Value Stability and Change in an ISAF Contingent

Abstract

Studying an International Security Assistance Force contingent on tour in Afghanistan, the aim of the present study was to test assertions of the relative stability of personal values in a challenging environment. Three hundred twenty Swedish soldiers answered questionnaires on their values before and after a 6-month tour of Afghanistan. Value change and stability were studied via mean-level change, rank-order stability, and individual-level change methods. Regression analysis was used to study the impact of combat exposure and personality traits on change. The analysis concluded that even when experiencing such a different social context as a military mission to Afghanistan, the soldiers' values remained stable. Some minor changes occurred, in a pattern similar to a regression toward the mean. It was also shown that combat exposure--to a minor extent--predicted changes in values, whereas Big Five scores yielded stronger effects. The present findings suggest that the assertion of the stability of values is a well-founded proposition, even after radical changes in environment. However, the findings on the effects of combat exposure point to the possibility of severe life events having the power to exert change in values. Personality traits were, however, more important factors in the present context.

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

“…Adapting to such events often requires reorganizing one's value priorities (Bardi & Goodwin, ; Bardi et al, ). Systematic attempts to link life events to change in value hierarchies, however, are lacking (see Sundberg, , for an exception). This is an important topic for future research.…”

“…Earlier research on values commonly analyzed mean‐level change and rank‐order stability (e.g., Bardi et al, ; Cieciuch et al, ; Hofmann‐Towfigh, ; Milfont et al, ; Schwartz, ; Vecchione, Caprara, Dentale, & Schwartz, ). The profile stability of values, however, has rarely been studied (Sundberg, ; Vecchione, Schwartz, et al, ), and never in samples of children. Yet, as Vecchione, Schwartz, et al () argue, changes within the value hierarchy/profile of individuals may have significant implications.…”

Development of Self-Directedness and Cooperativeness in Relation to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Trajectories After Military Deployment

“…In line with our findings, a recent Swedish study reported that personal values also remained relatively stable after participating in a six-month military deployment to Afghanistan. 46 In contrast, previous studies have shown that experiencing serious adverse life events is associated with increases in neuroticism and decreases in agreeableness and openness. 26,27,47 They suggest that these changes were not rooted in preexposure personality but emerged as a result of exposure to trauma.…”

Remnants of Communism and Present-Day Inequality

“…Though there is a need to change one’s values as a function of life-changing events (e.g., Vecchione et al, 2016), research has demonstrated that value preferences are comparably stable over time (Bardi et al, 2014). And to the extent that value change occurs, it tends to change slowly and not in any radical fashion (Sundberg, 2016; Vecchione et al, 2020). Though the transition away from communism to democracy may have called for an adaptation of some values; notably, Inglehart and Welzel (2010) argued that the transition to democracy was motivated more by a desire for social freedom than anything else.…”