- Email: [email protected]
Brief report: Value priorities of early adolescents
Journal of Adolescence 37 (2014) 525e529
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Adolescence journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jado
Brief report: Value priorities of early adolescents Tiia Tulviste*, Anni Tamm University of Tartu, Estonia
a b s t r a c t Keywords: Schwartz theory Value priorities Middle adolescence Ethnic Estonians Russian-speaking minority Estonia
Although adolescence is considered to be the formative period of values, relatively few studies have addressed values held by adolescents. The present short-term longitudinal study explores value priorities of early adolescents from two social groups (among ethnic Estonians and Russian-speaking minority) in terms of the 10 value types defined by Schwartz, and the question whether values change during one year. 575 early adolescents filled out a 21-item version of the Portrait Values Questionnaire. Adolescents’ value priorities differed from the pan-cultural value hierarchy of adults (Bardi, Lee, HoffmannTowfigh, & Soutar, 2009) by attributing more importance to hedonism and stimulation, and less importance to benevolence and conformity. Although Russian-speaking students rated Self-Enhancement and Openness to Change more highly than Estonians, the value hierarchy of adolescents from two social groups was rather similar. Boys considered SelfEnhancement more important than girls. More value change was observable in Russianspeaking students, and boys. Ó 2014 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Adolescence is a period of intensive identity development (Erikson, 1968; Meeus, 1996), when teens selectively internalize a personal value system through exploring values provided by parents, peers and society. According to Schwartz’s value theory (1992), there are ten motivationally distinct value types that are ordered along two dimensions: Openness to Change (stimulation, self-direction, and hedonism) vs. Conservation (tradition and security) and Self-Enhancement (achievement, power, and hedonism) vs. Self-Transcendence (universalism and benevolence). Although people and groups differ in how important each value type is for them, the structure as well as the hierarchical order of the importance of the ten value types has found to be universal (Bardi, Lee, Hoffmann-Towfigh, & Soutar, 2009; Schwartz & Bardi, 2001). Benevolence, self-direction and universalism have been found to be the most important ones across cultures, followed by security, conformity, and achievement (6th), hedonism (7th), stimulation (8th), tradition, and power (Schwartz & Bardi, 2001, p. 275). As to the children and adolescents, their value structure and the hierarchy of values might differ from those of adults, and be less stable (Bubeck & Bilsky, 2004; Hofmann-Towfigh, 2007; Pohjanheimo, as cited in Verkasalo, Lönnqvist, Lipsanen, & Helkama, 2009). The present short-term longitudinal study explores similarities and differences in the value priorities of early adolescents from the two main social groups in Estonia (ethnic Estonians and Russian-speaking minority), and of boys and girls. Despite of some similarities (an increase in the importance of individualistic values), significant differences have been pointed out in ethnic Estonians’ and Russian Estonians’ value priorities and parental values (Lauristin & Vihalemm, 1997; Tulviste, Konstabel, & Tulviste, 2014; Tulviste, Mizera, & De Geer, 2012; Vihalemm & Kalmus, 2008). According to Tulviste et al. (2014), ethnic Estonians place more importance on values related to Self-Transcendence (i.e., benevolence, and universalism), and less on
* Corresponding author. Department of Psychology, Centre of Behavioral and Health Sciences, University of Tartu, Näituse 2e218, 50409 Tartu, Estonia. Tel.: þ372 7 375906; fax: þ372 7 376152. E-mail address: [email protected] (T. Tulviste). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2014.04.006 0140-1971/Ó 2014 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Self-Enhancement (i.e., achievement, and power) and Conservation (i.e., tradition and conformity) than Russian-speaking minority. The biggest differences were observable in the youngest age group (15- to 20-year-olds). There is, however, also some evidence that the differences in Estonian and Russian-Estonian adolescents’ value priorities are not as big as in case of youth or adults (Vihalemm & Kalmus, 2008). The same has been observed in other countries: values held by children of immigrants tend to differ from those of their peers in the host country less than their parents’ values differ from those of nonimmigrant parents (Knafo & Schwartz, 2001; Phinney, Ong, & Madden, 2000; Stewart, Bond, Deeds, & Chung, 1999). Studies with adolescents have also found some gender-related differences in value priorities: