Children’s personal values and their behavior in the classroom in the early elementary school years: mapping longitudinal trajectories

This study pioneers the examination of developmental trajectories of children’s personal values and their behavior in the classroom at the start of elementary school, exploring these dynamics of change in younger children. Additionally, we consider the classroom context, being an important but often overlooked setting for children’s value development. In a sample of 1,184 Swiss children (Mean age at T1: 6.82 years) who self-reported their values and whose classroom teachers rated their behavior at four time points, set three to four months apart, we analyzed trajectories of personal values and classroom behaviors at both individual and classroom levels. Multilevel growth curve analyses revealed similar trajectories of value change at both individual and classroom levels, showing a substantial linear increase in values of self-transcendence (benevolence and universalism) and a substantial linear decrease in values of self-enhancement (achievement and power). The trajectories of children’s value-expressive behaviors (supportive, achievement-oriented, disciplined, learning-oriented), however, did not align with these value trends and were relatively flat over time, with no significant change at the classroom level. Adding a time-lagged prediction to the multilevel growth curve models, we found that children’s values positively predicted their expressive behavior one time point later, except for conservation values which did not predict future disciplined behavior. Furthermore, the higher children’s supportive, achievement-, learning-oriented, and disciplined behavior was, the higher were their future values of self-transcendence, self-enhancement, openness to change and conservation respectively. Our findings emphasize the bidirectional nature of these relationships, offering important implications for enhancing educational practices in elementary schools.