Values and adolescents' self‐esteem: The role of value content and congruence with classmates

Abstract

The study examined the relations between adolescents' self-esteem and two aspects of values: content and congruence with classmates. Using a large sample of Israeli adolescents (N = 1,683; M age = 14.36, SD = 2.24, range = 11-18, 54.31% females), we found that self-esteem related negatively to self-enhancement values and positively to conservation values using zero order correlations. Multilevel polynomial regressions, controlling for demographic differences, found significant quadratic associations of self-esteem with self-enhancement, self-transcendence, openness-tochange, and conservation values. Furthermore, using Response Surface Analyses, it was found that adolescents who were congruent with their classmates' self-enhancement and self-transcendence values showed the highest levels of self-esteem. The findings point to the importance of social context for the relations between values and self-esteem among adolescents. K E Y W O R D S adolescence, polynomial-regression, response surface analysis, self-esteem, values, valuescongruence, values-fit How to cite this article: Benish-Weisman M, Daniel E, McDonald KL. Values and adolescents' self-esteem: The role of value content and congruence with classmates. Eur J Soc Psychol. 2020;50:207-223. https ://doi.

The Contribution of Peer Values to Children’s Values and Behavior

“…Our findings stress the importance of considering peers as a significant reference group (Benish-Weisman et al, 2019). Beyond consideration of peer influences at the class level, it is also important to take into account the specific social relations within the class (e.g., gender-segregated interactions), which provides a more accurate and nuanced depiction of peer influences.…”

“…Whereas the relationships between values and behavior have been extensively demonstrated among adults (for a review, see Roccas & Sagiv, 2017), only recently has evidence begun to accumulate about these relationships among children. For example, values have been shown to predict children’s prosocial behavior (Abramson et al, 2018; Benish-Weisman et al, 2019) and aggression (Benish-Weisman, 2015, 2019; Benish-Weisman & McDonald, 2015; Daniel et al, 2020). In other research, among primary and secondary school children, the four basic value dimensions (i.e., self-enhancement, self-transcendence, openness to change, and conservation) have been linked with corresponding school-related behaviors (i.e., achievement-oriented, supporting, learning, and disciplined; Berson & Oreg, 2016).…”

Revisiting Values and Self-Esteem: A Large-Scale Study in the United States

“…However, the extent to which these findings from an adolescent sample generalize to adults is unclear because values can differ between adolescents and adults (L€ onnqvist et al, 2009). In addition to the generalizability issue, the two existing studies (Benish-Weisman et al, 2020;Du et al, 2019) have methodological limitations, despite improving on traditional approaches. Specifically, both studies used Response Surface Analysis (RSA; Barranti et al, 2017; to test the effects of value congruence.…”

Measured and manipulated effects of value similarity on prejudice and well-being

“…Similarities in human values between individuals are an important factor in predicting and shaping a range of outcomes, including well-being (Khaptsova & Schwartz, 2016;Musiol & Boehnke, 2013;Sagiv & Schwartz, 2000;Zenker et al, 2014), job satisfaction (Kristof-Brown et al, 2005;Verplanken, 2004), relationship satisfaction (Leikas et al, 2018), self-esteem (Benish-Weisman et al, 2019), national pride (Du et al, 2019), and prejudice (symbolic racism theory, Kinder & Sears, 1981;McConahay et al, 1981; integrated-threat theory, Stephan et al, 1999; see also: Allport, 1954;Merton, 1957;Parsons et al, 1951). This importance is in line with suggestions that human values are among the most fundamental psychological constructs because of their function as life-guiding principles that are central to individuals' self-concept (Maio, 2016;Rokeach, 1973;Schwartz, 1992;Verplanken & Holland, 2002).…”