Assignment of personal values among adolescents

Two groups of adolescents (N = 357) consisting of 212 tenth-grade students and 145 ninth-grade students were administered the Rokeach Value Survey (1960) to determine how adolescents identify with traditional values and with those values containing concrete or abstract components. The subjects ranked 18 terminal values according to their importance. Values that can be experienced to some extent by adolescents were ranked highest by both groups, but social values that seemed abstract or impersonal were ranked lower by both groups. Values dealing with the inner self were ranked higher by the 10th-grade group. Ninth-graders' modality for idealism seemed to influence their views of values such as a world of peace and pleasure. Tenth-graders' greater socialization toward adult roles seemed to influence their views of values relating to future events.