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

We examined patterns of change and stability in the whole set of 10 Schwartz values over 2 years during early adolescence.

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.

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.

Results are discussed and related to earlier findings on patterns and magnitude of value change during other periods of the life span.