Interplay between Subjective Wellbeing and Personality Values’ Becoming

Abstract

This paper investigated relations of personality values and subjective well-being. We examined how values influence life satisfaction of 234 Macedonian and 230 Ukrainian young adults who provided data on personality values (PVQ, Schwartz, 1994) and life satisfaction (Diener et al., 1985). Hypothesized direct relations of types of values to well-being based on “healthy” (self-direction, stimulation, achievement, benevolence, universalism) and “unhealthy” (power, security, conformity, tradition) values were tested in each sample. Results showed that a) Ukrainians compared to their Macedonian peers reported higher scores on all values except for power; b) conformity and security values correlated with well-being, as predicted, but only in the Macedonian sample. Results partly supported our hypotheses regarding the values conducive to well-being among students in both countries. Findings are discussed in terms of values’ influence for well-being of youth in Macedonian and Ukrainian contexts.