Values, Belief in a Just World and the Flourishing of Bulgarian Adolescents
Values, Belief in a Just World and the Flourishing of Bulgarian Adolescents

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the study is to examine the roles of values and belief in a just world concerning the psychosocial well-being of Bulgarian adolescents as measured on the Flourishing Scale. The study resides upon Valdiney Gouveia’s (1998, 2003, 2013) functional theory of values, which defines six sub-functions of values that serve as guides for action and expressions of needs. Belief in a just world (BJW) as used in the present article is defined in respect to the General and Personal BJW scales developed by Claudia Dalbert and colleagues (Dalbert et al. 1987, 1996, 1999), also building upon the Justice Centrality Scale (Dalbert and Umlauft 2003) and the Justice Sensitivity Scale (Schmitt et al. 2010). Ed Diener’s Flourishing Scale (Diener et al. 2010), which focuses on personal goals, positive and supporting relations, and competence, was also utilized. The results obtained from 223 adolescents who were 18 years of age indicate that values are strong predictors of well-being insofar as Gouveia’s Existence Values, as well as his concepts of Interactive and Suprapersonal Values, explain 31% of the variances in flourishing. The effects of BJW upon well-being are weaker (R = 0.10), although both Personal BJW and Justice Centrality contribute to an increase in flourishing. Gender effects were insignificant in spite of our expectations, explaining 1% or less of variances in the well-being of Bulgarian adolescents. We conclude the article with remarks concerning future research and the goals of adolescents.

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