Content and Structure of Values in Middle Adolescence: Evidence From Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Australia

Abstract

Schwartz’s theory of the content and structure of human values has been validated mostly with adult (teacher and university student) samples. The present study examines the content and structure of values of middle adolescents in Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Australia. The 40-item version of the Portrait Values Questionnaire was administered to 230 adolescents in each country (total N = 920; boys and girls were equal) and smallest space analysis was performed. Consistent with theory, the 10 first-order values and the four second-order values, organized in two bipolar dimensions, were identified in all samples. In support of the developmentally modified value model for young people, there was some evidence for the periphery of power to achievement. Interestingly, the location of benevolence and universalism were reversed across all cultural groups, and tradition values separated into self-restriction and faith. Overall, the findings support the claim that Schwartz’s theory of values is neither restricted to adults nor solely based on a particular instrument and is generalizable across diverse national contexts.

Describing the values of Filipino adolescents: a comparison with pan-cultural norms

“…The regression weights for all ten factors were significant, with standardised regression weights ranging from 0.53 to 0.95. Similar to Liem et al (2011;see also Schwartz, 2005), the ten subscales that measured each of the ten value types had acceptable reliability coefficients except for the four-item Tradition subscale (see Table 1). Table 1 presents the mean ratings and rankings of the ten value types for both the Filipino adolescents and the pancultural student norms.…”

“…Exemplars of this cross-cultural approach go beyond interpreting value structures and hierarchies in isolation and afford a meaningful interpretation of the cultural-distinctiveness or culturalsimilarity of such value priorities. As demonstrated by Liem, Martin, Nair, Bernardo and Prasetya (2011), for instance, adolescents from four countries with diverse backgrounds share a strikingly similar pattern of value configuration. Aside from the establishment of similar value configurations across cultures, the etic perspective also allows for cross-cultural comparison of value priorities and also comparisons with pan-cultural norms (Schwartz & Bardi, 2001).…”

“…As the present study focuses on describing the value profile of Filipino adolescents using Schwartz's values theory, it is important to note that the theory has been validated in diverse samples of adolescents from countries such as Germany (e.g., Bubeck & Bilsky, 2004), Chile and Portugal (e.g., Bilsky, Niemann, Schmitz & Rose, 2005), South Africa (e.g., ; Study 2), Uganda (e.g., ; Study 3), China and Indonesia (Liem et al, 2012;Liem & Nie, 2008), Singapore, Australia and the Philippines (e.g., Liem et al, 2011). Most of these studies have focused on confirming the theory's value structure (i.e., whether the ten value types were positioned in the same space within the circular model, similar to the proposition of the original theory).…”

Development of the Brief Personal Values Inventory for Sense of Values

“…Item GS is additionally created to adequately represent the adolescent value of AC. AC is concerned with superiority in one's everyday situations (Liem, Martin, Nair, Bernardo, & Prasetya, 2011;Schwartz, 2005). Academic AC, such as graduating from a prestigious school, is generally considered valuable for students in Japan because one's choice of school has life-changing effects.…”

Integration of Schwartz's value theory and Scheler's concept of value in research on the development of the structure of values during adolescence

“…In the conducted analyses, however, Cieciuch (2009) concentrated more on the distinguishability of the types than on the circle structure because confirmatory factor analysis was used. However, multidimensional scaling testing the circle structure of values during middle adolescence was used by Liem, Martin, Nair, Bernardo, Prasetya (2011). In studies conducted in the Philippines, Indonesia and Australia it turned out that already in middle adolescence the circle value structure is formed with the theoretically supposed layout of four higher order values, although not always with a clearly formed 10 values types.…”