Abstract
Do schools influence the values of the students who attend them? This study examines the influence of parents, peer groups, teachers and the schools on student values as assessed by the Schwartz Value Survey. A sample of students at Grade 12 was chosen from 11 South Australian secondary schools of a wide variety of types, and the students, their parents and their teachers completed the Value Survey, and students also provided sociodemographic information. The data were analysed using the HLM multilevel analysis program with respect to the four higher order value components, namely self-transcendence, self-enhancement, conservation and openness to change in order to identify student level and school level effects on the values held by the students. Results showed that sex of student, language background, the Christian involvement of the student, parental social position and the values held by parents and peer groups had much greater effects upon the students' values than the schools and their teachers. Further research involving a larger number of schools in a wider variety of settings is suggested to build on this exploratory study.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alwin, Duane F. (1989). Social stratification work and parental socialisation values. In N. Eisenberg, J. Reykowski & J. Staub (Eds.), Social and moral values. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum; pp. 327-346.
Astill, Brian R. (1998a). Influences on the social values of Year 12 students: A South Australian study. Unpublished Doctoral Thesis, The Flinders University of South Australia, Adelaide.
Astill, Brian R. (1998b). Yes! Christians ARE different: but are their schools? Journal of Christian Education 41(2), 27-44.
Bryk, Anthony S. & Raudenbush, Stephen W. (1992). Hierarchical linear models: Applications and data analysis. California: Sage.
Cronbach, Lee J. & Webb, Noreen (1975). Behaviour and within-class effects in a repeated aptitude-treatment interaction: Reanalysis of a study by G.L Anderson. Journal of Educational Psychology, 67(6), 717-724.
Feather, Norman T. (1975). Values in education in society. New York: Free Press.
Feather, Norman T. (1980). Values in adolescence. In J. Adelson (Ed.), Handbook of adolescent psychology. New York: Wiley.
Feather, Norman T. (1995). Values, valences, and choice: The influence of values on the perceived attractiveness and choice of alternatives. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 1135-1151.
Feather, Norman T. (1998). Reactions to penalties for offenses committed by the police and public citizens: Testing a socio-cognitive process model of retributive justice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 528-544.
Feather, Norman T. (1999). Values, achievement, and justice: Studies in the psychology of deservingness. New York: Kluwer/Plenum Press.
Guttman, Louis (1968). A general nonmetric technique for finding the smallest coordinate space for a configuration of points. Psychometrika, 33, 469-506.
Kohn, Melvin L. (1977). Class & conformity (2nd edn.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Robinson, W.S. (1950). Ecological correlations and the behavior of individuals. American Sociological Review, 15, 351-357.
Rohan, Meg J. & Zanna, Mark P. (1994). Value transmission in families. In C. Seligman, J.M. Olson & M.P. Zanna (Eds.), The psychology of values: The Ontario symposium (Vol. 8). Mahwah NJ: Erlbaum.
Rokeach, Milton (1973). The nature of human values. New York: Free Press.
Schwartz, Shalom (1992). Universals in the structure and content of values: Theoretical advances and empirical tests in 20 countries. In M. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 25). New York: Academic Press, pp. 1-65.
Schwartz, Shalom (1994). Are there universal aspects in the structure and contents of human values? Journal of Social Issues, 50(4), 19-45.
Shye, Samuel (1985). Smallest space analysis. In T. Husen & T.N. Postlethwaite (Eds.), International encyclopaedia of education. Oxford: Pergammon Press.
Thiele, Colin (1975). Grains of mustard seed. Adelaide: South Australian Department of Education.
Willis, Paul (1977). Learning to labour. Aldershot: Gower.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Astill, B.R., Feather, N.T. & Keeves, J.P. A Multilevel Analysis of the Effects of Parents, Teachers and Schools on Student Values. Social Psychology of Education 5, 345–363 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020982517173
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020982517173