Document Type
Article
Version
Author's Final Manuscript
Publication Title
International Journal of Psychology
Volume
52
Publication Date
2-2017
Abstract
The Great Recession's influence on American undergraduate students' values was examined, testing Greenfield's and Kasser's theories concerning value development during economic downturns. Study 1 utilised aggregate-level data to investigate (a) population-level value changes between the pre-recession (2004–2006: n = 824,603) and recession freshman cohort (2008–2010: n = 662,262) and (b) overall associations of population-level values with national economic climates over long-term periods by correlating unemployment rates and concurrent aggregate-level values across 1966–2015 (n = 10 million). Study 2 examined individual-level longitudinal value development from freshman to senior year, and whether the developmental trajectories differed between those who completed undergraduate education before the Great Recession (freshmen in 2002, n = 12,792) versus those who encountered the Great Recession during undergraduate years (freshmen in 2006, n = 13,358). Results suggest American undergraduate students' increased communitarianism (supporting Greenfield) and materialism (supporting Kasser) during the Great Recession. The recession also appears to have slowed university students' development of positive self-views. Results contribute to the limited literature on the Great Recession's influence on young people's values. They also offer theoretical and practical implications, as values of this privileged group of young adults are important shapers of societal values, decisions, and policies.
Publisher's Statement
Copyright 2017 Wiley. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Park, Heejung, Twenge, Jean M., and Greenfield, Patricia M. 2017. American undergraduate students' value development during the Great Recession. International Journal of Psychology 52.1:28-39, which has been published in final form at http://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.12410. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.
Citation
Park, Heejung, Twenge, Jean M., and Greenfield, Patricia M. 2017. American undergraduate students' value development during the Great Recession. International Journal of Psychology 52.1:28-39.
DOI
http://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.12410