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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 9, No. 3
Publication Date: March 25, 2022
DOI:10.14738/assrj.93.11971. Yongmei, H., & Jiangmin, Z. (2022). The Influence of Values on Adolescents' Problem Behavior. Advances in Social Sciences Research
Journal, 9(3). 118-124.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
The Influence of Values on Adolescents' Problem Behavior
Hou Yongmei
Department of Psychology
School of Humanity and Administration
Guangdong Medical University, Dongguan, Guangdong Province, China
Zheng Jiangmin
School of Biomedical Engineering
Guangdong Medical University, Dongguan, Guangdong Province, China
ABSTRACT
Objective: To explore the present status of adolescents' values and problem
behavior, and to analyze the impact of values on adolescents' problem behavior.
Methods A stratified random sampling was used to select 893 adolescents. They
were investigated with the Chinese Adolescent Values Questionnaire (CAVQ) and
the 2001-Chinese-Version of Youth Self-Report and Profile (YS R P-2001-CV).
Results (1) The scores of the two dimensions of fashion trend and enjoyment of
happiness of CAVQ were greater than 2.5 and less than 3.5, belonging to the middle
level. The scores of the other six dimensions of CAVQ were greater than 3.5,
belonging to high scores. (2) The scores of the two factors of YSRP-2001-CV were
less than 1.5, which belong to low scores. (3) Multiple linear stepwise regression
analysis showed that the scores of social equality and fashion trend positively
predicted the total score of YSRP-2001-CV (β=.297, .318, all P <.001). The scores of
collective orientation, discipline compliance, family affection, peer friendship and
surpassing and enterprising negatively predicted the total score of YSRP-2001-CV
(β=-.237 to -.408, all P <.001). Conclusion teenagers' values have not been
established, and their problem behavior is obvious. Values may be an important
influencing factor of teenagers' problem behavior.
Key words Adolescent, Values, Problem Behavior, Influencing Factors, Multiple Stepwise
Linear Regression
Adolescence is a high-risk period for problem behavior [1]. Adolescent problem behavior is
usually divided into internalized problems and externalized problems. Internalized problems
refer to some unpleasant or negative emotions experienced by teenagers, which are more
pointing to themselves, including depression, anxiety, withdrawal, etc. Externalized problems
refer to the behaviors leading to explicit and negative response to the external environment
due to insufficient control of individuals, which are usually in violation of moral and social
behavior norms, more pointing to the external environment or object, including attack,
discipline violation, etc. Teenagers' Internalized and externalized problems are the early
manifestation of various psychological and behavioral disorders, whith a great negative impact
on teenagers' physical and mental development [2-4].
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Yongmei, H., & Jiangmin, Z. (2022). The Influence of Values on Adolescents' Problem Behavior. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 9(3).
118-124.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.93.11971
Teenagers' problem behavior is the result of individuals' psychological state imbalance
gradually caused by multiple factors. On one hand, it is related to the impact of individuals'
ecological environment (including social and cultural atmosphere, family environment, school
management mode and peer groups). On the other hand, it is also affected by the important
changes of physiology, cognition, self-consciousness and sociality of adolescent [5]. Among
them, the role of values can not be ignored.
In the field of psychology, because researchers have different theoretical basis, research
methods and research angles, they can not reach a consensus on the definition of values. The
most widely recognized definition by academia is that determined by Schwartz and Bilsky:
Values are the concepts of faith, the ultimate state or behavior worth of (or doing). It transcends
specific situations, guiding people to evaluate or choose behaviors and events, and sort things
according to relative importance [6]. Therefore, values make people show "what they give up
for what" in their behavior choices. We can simply understand values as beliefs about "what is
more important than what" and "what is the most worthwhile". From the perspective of social
psychology, values are not only the individuals' choice tendency, but also the deep structure of
their attitudes and ideas dominating individuals' tendency to perceive and respond to the
world. Therefore, Education of values is one of the important means of individuals' behavior
guidance. At the same time, values are also the important basis for group identity - a shared
symbol system, so they are also an important group psychological phenomenon. Because the
formation and change of values strongly depend on the social and cultural environment and life
experience, under the background of social change, the values of individuals and groups will
change significantly. Therefore, values are also a social psychological sign of social change.
