Current and Historical Antecedents of Individual Value Differences Across 195 Regions in Europe

Abstract

This study analyzes differences on two value dimensions, conservation and self-enhancement, at both the individual and regional level across Europe. Within-country regions represent “cultunits” that often have belonged to different nation-states in history. Eight antecedent variables are explored. At the regional level, the variables include historical sociopolitical context, recent sociopolitical context, regional affluence, and main religion of the region; at the individual level, they feature religiousness, education, gender, and age cohort. The largest effects for region are associated with Gross Domestic Product, including differences between former Communist and non-Communist regions. Hardly any effects pertain to more distant history. At the individual level, there are substantial differences across age cohorts and effects of education, religiosity, and gender. Interactions between region- and individual-level conditions suggest people’s values are shaped in their youth; the largest differences mark cohorts in Central and Western Europe who were raised during the Cold War.

Development of the Brief Personal Values Inventory for Sense of Values

“…In the adolescent group, item GS ("To graduate from a prestigious school"), showed clustered correlations with all values in the higherorder values of self-enhancement and adjacent values in the higher-order value of conservation, whereas in the adult group, correlated only with two values: POR and FAC. This difference may be due to the fact that adolescents prioritize item GS more, as observed in our study, as well as the higher-order value of selfenhancement as reported in previous studies (van Herk & Poortinga, 2012;Schwartz et al, 2001;Tulviste et al, 2017). Stronger correlations of item GS with AC and its adjacent values only in the adolescent group support our hypothesis that the item is associated with the value of AC, especially for adolescents.…”

“…Considering the scattered correlation found in the adolescent group, the results suggest adolescents may not fully establish a sense of values in themselves, possibly resulting in relatively unclear distinctions. Indeed, previous findings report that the higherorder values of conservation and selftranscendence are prioritized more as age increases (van Herk & Poortinga, 2012;Tulviste et al, 2017).…”

“…Some items were created based on Schwartz's refined theory of 19 basic values: beliefs (B; based on self-direction-thought [SDT] in 19 basic values), interest (I; self-direction-action [SDA]), social influence (SI; power-dominance [POD]), and financial success (FS; powerresources [PDR]). These items are in the higher-order values of openness to change and self-enhancement that are prioritized more by younger generations than adults (van Herk & Poortinga, 2012;Schwartz et al, 2001;Tulviste, Kall, & Rammer, 2017). Since the main focus of our research is on the developmental pathway of sense of values from adolescence to adulthood, the refined values were adopted to generate more detailed research results.…”

A Meta-analysis of Basic Human Values in Brazil: Observed differences within the country

“…Yet, due to this limitation regarding the sample distribution of the present study, such interpretations deserve to be more carefully investigated. Further studies could also employ more systematic historical and economic analyses to determine the origins of these value differences (van Herk & Poortinga, 2012).…”

Translating Dispositional Resistance to Change to the Culture Level: Developing A Cultural Framework of Change Orientations

“…Indeed, many studies have looked into the possibility that over time, ecological changes influence societies' cultural orientations, thus focusing on the impact of ecological change on culture (e.g. Chiu et al, 2011;Grossmann & Varnum, 2015;Inglehart, 1997;Oishi & Graham, 2010;van Herk & Poortinga, 2012). It is therefore likely that while a society's change orientation contributes to ecological changes, it is also influenced by them.…”