Compassion is known to predict prosocial behavior and moral judgements related to harm.Despite the centrality of compassion to social life, factors predicting adulthood compassion are largely unknown. We examine whether qualities of parent -child relationship, namely emotional warmth and acceptance, predict offspring compassion decades later in adulthood.We used data from the prospective population-based Young Finns Study. Our sample included 2,761 participants (55.5% women). Parent-child relationship qualities were reported by the participant's parents at the baseline in 1980 (T0) when participants were from 3 to 18 years old. Compassion was self-reported three times (in 1997 [T1], 2001 [T2] and 2012 [T3])with the Temperament and Character Inventory. By using age at the assessment as a timevariant variable, we applied multilevel modeling for repeated measurements to examine developmental trajectories of compassion from ages 20 (the age of the youngest cohort at T1) to 50 (the age of the oldest cohort at T3). On average, compassion increased in a curvilinear fashion with age. Higher acceptance (p = .013) and higher emotional warmth (p < .001) were related to higher compassion in adulthood. After adjusting for childhood confounds (participant's gender, birth cohort, externalizing behavior, parental socioeconomic status and parental mental health problems), only emotional warmth (p < .001) remained as a significant predictor of compassion. Quality of the parent-child relationship has long-term effects on offspring compassion. An emotionally warm and close relationship, in particular, may contribute to higher offspring compassion in adulthood.

BackgroundA growing body of research indicates that cross-cultural competence in nurses can improve migrant patients’ health-related outcomes, but little is known about the potential benefits of cross-cultural competence on the nurses’ own well-being.ObjectiveTo examine whether cross-cultural competence (empathy, skills, positive attitudes, and motivation) is associated with perceived time pressure at work, psychological distress, and sleep problems among registered nurses in Finland, and whether there are differences in these potential associations between native and foreign-born nurses.MethodsThe present cross-sectional study was based on a sample of 212 foreign-born nurses licensed to practice in Finland and a random sample of 744 native Finnish nurses. Data were collected with a questionnaire and analyzed using multiple linear regression and structural equation modeling (SEM).ResultsOf all four dimensions of cross-cultural competence, only empathy was associated with perceived time pressure (β = –0.13, p = .018), distress (β = –0.23, p < .001), and sleep problems (β = –0.14, p = .004) after the adjustment for gender, age, employment sector, and frequency of interacting with patients and colleagues from different cultures. There were no differences between native and foreign-born nurses in these observed associations (all ps > .05).ConclusionsCross-cultural empathy may protect against perceived time pressure, distress, and sleep problems in both native and foreign-born nurses. Thus, the promotion of this component of cross-cultural competence among nursing personnel should be encouraged.

Glucose was not associated with depressive symptoms in the standard linear regression (B = -0.04, 95% CI [-0.12, 0.04], p = .34), but the instrumental-variable regression showed an inverse association between glucose and depressive symptoms (B = -0.43, 95% CI [-0.79, -0.07], p = .020). The difference between the estimates of standard linear regression and instrumental-variable regression was significant (p = .026) CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that the association between T2D and depressive symptoms is unlikely to be caused by increased glucose concentrations. It seems possible that T2D might be linked to depressive symptoms due to low glucose levels.

Background To test the validity of the Finnish version of the Bernhard et al.’s Cross-Cultural Competence instrument of Healthcare Professionals (CCCHP). Methods The study sample comprised registered nurses ( N = 810) from the Finnish “Competent workforce for the future” -project (COPE). Exploratory factor analyses and structural equation modelling were applied to test structural validity of the CCCHP. Internal consistency of the sub-scales was evaluated using the Cronbach’s alphas. Criterion validity was explored in terms of received education for multicultural work, perceived difficulty of patients, and job satisfaction variables. Results The revised version of the instrument including four (motivation/curiosity, attitudes, skills and emotions/empathy) of the five original dimensions provided satisfactory psychometric properties (internal consistency, a good model fit of the data). Of the four remaining competence sub-scales, motivation/curiosity, attitudes and emotions/empathy were associated with the amount of received education for multicultural work, and all with perceived difficulty of patients, and all but attitudes with job satisfaction. Conclusion This revised Finnish version of the CCCHP provides a useful tool for studies focusing on the healthcare personnel’s cross-cultural competence in delivering effective and culturally sensitive healthcare services for patients from different cultures. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12913-019-4105-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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