The effect of similarity between owner's values and their perceptions of their pet's values on life satisfaction.

It is often assumed that pet ownership improves peoples' wellbeing, but evidence of this pet effect has been mixed. We extended past research on pet personality, the pet effect, and value congruence to examine whether people perceive their pets to have humanlike values and if owner-pet values similarity has a positive effect on owners' life satisfaction. In a large and diverse sample of Australian dog and cat owners, we find that people imbue their dogs and cats with humanlike values in a way that reflects the theoretical circular structure of values. Importantly, perceptions of the values of dogs and cats differed in that dogs were perceived to prioritize more social-focus values, whereas cats were perceived to prioritize more personal-focus values. Additionally, we find that similarity in the values profile of dog owners and their dogs is positively associated with life satisfaction, but this was not the case for cats. However, when we examined associations between individual values similarity and life satisfaction, our results suggest a more complex and nuanced picture of both direct and indirect similarity effects.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on environmental values.

Environmental values emphasize protection of the natural environment and promote behaviors that express this broad motivational goal. Thus, changes in these values at the community and individual levels are likely to have significant consequences for sustainability efforts. We examined the relative importance of environmental values in Australian adults at five time points over 4 years, including a period of stability (2017-2019) and a period of crisis (early and late in the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic). We found that the relative importance of environmental values increased from 2017 to 2019 and decreased during the pandemic. Importantly, the decrease in 2020 was lessened by individuals' connection with nature. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11625-022-01151-w.

Converting the maybes: Crucial for a successful COVID-19 vaccination strategy.

BACKGROUND: Broad community acceptance of a COVID-19 vaccination will be critical for effectively halting the spread of the virus. In this study, we focus on factors that differentiate those who are undecided from those who are either willing or unwilling to accept a prospective COVID-19 vaccine. METHODS: An online survey in May 2020 assessed Australian adults' willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccine (yes, maybe, no). A multinomial logistical regression of responses (N = 1,313) was used to identify correlates of vaccine willingness between the three groups. RESULTS: 65% were willing to vaccinate, with 27% being in the 'maybe' category. Respondents were more likely to be in the 'maybe' than the 'yes' group when they perceived COVID-19 to be less severe, had less trust in science, were less willing to vaccinate for influenza, and were female. They were more likely to be in the 'maybe' than 'no' group when they perceived COVID-19 as severe, and less likely to be a hoax, had more trust in science, and greater willingness to vaccinate for influenza. A repeat of the survey in November 2020 with a subset of participants found fewer of them saying yes to the vaccine (56%) and more saying maybe (31%). CONCLUSIONS: The effectiveness of any COVID-19 vaccine rollout will be reliant on maximizing uptake. The significant number of people who remain undecided about whether or not to get a COVID-19 vaccine, despite the ongoing devastating consequences of the virus for individuals, communities, and economies, is concerning. Our findings aid current research seeking to inform policy regarding how to convince the undecided to vaccinate.

We're all in this together, but for different reasons: Social values and social actions that affect COVID-19 preventative behaviors.

We examined how personal values, beliefs and concerns about COVID-19, and socio-demographics, relate to two important COVID-19 preventative behaviors: willingness to get vaccinated for COVID-19 and social distancing, in 1413 Australian adults. As expected, social focus values influenced the extent of compliance with these preventative behaviors, even when controlling for beliefs and concerns about COVID-19 and socio-demographics. We also examined the persuasiveness of four different value-expressive messages promoting social distancing, in a subsample of 737 Australian adults. We found that the message expressing self-transcendence values was ranked most persuasive by 77% of respondents. However, as hypothesized, personal values were related to message persuasiveness. As the importance ascribed to social focus values increased, the likelihood that the self-transcendence message was ranked as most persuasive increased. In contrast, the likelihood that the openness to change message was ranked as most persuasive increased for those who ascribed lesser importance to social focus values. Our findings can help the framing of government messaging around preventative behaviors, including maintaining social distancing in vaccinated populations who may still spread the disease, and preventing COVID-19 spread by or to vaccine refusers.

Value Profiles During Middle Childhood: Developmental Processes and Social Behavior.

Little is known about how children's value priorities develop over time. This study identifies children's value priority profiles and follows their development during middle childhood. Australian children (N = 609; ages 5-12 at Time 1) reported their values over 2 years. Latent Transition Analysis indicated four profiles: Social-Focus, Self-Focus, Growth-Focus and Undifferentiated. Within person development was characterized by profile stability or transfer to the Social-Focus profile. Younger children were more likely to have an Undifferentiated profile (or Self-Focus among boys) than older ones. Girls were more likely to have a Social-Focus profile or transfer to it, and less likely to have a Self- or Growth-Focus profile than boys. Social-Focus profile membership over time predicted more prosocial and less aggressive behavior.

Testing and Extending Schwartz Refined Value Theory Using a Best-Worst Scaling Approach.

The theory of human values discriminated 10 basic values arrayed in a quasicircular structure. Analyses with several instruments in numerous samples supported this structure. The refined theory of human values discriminates 19 values in the same circle. Its support depends on one instrument, the revised Portrait Values Questionnaire. We introduce a forced choice method, the Best-Worst Refined Values scale (BWVr), to assess the robustness of the refined theory to method of measurement and also assess the distinctiveness and validity of a new animal welfare value. Three studies ( N = 784, 439, and 383) support the theory and the new value. Study 3 also demonstrates the convergent and discriminant validity of the 19 values by comparing the BWVr, the revised Portrait Values Questionnaire, and value-expressive behaviors and confirms the test-retest reliability of BWVr responses. These studies provide further information about the order of values in the value circle.

Using mealtime volunteers to support patients.

Malnutrition in a wide range of hospital patients continues to occur. Using a suggestion from Age UK, in 2010 volunteers were introduced to the Royal Hampshire County Hospital to support nursing staff at mealtimes. Feedback from nursing staff, patients and the volunteers on their introduction has been gathered to look at the impact they have had.