)
- Infancy
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Across ages and places : Unpredictability of maternal sensory signals and child internalizing behaviors (2024)
- Journal of Affective Disorders
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Antecedents of maternal pregnancy-related anxiety trajectories: The FinnBrain birth cohort study (2024)
- Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Infant gut microbiota and negative and fear reactivity (2024)
- Development and Psychopathology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Lower maternal emotional availability is related to increased attention toward fearful faces during infancy (2024)
- Infant Behavior and Development
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Mother-Infant Interaction and Maternal Postnatal Psychological Distress Associate with Child's Social-Emotional Development During Early Childhood : A FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study (2024)
- Child Psychiatry and Human Development
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Prepandemic to Early COVID-19 : Changes in Couple Functioning and Links With Harsh Parenting (2024)
- Journal of Family Psychology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Reciprocal relationships between a child’s engagement with faces and mother–child interaction at 8, 30, and 60 months (2024)
- Developmental Psychology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - The roles of parent temperament and parenting styles in adolescent temperament development (2024)
- Current Psychology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Trait reactance as psychological motivation to reject vaccination: Two longitudinal studies and one experimental study (2024)
- Applied psychology: Health and well-being
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Trajectories of maternal depressive and anxiety symptoms and child's socio-emotional outcome during early childhood (2024)
- Journal of Affective Disorders
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Association of cumulative prenatal adversity with infant subcortical structure volumes and child problem behavior and its moderation by a coexpression polygenic risk score of the serotonin system (2023)
- Development and Psychopathology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Associations between observed and reported infant negative affectivity, fear and self-regulation, and early communicative development-Evidence from the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study (2023)
- Infancy
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Childcare context and socio-emotional development in toddlers - a quantitative report from the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Finland (2023)
- European Early Childhood Education Research Journal
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Course of child social-emotional and sleep symptoms, parental distress and pandemic-related stressors during COVID-19 (2023)
- Development and Psychopathology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Higher attention bias for fear at 8 months of age is associated with better socioemotional competencies during toddlerhood (2023)
- Infant Behavior and Development
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Investigating the role of relationship satisfaction and paternal psychological distress during pregnancy on offspring health in early life (2023)
- BJPsych Open
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Latent profile analysis of diurnal cortisol patterns at the ages of 2, 3.5, and 5 years: Associations with childcare setting, child individual characteristics, and maternal distress (2023)
- Psychoneuroendocrinology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Longitudinal patterns of alcohol use and psychological symptoms during COVID-19 pandemic and role of alexithymia: A latent transition analysis in the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study (2023)
- Journal of Affective Disorders
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Maternal executive functioning is associated with infant sustained attention, but not executive functioning, in a sex-specific manner (2023)
- Nordic Psychology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal)
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