Stability and change of basic personal values in early adolescence: A 2-year longitudinal study

Michele Vecchione*, Shalom H. Schwartz, Eldad Davidov, Jan Cieciuch, Guido Alessandri, Gilda Marsicano

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

56 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objective: We examined patterns of change and stability in the whole set of 10 Schwartz values over 2 years during early adolescence. Method: Participants completed the Portrait Values Questionnaire repeatedly throughout the junior high school years. The study involved six waves of data and a total of 382 respondents aged 10 years at the first measurement occasion (43% female). We investigated multiple types of stability in the values: mean-level, rank-order, and ipsative stability. Results: At the mean-level, self-enhancement, and Openness to change values increased in importance. Self-direction and hedonism values showed the greatest increase—about one-third of a standard deviation. Conservation and self-transcendence values did not change with the exception of tradition, which decreased slightly. After correcting for measurement error, rank-order stability coefficients ranged from.39 (hedonism) to.77 (power). Correlations between value hierarchies measured 2 years apart were ≥.85 for 75% of respondents, and ≤.12 for 5% of the respondents. Thus only a small proportion of participants experienced a marked change in the relative importance they ascribed to the 10 values. Conclusions: Results are discussed and related to earlier findings on patterns and magnitude of value change during other periods of the life span.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)447-463
Number of pages17
JournalJournal of Personality
Volume88
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jun 2020

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Keywords

  • early adolescence
  • Schwartz's theory of basic human values
  • stability
  • value change

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