Interdisciplinarity is at the heart of researcher Marie Pier Larose's work, both at the INVEST Research Flagship Centre and at the Turku Institute for Advanced Studies. Her work combines developmental psychiatry, behaviour genetics, and public health research.
Canadian researcher Marie Pier Larose did not plan to move to Turku. In 2020, she was completing her doctoral dissertation in public health in her home country and planning post-doc research in a project led by her supervisor in London.
However, due to the corona virus restrictions, the British study could not be carried out. Then, by chance, Larose's supervisor found an open position: INVEST Research Flagship Centre at the University of Turku was looking for a researcher.
INVEST, short for Inequalities, Interventions and New Welfare State, is a joint research centre of the University of Turku and the National Institute for Health and Welfare. It aims at providing a new model for the welfare state that is more equal and anticipatory as well as economically and socially sustainable.
Larose is interested in how health policies, such as school interventions or parental leaves, could differently influence individuals with different genetic predisposition to mental disorders.
She decided to apply for the job at INVEST and received an invitation to an interview within a few days. A week later, she was offered the job – all that was left was finding out where a place called Turku was located.
Researchers at Turku conduct top research on bullying
A research group led by Professor of Psychology Christina Salmivalli study the KiVa antibullying program, originally developed by Salmivalli.
Currently, the researchers are conducting a retrospective study, using data from the early 2010s, with the new challenge of recontacting participants to solicitate their participation in an additional data collection where they can provide DNA samples and fill questionnaires about their early adult life. INVEST researchers, including Larose, are trying to find out how genetics is linked to bullying.
How can the KiVa antibullying program impact children in different ways depending on their genetics? Are some groups of children particularly receptive to antibullying interventions?
Larose is part of INVEST's international research team. In addition, she also started her own research project at the Turku Institute for Advanced Studies (TIAS) last autumn. TIAS promotes cutting-edge research in the human sciences in a multidisciplinary community of researchers.
The theme of Larose's TIAS project is also strongly linked to the work of the Salmivalli group. In her own research, Larose examines children's genetic susceptibility to mental health disorders and how they affect the development of bullying behaviours. It is an observational study with data from the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
"A better understanding of the genetic background of mental health disorders can also help to better understand the role of environmental factors."
Larose says that, in the past, genetics was not considered a very interesting field of research when investigating mental health. Depression and other mental health disorders were thought to be mainly caused by environmental factors, and that investigating how genes were associated with these problems was not important as our genes cannot be changed.
In recent years, researchers have realised that a better understanding of the genetic background of mental health disorders can also help to better understand the role of environmental factors.
According to developmental psychiatry, there are certain "windows" that open up during a child's development when the child tends to develop specific skills.
Genes are also involved in regulating behaviour in these windows of development. Among other things, this is what researchers of behaviour genetics study in child development research.
Job during studies set the course for a researcher career
When Larose was younger, she had only a hazy notion of what being a researcher entailed and never imagined pursuing such a profession.
While studying for her bachelor's degree in psychology with a minor in political science in Canada, she got a job as a research assistant – and immediately knew this was what she wanted to do. After that, she no longer had to consider her career options.
Larose studied in particular the effects of stress and the biological basis of mental health disorders.
When she met a public health researcher during her studies, the pieces started to fall into place. She decided to study public health in her master's degree – and eventually in her doctorate as well.
“It was as if everything just came together: political science, different aspects of psychology, and public health.”
At INVEST, Larose has been able to combine all these disciplines, which is why she was so keen to apply for the position.
“Finland is one of the best places to conduct research on public health.”
Early career researcher obtained remarkable results
When Larose is asked about significant or memorable research findings from her career, she talks about two different studies.
The first of these is one of the first studies in Larose's career, dating back to her doctoral dissertation. She studied cortisol levels in Canadian preschool children. She discovered that children from low-income families had higher cortisol levels than children from higher-income families.
This alone was a significant result. In the second part of the study, an eight-month programme of social skills training was carried out at a day-care centre. The study included a control group.
The research revealed that, after completing the social skills programme, the cortisol levels of the children from low-income families decreased to the same level as other children.
“These children really benefited from the programme. It was an important moment. We realised that we could actually do something that wasn't very difficult or even expensive, and it made a real difference.”
"In an ideal study, she would have access to the genetic data of both the parents and children. The idea is to study the very early onset of mental health disorders."
The second study examined the impact of the mothers’ socio-economic status and education level as well as the effect of participating in early childhood education on children's school performance in a British data set.
The results showed that children whose mothers had a low education level were indeed less likely to graduate. However, no difference was discerned in children who attended early childhood education.
“In addition, it is cost-effective. If the public sector fully covered day-care fees, the investment would begin to pay off after 25 years.”
So the talented researcher has achieved some very significant research results early in her career.
And what would Larose like to research in the future? The answer is clear to her: the genetic background of bullying in preschool children.
In an ideal study, she would have access to the genetic data of both the parents and children. The idea is to study the very early onset of mental health disorders. The study would compare children in home care to children in early childhood education.
It could provide a basis for planning antibullying interventions in the future. Various antibullying programmes designed for schools have been applied in early childhood education.
“They do not work because the young children don't have the same level of cognitive skills and emotional regulation as schoolchildren.”
Turku feels like home
Montreal, the French-speaking metropolis of millions, gave way to the comfortably compact Turku. INVEST offered Larose not only an interesting job but also a warm community.
“There were many of us international researchers in the same situation: we had to settle in a new country.”
Larose has been surprised by the many similarities between Canadians and Finns. Therefore, there was no great culture shock.
“The main difference is that Canadians are more extroverted. Me especially!" she laughs.
In Turku, she has also found a welcoming French-speaking community, with whom Larose spent Christmas together as the trip to Montreal would have been too long and expensive.
Besides, Turku feels like home these days.
Text: Rosa Lampela
Photos and video: Hanna Oksanen
Translation: Mari Ratia