boys place greater importance on power and achievement than girls (Hofmann-Towfigh, 2007; Mizera & Tulviste, 2012; Silfver, 2007; Tulviste & Gutman, 2003; Verkasalo, Tuomivaara, & Lindeman, 1996). The study also investigates the extent to which the value priorities of early adolescents from the two main social groups, and of boys and girls change over a one-year period. Value change has been related, first of all, to economic changes and to the need to adapt to life-changing events (Bardi et al., 2009; Inglehart, 1997). In current Estonia, educational reforms are going on with the aim to rid schools from authoritarian teaching and learning methods and to minimize differences in the quality of education of children from different social groups. Russian-Estonian students are faced with more challenges of adaptation to changing environment as reforms include the plan to improve their official language proficiency by the transition to a partial Estonian language subject instruction. Hypotheses We expected that early adolescents’ value priorities differ from the pan-cultural value hierarchy (Schwartz & Bardi, 2001, p. 275) by hedonism, and stimulation being on the top of the hierarchy instead of benevolence. Second, we predicted some change in adolescents’ value priorities in 8th grade compared to those in 7th grade. Third, we expected that Russian-speaking adolescents would place more importance on Self-Enhancement values and less on Openness to Change values than Estonian adolescents. Forth, we expected that both ethnic Estonian and Russian-speaking boys would consider values related to Openness to Change and Self-Enhancement more important than girls. Method Participants 575 early adolescents (57.5% girls and 86.4% Estonians) filled out the Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ; Schwartz et al., 2001) twice: in the beginning of 7th grade (mean age ¼ 13.02, SD ¼ .38) and in the beginning of 8th grade (mean age ¼ 14.04, SD ¼ .41). Scores on value domains were calculated according to the guidelines provided by Schwartz (2012). Based on these guidelines, the reliability coefficients of the PVQ indexes in the present study (see the notes of Table 1) were acceptable. Only the reliability of tradition values was low. This is due to religion being relatively unimportant in Estonia. Results As expected, the value hierarchy of early adolescents differs from that of the pan-cultural adult value hierarchy (Schwartz & Bardi, 2001). Adolescents pay more importance to hedonism and stimulation (7th and 8th in the pan-cultural hierarchy), and consider benevolence less important (see Table 1). Correlations between the two measurements of the ten values are all statistically significant, but not very strong (see Table 1). Respondents’ mean value rating scores and mean rankings for each of the ten values in 7th and 8th grade by cultural group are presented in Table 2 and Fig. 1, and by gender in Table 3 and Fig. 2. Table 1 Mean value scores in 7th and 8th grade and correlations between measurements. Value
Mean (SD) in 7th grade
Mean (SD) in 8th grade
Correlation between measurements
Hedonism Stimulation Benevolence Self-direction Universalism Achievement Security Conformity Tradition Power
.80 .66 .55 .41 .19 .13 .21 .67 .72 .97
.80 .57 .50 .52 .23 .15 .35 .65 .70 .90
.49*** .49*** .43*** .42*** .41*** .50*** .40*** .47*** .48*** .51***
(.86) (.86) (.71) (.77) (.68) (.80) (.83) (.86) (.92) (.89)
(.83) (.86) (.68) (.76) (.60) (.88) (.83) (.86) (.93) (.89)
Note. ***p < .001; the reliabilities of the ten indexes in 7th and 8th grade were .64 and .63 for hedonism, .55 and .59 for stimulation, .62 and .61 for benevolence, .46 and .45 for self-direction, .57 and .52 for universalism, .42 and .48 for security, .65 and .75 for achievement, .52 and .44 for conformity, .14 and .17 for tradition, and .52 and .60 for power.
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Table 2 Mean ratings and rankings of the ten value types by culture. 7th Grade
8th Grade
Estonians
Hedonism Stimulation Benevolence Self-direction Universalism Security Achievement Conformity Tradition Power
Russian Estonians
Rank
M (SD)
Rank
M (SD)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
.77 .66 .58 .39 .20 .17 .17 .68 .70 .99
1 2 4 3 5 7 6 8 10 9
1.02 .63 .40 .60 .07 .45 .09 .64 .85 .86
(.85) (.86) (.69) (.77) (.65) (.81) (.85) (.85) (.89) (.87)
p
(.92) (.91) (.77) (.78) (.81) (.93) (.81) (.88) (1.08) (1.03)
Estonians
* * * ** *
Russian Estonians
Rank
M (SD)
Rank
M (SD)
1 2 3 4 5 7 6 8 9 10
.76 .55 .52 .49 .22 .29 .18 .64 .70 .89
1 2 4 3 5 9 6 7 8 10
1.02 .67 .35 .67 .31 .80 .00 .72 .75 .91
(.81) (.82) (.68) (.76) (.61) (.79) (.90) (.84) (.89) (.87)
(.89) (1.05) (.70) (.72) (.53) (.88) (.76) (.97) (1.14) (.99)
p
** *
***
Note. Value scores are centered around individual’s mean score on all 21 items; ***p < .001; **p < .01; *p < .05.
