The Structure of Values during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, people faced risks to their lives and health, concern for their loved ones, and restrictions that worsened their quality of life, so it is acceptable to assume that their values’ structure could change at the individual and group levels. The purpose of the study was a comparative analysis of the values’ structure of young people and middleaged people at different stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. To measure the value profile, the Sh. Schwartz questionnaire (PVQ-R) was used. Respondents filled it out in two stages. In the first stage, the questionnaire was filled out using the “retrospective assessment” method, that is, respondents were asked to recall their condition “before the pandemic” (measurement 1) and “at the first wave” (in April 2020, measurement 2). At the second stage, they were asked to assess their current state after the “second wave”, when vaccination was spreading (JanuaryMarch 2021, measurement 3). The study involved 108 respondents (86 women, and 22 men) aged 18 to 59 years. Generalized group value profiles of three measurements were compared. All values from the groups “Openness to change”, “Self-Affirmation” and “Universalism” had a “down-up” dynamic: they decreased during the “first wave” and increased with the weakening of the threat. For conservative values, the dynamics were the opposite of “up-down”, that is, during severe stress, the desire for social stability, compliance with rules, obligations, traditions increased, which performed a protective function. The values of an individual character decreased when a person felt a threat to his habitual existence. The stability of the value system was also revealed: when the danger decreased, the value preferences returned to their original state. For age and gender differences, it was found that the structure of values in women and young respondents is more “mobile”, compared with men and middle-aged respondents, respectively.