Relationship Between Values and Career Orientations in Modern Adolescents

Abstract

The article explores the relationship between values and orientations of the digital generation. The psychodiagnostic survey was conducted in 2018 on a sample of 120 subjects aged 15—16 years. We used Edgar Schein’s Career Anchors questionnaire and Shalom Schwartz’s Value Survey. Our hypothesis was that the dominant values (both social and personal) are interrelated with the leading career orientations of adolescents. Basing on the obtained results we conclude that the prevailing values of the digital generation (both social and personal) are “preservation” and “care for others”. The leading career orientations of adolescents are “service”, “autonomy” and “integration of lifestyles”. The desire for professional competence, autonomy in career, invention and management are connected, first of all, with hedonistic values. At the same time, such social values as “care for one's immediate environment” and “willingness to experience the depth of emotion” are peripheral. There is a discrepancy in the established links between career orientations and values (both social and personal): the same career orientations are caused by different values. It can be explained as follows: (i) adolescents’ perception of their actions contradicts their own behavior; (ii) the digital generation is under pressure to pursue the values reinforced by the reference groups and traditions.

Keywords

• adolescent
• values