ANOVAs with mean value ratings at two waves as the repeated variable, and Gender and Culture (Estonians vs. Russian Estonians) as within-subject variables showed that self-direction, F(1, 565) ¼ 4.21, p ¼ .04, h2 ¼ .01 and universalism were considered more important, but security values less important, F(1, 565) ¼ 17.74, p < .001, h2 ¼ .03 in 8th grade than in 7th grade. There was a significant interaction of gender and culture on stimulation, F(1, 565) ¼ 6.59, p ¼ .01, h2 ¼ .01, due to the fact that the importance of stimulation decreased more for boys than girls. The order of importance of Schwartz values had stayed relatively stable over the course of one year. In 7th grade, ethnic Estonians valued benevolence, F(1, 573) ¼ 4.50, p ¼ .03, h2 ¼ .01 and security, F(1, 573) ¼ 7.59, p ¼ .006, h2 ¼ .01 more, and hedonism, F(1, 573) ¼ 5.71, p ¼ .02, h2 ¼ .01, self-direction, F(1, 573) ¼ 5.04, p ¼ .03, h2 ¼ .01, and achievement, F(1, 573) ¼ 6.18, p ¼ .01, h2 ¼ .01 less than Russian-Estonian adolescents. In 8th grade, Estonians valued benevolence, F(1, 573) ¼ 4.12, p ¼ .04, h2 ¼ .01 and security, F(1, 573) ¼ 27.06, p < .001, h2 ¼ .05 more, and hedonism, F(1, 573) ¼ 6.79, p ¼ .009, h2 ¼ .01 less than their Russian-speaking peers. In 7th grade, boys’ mean scores were higher than those of girls for power, F(1, 567) ¼ 22.17, p < .001, h2 ¼ .04 and conformity, F(1, 567) ¼ 4.57, p ¼ .03, h2 ¼ .01, and lower for benevolence, F(1, 567) ¼ 45.32, p < .001, h2 ¼ .07. Boys in 8th grade rated power, F(1, 567) ¼ 14.54, p < .001, h2 ¼ .03, conformity, F(1, 567) ¼ 8.48, p ¼ .004, h2 ¼ .01, and achievement, F(1, 548.78) ¼ 17.07, p < .001, h2 ¼ .03 higher, but hedonism, F(1, 567) ¼ 4.84, p ¼ .03, h2 ¼ .01, stimulation, F(1, 551.63) ¼ 13.24, p < .001, h2 ¼ .02, and benevolence, F(1, 567) ¼ 28.69, p < .001, h2 ¼ .05 lower than girls. Discussion The study found evidence that adolescents’ value priorities differ from those of adults, first of all, by attributing most importance to hedonism (8th in the pan-cultural value hierarchy, Bardi et al., 2009), and rating stimulation as the second important value (9th in the pan-cultural hierarchy). Benevolence e the value type that is on the top of the pan-cultural value hierarchy as well as in parental socialization values, shared the 3e4th places with self-direction. Conformity was on a lower place (8th) than it is in the pan-cultural hierarchy (5th). Since adolescence is marked as a time of self-discovery
1,00
Estonians Russian Estonians
Relative importance
0,50
0,00
-0,50
Power
Tradition
Security
Conformity
Achieveme
Universalism
Self-direction
Benevolence
Hedonism
Stimulation
-1,00
Fig. 1. The relative importance of Schwartz values for Estonian and Russian Estonian adolescents.
