Brief report: Value priorities of early adolescents

Abstract

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, Hoffmann-Towfigh, & 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 Self-Enhancement more important than girls. More value change was observable in Russian-speaking students, and boys.