Life values of Finnish adolescents and their beliefs about the values of peers and adults

In the context of a longitudinal developmental study, 182 girls and boys (90 from Helsinki, 92 from North Karelia) were asked, at the ages of 15 and 18, about their life values and their beliefs about the values of their peers and of adults. The pattern of their own values, which were mainly concerned with human relations, self-actualization, and economic matters (at 15) or health (at 18), differed from those they believed to be characteristic of their peers and, especially, of adults. At 15, peers were often seen to value social success and to be comparatively tough; adults were considered to be oriented towards economic values. The differences between own values and beliefs about the values of others are discussed with reference to the pattern of communication between adolescents and their peers and adults; experienced expectations of peer groups; and adolescents' motivation to grow up into an adult world the (judged) values of which they only partly share.