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T. Tulviste, A. Tamm / Journal of Adolescence 37 (2014) 525e529
Table 3 Mean ratings and rankings of the ten value types by gender. 7th Grade
8th Grade
Boys
Hedonism Stimulation Benevolence Self-direction Universalism Achievement Security Conformity Tradition Power
Girls
p
Boys
Girls
p
Rank
M (SD)
Rank
M (SD)
Rank
M (SD)
Rank
M (SD)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
.76 .59 .33 .38 .15 .10 .14 .58 .68 .77
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
.85 .72 .72 .44 .21 .17 .27 .74 .76 1.12
1 3 4 2 6 5 7 8 9 10
.71 .42 .32 .55 .18 .02 .31 .53 .74 .74
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 8 10
.87 .68 .63 .51 .27 .28 .40 .74 .67 1.02
(.89) (.82) (.68) (.81) (.73) (.79) (.82) (.88) (.88) (.90)
(.84) (.89) (.68) (.74) (.63) (.89) (.83) (.84) (.95) (.86)
***
* ***
(.86) (.78) (.63) (.78) (.59) (.81) (.79) (.84) (.91) (.89)
(.79) (.89) (.70) (.72) (.61) (.91) (.85) (.87) (.94) (.88)
* *** ***
*** ** ***
Note. Value scores are centered around individual’s mean score on all 21 items; ***p < .001; **p < .01; *p < .05.
1,00
Girls Boys
Relative importance
0,50
0,00
-0,50
Power
Tradition
Conformity
Security
Achievement
Universalism
Self-direction
Stimulation
Benevolence
Hedonism
-1,00
Fig. 2. The relative importance of Schwartz values for boys and girls.
and the need for autonomy from authorities, such value hierarchy might be typical of this special period of life. Nevertheless, it might also reflect changes in the current Estonian society toward prioritizing individualistic values (Tulviste et al., 2012, 2014). The findings show few differences in value priorities of preadolescents from the two social groups. As expected, Russian Estonians considered Self-Enhancement more important than Estonians. Contrary to our expectation, they also placed more importance on Openness to Change. In both years, Estonian adolescents rated benevolence and security higher than their Russian-speaking peers. Hedonism, however, was considered more important by Russian Estonians than by Estonians. Self-direction and achievement were of higher importance to Russian Estonians only in 7th grade. Value priorities of early adolescents from the two social groups do not thus differ as much as it has been shown in studies with youth and adults in Estonia (Lauristin & Vihalemm, 1997; Tulviste et al., 2014; Vihalemm & Kalmus, 2008). We found that the importance of benevolence and self-direction had increased and the importance of security decreased by the start of 8th grade. The present findings suggest that Russian Estonians’ value priorities become more similar to those of their Estonian peers during a one-year period. Both ethnic Estonian and Russian-speaking males consider Self-Enhancement more important than females. Gender differences were smaller than those found in previous studies with youth and adults in Estonia (Tulviste et al., 2014), but these differences did increase over the course of one year. Acknowledgments The study was supported by the grants from Ministry of Education and Research (Grant nr S10012), European Social Fund Program Eduko (via Archimedes Foundation, grant 30.2-4/549), and the Estonian Science Foundation (grant No. 9033).
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References Bardi, A., Lee, J. A., Hoffmann-Towfigh, N., & Soutar, G. (2009). The structure of intraindividual value change. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97, 913e929. Bubeck, M., & Bilsky, W. (2004). Value structure at an early age. Swiss Journal of Psychology, 63, 31e41. Erikson, E. H. (1968). Identity, youth, and crisis. New York: Norton. Hofmann-Towfigh, N. (2007). Do students’ values change in different types of schools? Journal of Moral Education, 36, 453e473. Inglehart, R. (1997). Modernization and postmodernization: Cultural, economic and political change in 43 societies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Knafo, A., & Schwartz, S. H. (2001). Value socialisation in families of Israeli-born and Soviet-born adolescents in Israel. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 32, 213e228. Lauristin, M., & Vihalemm, T. (1997). Changing value systems: civilizational shift and local differences. In M. Lauristin, P. Vihalemm, K. E. Rosengren, & L. Weibull (Eds.), Return to the western world: Cultural and political perspectives on the Estonian post-communist transition (pp. 243e263). Tartu, Estonia: Tartu University Press. Meeus, W. (1996). Studies on identity development in adolescence: an overview of research and some new data. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 25, 569e 598. Mizera, L., & Tulviste, T. (2012). A comparison of Estonian senior high school students’ value priorities in 2000 and 2009. Trames: Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences, 16, 145e156. Phinney, J., Ong, A., & Madden, T. (2000). Cultural values and intergenerational value discrepancies in immigrant and non-immigrant families. Child Development, 71, 528e539. Schwartz, S. H. (1992). Universals in the content and structure of values: theoretical advances and empirical tests in 20 countries. In M. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology. San Diego: Academic Press. Schwartz, S. H. (2012). Human values. ESS EduNet [Online document]. Retrieved from http://essedunet.nsd.uib.no/cms/topics/1/. Schwartz, S. H., & Bardi, A. (2001). Value hierarchies across cultures: taking a similarities perspective. