Values and adolescents' self‐esteem: The role of value content and congruence with classmates

Abstract The study examined the relations between adolescents’ self‐esteem and two aspects of values: content and congruence with classmates. Using a large sample of Israeli adolescents ( N = 1,683; M age = 14.36, SD = 2.24, range = 11–18, 54.31% females), we found that self‐esteem related negatively to self‐enhancement values and positively to conservation values using zero order correlations. Multilevel polynomial regressions, controlling for demographic differences, found significant quadratic associations of self‐esteem with self‐enhancement, self‐transcendence, openness‐to‐change, and conservation values. Furthermore, using Response Surface Analyses, it was found that adolescents who were congruent with their classmates’ self‐enhancement and self‐transcendence values showed the highest levels of self‐esteem. The findings point to the importance of social context for the relations between values and self‐esteem among adolescents.