Basic personal values in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy: A two-wave longitudinal study

Abstract

This study investigated value change during two phases of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, one of the most affected countries in the world. The first wave of data was collected in summer 2020, when the virus was on the retreat. The second wave was collected in autumn, at the peak of the second pandemic wave (November 2020). We investigated how Schwartz’s higher-order values changed over the two waves of the study, using economic condition as a predictor of change. We also examined whether value change predicted subsequent value-expressive behavior. Results showed no mean-level change for self-enhancement, self-transcendence, conservation, and openness to change values, but significant interindividual differences in the amount of change for each of the four values. Economic condition emerged as a significant predictor of change in conservation values: Individuals with a decreasing income since the beginning of the pandemic were more likely to increase the importance assigned to these values with respect to individuals whose economic well-being has remained unchanged. Moreover, an increase in conservation and openness to change values predicted behaviors that are mostly expressive of these values, above and beyond value importance at Time 1. Results and their implications for the study of values are discussed.

Influence of Cognitive Factors on Adherence to Social Distancing and the Use of Masks during the COVID-19 Pandemic by Young Adults: A Systematic Review

“…Regarding political orientation, a comprehensive review by Shushtari et al (2021) shows that political inclinations influenced mask-wearing, with Democrats more likely to use it than Republicans. Relating to personal values, there are several studies (e.g., Bonetto et al 2021;Vecchione 2022) that analyze the relationship between these and prevention behaviors; however, most use the Portrait Values Questionnaire, and therefore comparisons with the moral values of Hunt et al (2022) study are not feasible. Some limitations must be considered regarding the present systematic review.…”

“…There is evidence that other cognitive factors influence adherence to norms and rules. Among those factors, the role of "personal values" has been addressed during COVID-19, mainly: conservation, self-enhancement, openness-to-change values (Bonetto et al 2021;Daniel et al 2022;Potocan and Nedelko 2023;Vecchione 2022), self-transcendence (Daniel et al 2022;Vecchione 2022), religious belief, government satisfaction, and individual freedom (Lyu et al 2022). Also "age" has been studied as a determinant of adherence with COVID-19 public health preventive measures, with young adults identified as a group with low adherence to COVID-19 protective behaviors (WHO 2022).…”

Shifts in Emancipative Values during Times of Crises: Longitudinal Evidence from the Covid-19 Pandemic in Russia

“…Against this backdrop, the COVID-19 pandemic allows us to study how a large-scale social and economic shock affects the prevalence of emancipative values on both the societal and the individual levels. Some recent studies observed a decline in emancipative orientations (Akaliyski et al, 2023), an significant rise of institutional trust Reeskens et al, 2021), and specifically of confidence in political authority (Foa & Welzel, 2023), an increase in conservation values (Bojanowska et al, 2021;Daniel et al, 2022;Vecchione, 2022), and a decrease in Schwartz's openness to change and self-transcendence values 2 (Bonetto et al, 2021;Daniel et al, 2022) during the pandemic. Based on this, we expect that the pandemic led to a decrease in the average prevalence of emancipative values in Russia, and personal negative experience during the pandemic could lead to a decline in individual support for emancipative value orientations among the Russian population.…”

Changes in value priorities due to the COVID-19 pandemic—A 4-year cross-sectional study with German students

“…Initial studies suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic, as an extreme event, shifts individuals' value systems [12][13][14][15][16]. All studies claim they cannot generalize their implications as they focus on people from a specific country, and the pandemic hit countries differently.…”

“…All studies claim they cannot generalize their implications as they focus on people from a specific country, and the pandemic hit countries differently. More data is needed to better understand the changes in individuals' value systems caused by the pandemic, better assess discrepancies between study results, and draw firm conclusions [16]. Existing studies recommend looking at other countries, a longer period before and after the outbreak of the pandemic [13], and using other data collection methods such as reports on social values [14] or the lexical analysis of texts in newspapers [17].…”