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 32, 268e290. Schwartz, S. H., Melech, G., Lehmann, A., Burgess, S., Harris, M., & Owens, V. (2001). Extending the cross-cultural validity of the theory of basic human values with a different method of measurement. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 32, 519e542. Silfver, M. (2007). Gender differences in value priorities, guilt, and shame among Finnish and Peruvian adolescents. Sex Roles, 56, 9e10. Stewart, S. M., Bond, M. H., Deeds, O., & Chung, S. F. (1999). Intergenerational patterns of values and autonomy expectations in cultures of relatedness and separateness. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 30, 575e593. Tulviste, T., & Gutman, P. (2003). A comparison of value preferences and attitudes toward collectivism of institution-reared and home-reared teenagers. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 18, 33e42. Tulviste, T., Konstabel, K., & Tulviste, P. (2014). Stability and change in value consensus of ethnic Estonians and Russian-speaking minority. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 39, 93e102. Tulviste, T., Mizera, L., & De Geer, B. (2012). Socialisation values in stable and changing societies: a comparative study of Estonian, Swedish, and Russian Estonian mothers. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 43, 480e497. Verkasalo, M., Lönnqvist, J.-E., Lipsanen, J., & Helkama, K. (2009). European norms and equations for a two dimensional presentation of values as measured with Schwartz’s 21-item portrait values questionnaire. European Journal of Social Psychology, 39, 780e792. Verkasalo, M. V., Tuomivaara, P., & Lindeman, M. (1996). 15-Year-old pupils’ and their teachers’ values, and their beliefs about the values of an ideal pupil. Educational Psychology, 16, 35e47. Vihalemm, T., & Kalmus, V. (2008). Mental structures in transition culture: differentiating patterns of identities and values in Estonia. East European Politics and Societies, 22, 901e927.
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Adolescence journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jado
Brief report: Value priorities of early adolescents Tiia Tulviste*, Anni Tamm University of Tartu, Estonia
a b s t r a c t Keywords: Schwartz theory Value priorities Middle adolescence Ethnic Estonians Russian-speaking minority Estonia
Although adolescence is considered to be the formative period of values, relatively few studies have addressed values held by adolescents. The present short-term longitudinal study explores value priorities of early adolescents from two social groups (among ethnic Estonians and Russian-speaking minority) in terms of the 10 value types defined by Schwartz, and the question whether values change during one year. 575 early adolescents filled out a 21-item version of the Portrait Values Questionnaire. Adolescents’ value priorities differed from the pan-cultural value hierarchy of adults (Bardi, Lee, HoffmannTowfigh, & Soutar, 2009) by attributing more importance to hedonism and stimulation, and less importance to benevolence and conformity. Although Russian-speaking students rated Self-Enhancement and Openness to Change more highly than Estonians, the value hierarchy of adolescents from two social groups was rather similar. Boys considered SelfEnhancement more important than girls. More value change was observable in Russianspeaking students, and boys. Ó 2014 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Adolescence is a period of intensive identity development (Erikson, 1968; Meeus, 1996), when teens selectively internalize a personal value system through exploring values provided by parents, peers and society. According to Schwartz’s value theory (1992), there are ten motivationally distinct value types that are ordered along two dimensions: Openness to Change (stimulation, self-direction, and hedonism) vs. Conservation (tradition and security) and Self-Enhancement (achievement, power, and hedonism) vs. Self-Transcendence (universalism and benevolence). Although people and groups differ in how important each value type is for them, the structure as well as the hierarchical order of the importance of the ten value types has found to be universal (Bardi, Lee, Hoffmann-Towfigh, & Soutar, 2009; Schwartz & Bardi, 2001). Benevolence, self-direction and universalism have been found to be the most important ones across cultures, followed by security, conformity, and achievement (6th), hedonism (7th), stimulation (8th), tradition, and power (Schwartz & Bardi, 2001, p. 275). As to the children and adolescents, their value structure and the hierarchy of values might differ from those of adults, and be less stable (Bubeck & Bilsky, 2004; Hofmann-Towfigh, 2007; Pohjanheimo, as cited in Verkasalo, Lönnqvist, Lipsanen, & Helkama, 2009). The present short-term longitudinal study explores similarities and differences in the value priorities of early adolescents from the two main social groups in Estonia (ethnic Estonians and Russian-speaking minority), and of boys and girls. Despite of some similarities (an increase in the importance of individualistic values), significant differences have been pointed out in ethnic Estonians’ and Russian Estonians’ value priorities and parental values (Lauristin & Vihalemm, 1997; Tulviste, Konstabel, & Tulviste, 2014; Tulviste, Mizera, & De Geer, 2012; Vihalemm & Kalmus, 2008). According to Tulviste et al. (2014), ethnic Estonians place more importance on values related to Self-Transcendence (i.e., benevolence, and universalism), and less on
