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 |
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
Centre of Excellence for Learning Dynamics and Intervention (InterLearn); Department of Psychology and Speech-Language Pathology; the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study.
Pronouns: she/hers
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. I am the principal investigator in the Academy-funded PROSODE project where we explore parental social protective experiences and how they are linked to child self-regulation and brain development. Additionally, I am senior researcher in the PeCCaPS study, where the focus is in family functioning after the child has received diagnosis for pediatric cancer, and family members are being tested for their genetic predispositions for cancer.
My research focuses on early life environmental effects on child self-regulation development and the neural and other biological mechanisms underlying these associations. Particularly, I am interested in the buffering or promotive environmental factors, such as caregiving, parental presence, positive life events, or social support expriences. 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.
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)
- 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 COVID-19 pandemic-related depressive symptoms and potential predictors: the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study (2024)
- Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
(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)



