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)
- 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) - Maternal Perinatal Stress Trajectories and Negative Affect and Amygdala Development in Offspring (2023)
- American Journal of Psychiatry
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index is associated with newborn offspring hypothalamic mean diffusivity: a prospective dual-cohort study (2023)
- BMC Medicine
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Mother–infant interaction and maternal postnatal psychological distress are associated with negative emotional reactivity among infants and toddlers— A FinnBrain Birth Cohort study (2023)
- Infant Behavior and Development
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Polygenic risk for neuroticism is associated with externalizing symptoms in 2-year-old boys (2023)
- Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Spillover effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on attitudes to influenza and childhood vaccines (2023)
- BMC Public Health
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Structural brain correlates of non-verbal cognitive ability in 5-year-old children: Findings from the FinnBrain birth cohort study (2023)
- Human Brain Mapping
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal)