* Corresponding author. Department of Psychology, Centre of Behavioral and Health Sciences, University of Tartu, Näituse 2e218, 50409 Tartu, Estonia. Tel.: þ372 7 375906; fax: þ372 7 376152. E-mail address: [email protected] (T. Tulviste). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2014.04.006 0140-1971/Ó 2014 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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T. Tulviste, A. Tamm / Journal of Adolescence 37 (2014) 525e529
Self-Enhancement (i.e., achievement, and power) and Conservation (i.e., tradition and conformity) than Russian-speaking minority. The biggest differences were observable in the youngest age group (15- to 20-year-olds). There is, however, also some evidence that the differences in Estonian and Russian-Estonian adolescents’ value priorities are not as big as in case of youth or adults (Vihalemm & Kalmus, 2008). The same has been observed in other countries: values held by children of immigrants tend to differ from those of their peers in the host country less than their parents’ values differ from those of nonimmigrant parents (Knafo & Schwartz, 2001; Phinney, Ong, & Madden, 2000; Stewart, Bond, Deeds, & Chung, 1999). Studies with adolescents have also found some gender-related differences in value priorities: boys place greater importance on power and achievement than girls (Hofmann-Towfigh, 2007; Mizera & Tulviste, 2012; Silfver, 2007; Tulviste & Gutman, 2003; Verkasalo, Tuomivaara, & Lindeman, 1996). The study also investigates the extent to which the value priorities of early adolescents from the two main social groups, and of boys and girls change over a one-year period. Value change has been related, first of all, to economic changes and to the need to adapt to life-changing events (Bardi et al., 2009; Inglehart, 1997). In current Estonia, educational reforms are going on with the aim to rid schools from authoritarian teaching and learning methods and to minimize differences in the quality of education of children from different social groups. Russian-Estonian students are faced with more challenges of adaptation to changing environment as reforms include the plan to improve their official language proficiency by the transition to a partial Estonian language subject instruction. Hypotheses We expected that early adolescents’ value priorities differ from the pan-cultural value hierarchy (Schwartz & Bardi, 2001, p. 275) by hedonism, and stimulation being on the top of the hierarchy instead of benevolence. Second, we predicted some change in adolescents’ value priorities in 8th grade compared to those in 7th grade. Third, we expected that Russian-speaking adolescents would place more importance on Self-Enhancement values and less on Openness to Change values than Estonian adolescents. Forth, we expected that both ethnic Estonian and Russian-speaking boys would consider values related to Openness to Change and Self-Enhancement more important than girls. Method Participants 575 early adolescents (57.5% girls and 86.4% Estonians) filled out the Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ; Schwartz et al., 2001) twice: in the beginning of 7th grade (mean age ¼ 13.02, SD ¼ .38) and in the beginning of 8th grade (mean age ¼ 14.04, SD ¼ .41). Scores on value domains were calculated according to the guidelines provided by Schwartz (2012). Based on these guidelines, the reliability coefficients of the PVQ indexes in the present study (see the notes of Table 1) were acceptable. Only the reliability of tradition values was low. This is due to religion being relatively unimportant in Estonia. Results As expected, the value hierarchy of early adolescents differs from that of the pan-cultural adult value hierarchy (Schwartz & Bardi, 2001). Adolescents pay more importance to hedonism and stimulation (7th and 8th in the pan-cultural hierarchy), and consider benevolence less important (see Table 1). Correlations between the two measurements of the ten values are all statistically significant, but not very strong (see Table 1). Respondents’ mean value rating scores and mean rankings for each of the ten values in 7th and 8th grade by cultural group are presented in Table 2 and Fig. 1, and by gender in Table 3 and Fig. 2. Table 1 Mean value scores in 7th and 8th grade and correlations between measurements. Value
Mean (SD) in 7th grade
Mean (SD) in 8th grade
Correlation between measurements
Hedonism Stimulation Benevolence Self-direction Universalism Achievement Security Conformity Tradition Power
.80 .66 .55 .41 .19 .13 .21 .67 .72 .97
.80 .57 .50 .52 .23 .15 .35 .65 .70 .90
.49*** .49*** .43*** .42*** .41*** .50*** .40*** .47*** .48*** .51***
(.86) (.86) (.71) (.77) (.68) (.80) (.83) (.86) (.92) (.89)
(.83) (.86) (.68) (.76) (.60) (.88) (.83) (.86) (.93) (.89)
Note. ***p < .001; the reliabilities of the ten indexes in 7th and 8th grade were .64 and .63 for hedonism, .55 and .59 for stimulation, .62 and .61 for benevolence, .46 and .45 for self-direction, .57 and .52 for universalism, .42 and .48 for security, .65 and .75 for achievement, .52 and .44 for conformity, .14 and .17 for tradition, and .52 and .60 for power.
