Values and value orientations of adolescents: Hierarchy and correlation with attitudes and behaviours

This work aimed to establish the hierarchy of values of adolescents and the possibilities of interpreting attitudes and behaviours based on value orientations. The examination took place in 1998 and 2 823 adolescents participated comprising a representative sample of high school students of the Republic of Croatia in 1998. Two scales of values were used: the Scale of ranking values, and the Scale of value orientations operationalising conventional, self-realising and hedonist orientations. The attitudes analysed were the evaluation of factors responsible for success in life and social responsibility, while the behaviours analysed were ways of spending free time and substance abuse. In the adolescents' hierarchy of values the greatest importance is given to values from the group of self-realising values and the least to values from the hedonist group. Regression analyses and control of the contribution of sociodemographic variables indicate a significant possibility of interpreting analysed attitudes and behaviours on the basis of value orientations, whereas a better explanation of attitudes than behaviours has been achieved. The direction and relative size of the predictive contribution of a particular value orientation differ for certain attitudes and behaviours. Based on the results of regression analyses and a conditional distribution of analysed attitudes and behaviours to "socially desirable" and "socially undesirable" outcomes of socialisation, conventional orientation in the context of analysed outcomes appears as a protective factor of socialisation in opposition to the hedonist orientation which is revealed as a risky value orientation.