Integrating Traits and Values in Adolescent Personality: Two Developmental Studies

• In Event: Values and Behaviors: A Developmental Perspective on the Origins of Character

Abstract

Traits and values are, respectively, the behavioral and motivational aspects of personality. Traits, “dimensions of individual differences in tendencies to show consistent patterns of thoughts, feelings and actions” (McCrae & Costa, 1990), describe what people do. Values, desirable, abstract goals, serving as guiding principles for behavior (Schwartz, 1992), describe why people act as they do. Despite their differences, traits (e.g., Agreeableness) correlate systematically with values (e.g., Benevolence) (Fischer & Boer, 2015). In longitudinal research, although there was support for bidirectionality, adults’ traits predicted values more strongly than vice-versa (Fetvadjiev & He, 2019; Vecchione et al., 2019). However, less is known about the developmental processes leading to these associations, especially in the transitional period of early adolescence, and on the origins of the value-trait association (VTA).
Our first objective was to study the VTA through adolescence. Early adolescence is characterized by substantial personality change, followed by increased stabilization (Klimstra et al, 2009; Roberts & DelVecchio, 2000). Thus, our second objective was to study the hypothesis that values and traits become increasingly aligned and integrated during adolescence. Our third objective addressed the origins of the VTA. Both traits and values have been shown to be partially heritable ( Vukasović & Bratko, 2015; Twito & Knafo-Noam, 2020). We therefore investigated genetic and environmental contributions to the VTA.
In Study 1, 298 adolescents (ages 13-18), children of members of an online panel study, participated. In Study 2, 426 Monozygotic and dizygotic Israeli twin pairs participated at age 11, 13, 15. Adolescents rated their traits with the Big-Five Inventory (John et al., 1991), and their values with the Portrait Values Questionnaire (Schwartz & Rubel, 2005).
Based on meta-analyses and theoretical considerations, we proposed a set of 24 hypotheses for the 5 traits X 10 values possible correlations. All but one hypothesized effects were supported at least once. Study 1 supported 83% of the hypothesized correlations, and Study 2 did so for 71%. (Figure 1)
Our second objective was to test the hypothesized increase with age in the VTA. Our results support the hypothesis; in both studies, the proportion of variance shared between values and traits increased with age, with a more meaningful increase from age 11 to 13 than from age 13 to 15. (Figure 2)
Finally, we investigated genetic and environmental contributions to the VTA. To estimate the VTA as an individual-differences variable, we developed a new measure in which traits and values were mapped to the set of hypothesized correlations. For each trait, a fit score was computed based on the expected VTA (e.g., being high on both Benevolence and Agreeableness, OR being low on both, indicated fit). Aggregated across traits, the VTA correlated more strongly in monozygotic twins, r=.38, than in dizygotic twins, r=.04, indicating a non-additive genetic contribution accounting for about 30% of the variance. The remaining variance was accounted for by the non-shared environment and error.
The results point to a dynamic process, driven by genetics, the environment and development, in which traits and values are increasingly integrated during adolescence.

Authors

• Ariel Knafo-Noam, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
  Presenting Author

• Dana Katsoty, Hebrew University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Noam Markovitch, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lior Abramson, Columbia University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Louise Twito, Hebrew University
  Non-Presenting Author