T. Tulviste, A. Tamm / Journal of Adolescence 37 (2014) 525e529
527
Table 2 Mean ratings and rankings of the ten value types by culture. 7th Grade
8th Grade
Estonians
Hedonism Stimulation Benevolence Self-direction Universalism Security Achievement Conformity Tradition Power
Russian Estonians
Rank
M (SD)
Rank
M (SD)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
.77 .66 .58 .39 .20 .17 .17 .68 .70 .99
1 2 4 3 5 7 6 8 10 9
1.02 .63 .40 .60 .07 .45 .09 .64 .85 .86
(.85) (.86) (.69) (.77) (.65) (.81) (.85) (.85) (.89) (.87)
p
(.92) (.91) (.77) (.78) (.81) (.93) (.81) (.88) (1.08) (1.03)
Estonians
* * * ** *
Russian Estonians
Rank
M (SD)
Rank
M (SD)
1 2 3 4 5 7 6 8 9 10
.76 .55 .52 .49 .22 .29 .18 .64 .70 .89
1 2 4 3 5 9 6 7 8 10
1.02 .67 .35 .67 .31 .80 .00 .72 .75 .91
(.81) (.82) (.68) (.76) (.61) (.79) (.90) (.84) (.89) (.87)
(.89) (1.05) (.70) (.72) (.53) (.88) (.76) (.97) (1.14) (.99)
p
** *
***
Note. Value scores are centered around individual’s mean score on all 21 items; ***p < .001; **p < .01; *p < .05.
ANOVAs with mean value ratings at two waves as the repeated variable, and Gender and Culture (Estonians vs. Russian Estonians) as within-subject variables showed that self-direction, F(1, 565) ¼ 4.21, p ¼ .04, h2 ¼ .01 and universalism were considered more important, but security values less important, F(1, 565) ¼ 17.74, p < .001, h2 ¼ .03 in 8th grade than in 7th grade. There was a significant interaction of gender and culture on stimulation, F(1, 565) ¼ 6.59, p ¼ .01, h2 ¼ .01, due to the fact that the importance of stimulation decreased more for boys than girls. The order of importance of Schwartz values had stayed relatively stable over the course of one year. In 7th grade, ethnic Estonians valued benevolence, F(1, 573) ¼ 4.50, p ¼ .03, h2 ¼ .01 and security, F(1, 573) ¼ 7.59, p ¼ .006, h2 ¼ .01 more, and hedonism, F(1, 573) ¼ 5.71, p ¼ .02, h2 ¼ .01, self-direction, F(1, 573) ¼ 5.04, p ¼ .03, h2 ¼ .01, and achievement, F(1, 573) ¼ 6.18, p ¼ .01, h2 ¼ .01 less than Russian-Estonian adolescents. In 8th grade, Estonians valued benevolence, F(1, 573) ¼ 4.12, p ¼ .04, h2 ¼ .01 and security, F(1, 573) ¼ 27.06, p < .001, h2 ¼ .05 more, and hedonism, F(1, 573) ¼ 6.79, p ¼ .009, h2 ¼ .01 less than their Russian-speaking peers. In 7th grade, boys’ mean scores were higher than those of girls for power, F(1, 567) ¼ 22.17, p < .001, h2 ¼ .04 and conformity, F(1, 567) ¼ 4.57, p ¼ .03, h2 ¼ .01, and lower for benevolence, F(1, 567) ¼ 45.32, p < .001, h2 ¼ .07. Boys in 8th grade rated power, F(1, 567) ¼ 14.54, p < .001, h2 ¼ .03, conformity, F(1, 567) ¼ 8.48, p ¼ .004, h2 ¼ .01, and achievement, F(1, 548.78) ¼ 17.07, p < .001, h2 ¼ .03 higher, but hedonism, F(1, 567) ¼ 4.84, p ¼ .03, h2 ¼ .01, stimulation, F(1, 551.63) ¼ 13.24, p < .001, h2 ¼ .02, and benevolence, F(1, 567) ¼ 28.69, p < .001, h2 ¼ .05 lower than girls. Discussion The study found evidence that adolescents’ value priorities differ from those of adults, first of all, by attributing most importance to hedonism (8th in the pan-cultural value hierarchy, Bardi et al., 2009), and rating stimulation as the second important value (9th in the pan-cultural hierarchy). Benevolence e the value type that is on the top of the pan-cultural value hierarchy as well as in parental socialization values, shared the 3e4th places with self-direction. Conformity was on a lower place (8th) than it is in the pan-cultural hierarchy (5th). Since adolescence is marked as a time of self-discovery
1,00
Estonians Russian Estonians
Relative importance
0,50
0,00
-0,50
Power
Tradition
Security
Conformity
Achieveme
Universalism
Self-direction
Benevolence
Hedonism
Stimulation
-1,00
Fig. 1. The relative importance of Schwartz values for Estonian and Russian Estonian adolescents.
