Dynamics in the Basic Individual Values at Bulgarian Students in Emerging Adulthood – 18-29 Years

Abstract

A comparison of data from three empirical surveys, carried out in 1995, 2005 and 2015 with SVS (Schwartz Value Survey; Schwartz, 1992) among 18-29 year-old students, is presented in the article. The aim of the study is to trace out the dynamics of the significance and hierarchy of basic individual values among emerging adults, which is insufficiently analyzed problem in the psychological literature. The results reveal that in the studied 20-year period, individual and collective values both increase their significance. The priorities of the values remain stable in time, but they become more ambivalent – security and conformity joined self-direction at the categories of values and conservatism joined openness to change and self-transcendence at the poles of the dimensions of values. The collective interests prevail over individual ones, as a result of the intensive growth of some collective values such as conformity and conservatism in 2015. This study raises some questions related to the specificity of value models in this age group and their change in post-totalitarian context.

Language: Bulgarian