Many scholars believe that teenagers are in a critical period of gradual formation of values. Due
to the lack of life experience, immature judgment ability, and the influence of multiculturalism,
they are prone to alienation of values, resulting in various problem behaviors [7-10]. However,
relevant studies focus on the description and theoretical analysis of phenomena, and there are
few empirical studies.
Based on the above analysis, this study intends to use a large sample and multi center
questionnaire survey model to make an empirical study on the present status of teenagers'
values and its impact on problem behavior.
OBJECTS AND METHODS
Objects
One thousand adolescents were selected with a stratified random sampling from grade 7 to
grade 11 in Shenzhen, Qingyuan and Zhanjiang. A total of 893 valid questionnaires were
collected, with an effective rate of 89.3%. Among them, there were 461 boys and 432 girls; 206
in grade 7, 211 in grade 8, 166 in grade 9, 172 in grade 10 and 147 in grade 11; 256 in Shenzhen,
308 in Qingyuan and 329 in Zhanjiang.
Tools
The Chinese Adolescent Values Questionnaire, CAVQ
It is a self-report questionnaire, compiled by Wang Xiaofeng et al. (2018) [11]. CAVQ has 46
items, which are divided into the following 8 dimensions: social equality (SE), collective
orientation (CO), discipline compliance (DC), family affection (FA), peer friendship (PF),
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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 9, Issue 3, March-2022
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
surpassing and enterprising (SE), fashion trend (FT) and enjoyment of happiness (EH). Each
dimension represents a type of values. Likert 5-point scoring method is used to score from 1 to
5 points corresponding to “completely disagree” to “completely agree”. the higher the
dimension average score, the more individuals value this type of values. In this study, the
Cronbach α coefficient of each dimension is 0.75-0.86.
The Youth Self-Report and profile, Chinese-Version, YSRP-2001-CV
It is a self-report questionnaire, compiled by Achenbach and Edelbrock (2001) [12], and revised
by Wang Runcheng et al into Chinese version. (2013) [13]. The internalized and externalized
problem subscales of YSRP-2001-CV are used to measure the internalized and externalized
problem behavior of this group of adolescents. Internalized problem subscale (IP) includes 32
questions, which are divided into three dimensions: anxiety / depression, withdrawal /
depression and physical discomfort. Externalized problem subscale (EP) includes 30 questions,
which are divided into two dimensions: aggressive behavior and disciplinary behavior. Likert
3-point scoring method is used to score from 1 to 3 points corresponding to “non-conforming”
to “very conforming”. The higher the scores, the more problem behavior of teenagers. In this
study, The Cronbachα coefficient of the full scale is 0.82, and the Cronbach α coefficients of
internalized and externalized problem behavior are 0.74 and 0.78, respectively.
Data processing
SPSS 20.0 software is used for statistical analysis. The main statistical methods include
descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis.
RESULTS
General situation of adolescents' values and problem behavior
It can be seen from table 1 that the scores of two dimensions of fashion trend and enjoyment of
happiness in this group are greater than 2.5 and less than 3.5, belonging to the middle level
(Wang Xiaofeng et al, 2018), while scores of the other six dimensions of CAVQ are greater than
3.5, belonging to high scores (Wang Xiaofeng et al, 2018); The scores of two factors of YSRP- 2001-CV are less than 1.5, which belong to the low scores (Wang Runcheng et al, 2013).
Table 1 Descriptive Statistics of CAVQ and YSRP-2001-CV Scores (n=893)
Dimension N M SD MIN MAX
Social equality (SE) 893 4.23 .37 2.41 4.93
Collective orientation (CO) 893 3.88 .41 3.00 4.81
Discipline compliance (DC) 893 4.11 .41 3.09 5.00
Family affection (FA) 893 4.07 .39 3.14 4.88
Peer friendship (PF) 893 3.93 .47 2.81 4.90
Surpassing and enterprising (SE) 893 3.89 .51 2.66 5.00
Fashion trend (FT) 893 2.97 .73 1.46 4.67
Enjoyment of happiness (EH) 893 3.38 .81 1.39 4.96
Internalized problem behavior (IP) 893 1.37 .56 .31 2.63
Externalized problem behavior (EP) 893 .90 .66 .00 2.41
Total score of YSRP-2001-CV 893 2.26 .61 .40 2.72