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T. Tulviste, A. Tamm / Journal of Adolescence 37 (2014) 525e529
Table 3 Mean ratings and rankings of the ten value types by gender. 7th Grade
8th Grade
Boys
Hedonism Stimulation Benevolence Self-direction Universalism Achievement Security Conformity Tradition Power
Girls
p
Boys
Girls
p
Rank
M (SD)
Rank
M (SD)
Rank
M (SD)
Rank
M (SD)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
.76 .59 .33 .38 .15 .10 .14 .58 .68 .77
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
.85 .72 .72 .44 .21 .17 .27 .74 .76 1.12
1 3 4 2 6 5 7 8 9 10
.71 .42 .32 .55 .18 .02 .31 .53 .74 .74
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 8 10
.87 .68 .63 .51 .27 .28 .40 .74 .67 1.02
(.89) (.82) (.68) (.81) (.73) (.79) (.82) (.88) (.88) (.90)
(.84) (.89) (.68) (.74) (.63) (.89) (.83) (.84) (.95) (.86)
***
* ***
(.86) (.78) (.63) (.78) (.59) (.81) (.79) (.84) (.91) (.89)
(.79) (.89) (.70) (.72) (.61) (.91) (.85) (.87) (.94) (.88)
* *** ***
*** ** ***
Note. Value scores are centered around individual’s mean score on all 21 items; ***p < .001; **p < .01; *p < .05.
1,00
Girls Boys
Relative importance
0,50
0,00
-0,50
Power
Tradition
Conformity
Security
Achievement
Universalism
Self-direction
Stimulation
Benevolence
Hedonism
-1,00
Fig. 2. The relative importance of Schwartz values for boys and girls.
and the need for autonomy from authorities, such value hierarchy might be typical of this special period of life. Nevertheless, it might also reflect changes in the current Estonian society toward prioritizing individualistic values (Tulviste et al., 2012, 2014). The findings show few differences in value priorities of preadolescents from the two social groups. As expected, Russian Estonians considered Self-Enhancement more important than Estonians. Contrary to our expectation, they also placed more importance on Openness to Change. In both years, Estonian adolescents rated benevolence and security higher than their Russian-speaking peers. Hedonism, however, was considered more important by Russian Estonians than by Estonians. Self-direction and achievement were of higher importance to Russian Estonians only in 7th grade. Value priorities of early adolescents from the two social groups do not thus differ as much as it has been shown in studies with youth and adults in Estonia (Lauristin & Vihalemm, 1997; Tulviste et al., 2014; Vihalemm & Kalmus, 2008). We found that the importance of benevolence and self-direction had increased and the importance of security decreased by the start of 8th grade. The present findings suggest that Russian Estonians’ value priorities become more similar to those of their Estonian peers during a one-year period. Both ethnic Estonian and Russian-speaking males consider Self-Enhancement more important than females. Gender differences were smaller than those found in previous studies with youth and adults in Estonia (Tulviste et al., 2014), but these differences did increase over the course of one year. Acknowledgments The study was supported by the grants from Ministry of Education and Research (Grant nr S10012), European Social Fund Program Eduko (via Archimedes Foundation, grant 30.2-4/549), and the Estonian Science Foundation (grant No. 9033).
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