Eldad Davidov

Uni of Cologne, Uni of Zurich · Inst of Soc & Soc Psych, Dept of Soc

We test the theory that personality incoherence may instigate personality change in the context of personal values. Values’ near-universal organization makes value incoherence assessment straightforward. The study included 13 longitudinal samples from seven cultures (Australia, Israel Palestinian citizens, Israel Jewish majority, Italy, Poland, Por...

Due to the explosive growth of social media technology worldwide, consumers are exposed to abundant stimuli across cultures that affect their internalization of societal ideal of beauty and the formation of self‐concept. In response to this, the beauty industry is facing challenges to personalize their offerings to an array of diverse consumers who...

The aim of our study was twofold: (1) to explore the role of value preferences on peer relations in school classes (selection effect) and (2) to explore the role of peers’ values on adolescents’ values (influence or socialization effect) in three types of networks (friendship, advice, and trust). To answer these questions, we used a longitudinal so...

Schwartz’s theory of basic human values is the dominant framework for assessing values. One of its strengths is that it allows for different levels of analysis. The 10 basic values can be reliably assigned to four higher-order dimensions: Openness to Change, Conservation, Self-Transcendence, and Self-Enhancement. In this paper, we examined the p...

Both the basic human values approach and the economic preference approach have been developed and applied to represent fundamental drivers of human behavior in various domains by measuring people’s underlying preferences and motivations. Both of them have been used, however, in isolation from each other, the former primarily in social psychology st...

The aim of this study is to compare results of measuring the Schwartz (2004) cultural value orientations using multilevel confirmatory factor analysis (ML CFA) vs. the unweighted aggregated means (simple means) used in previous research. We conduct this comparison with data from the 21-item short version of the Portrait Values Questionnaire in 6 rou...

Good measurement instruments have to meet certain necessary conditions, especially if they are to be used in cross-cultural research. In this study, we examine whether the German and Japanese translations of Shalom Schwartz's PVQ-57 fulfill two of these conditions. The survey measures 19 human values by 57 indicators. First, we examine whether thes...

Previous explanations regarding transnational solidarity in the European Union (EU) have mainly focussed on factors including left–right self-placement, support for European integration and European identity. We expand this model by considering deeper psychological determinants of transnational solidarity: values, operationalised as Schwartz’s basi...

In this article, Gorodzeisky, Semyonov, Davidov and Schmidt suggest that perceived economic threat, perceived threat to the cultural homogeneity of society, and racial prejudice, although being interrelated, each exerts an independent influence on opposition to immigration. The analysis use data obtained from six representative national samples of...

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has created a global health crisis, leading to stigmatization and discriminatory behaviors against people who have contracted or are suspected of having contracted the virus. Yet the causes of stigmatization in the context of COVID-19 remain only partially understood. Using attribution theory, we examine to what ext...

This review summarizes the current state of the art of statistical and (survey) methodological research on measurement (non)invariance, which is considered a core challenge for the comparative social sciences. After outlining the historical roots, conceptual details, and standard procedures for measurement invariance testing, the paper focuses in p...

Social networking sites have become a predominant means of communication across the globe. Activities on these sites generate massive amounts of personal information and raise concerns about its potential abuse. Means designed to protect the user’s privacy and prevent exploitation of confidential data often go unused. In this study, we draw on the...

Schwartz's theory of basic human values has become the dominant and empirically best-validated framework for assessing human values in surveys. One of the strengths of Schwartz's framework is that it allows for different levels of analysis. Because of the framework's quasi-circumplex structure, the 10 basic human values can be reliably assigned to...

During the recent pandemic, fear of COVID-19 has been widespread and is considered to deteriorate mental health. We assessed whether vaccination can effectively reduce the fear of COVID-19 and, thus, contribute to improving people's mental health status. We used two-wave panel data from a German online study collected in April 2021 (t1) and August/...

Welzel et al. (2021) claim that non-invariance of instruments is inconclusive and inconsequential in the field for cross-cultural value measurement. In this response, we contend that several key arguments on which Welzel et al. (2021) base their critique of invariance testing are conceptually and statistically incorrect. First, Welzel et al. (2021)...

Research on key determinants of negative attitudes toward immigration has often suggested that values held by individuals systematically explain such sentiments. Universalists appear to have more positive and conservatives more negative attitudes. So far, however, these insights are based on studies using adult samples. In our study, we analyze the...

Successful campaigns to combat the COVID-19 pandemic depend, in part, on people's willingness to be vaccinated. It is therefore critical to understand the factors that determine people's vaccination intentions. We applied a reasoned action approach - the theory of planned behavior - to explore these factors. We used data from an online survey of ad...

Individual religiosity measures are used by researchers to describe and compare individuals and societies. However, the cross-cultural comparability of the measures has often been questioned but rarely empirically tested. In the current study, we examined the cross-national measurement invariance properties of generalized individual religiosity in...

In factorial survey designs, respondents evaluate multiple short descriptions of social objects (vignettes) that experimentally vary different levels of attributes of interest. Analytical methods (including individual-level regression analysis and multilevel models) estimate the weights (or utilities) assigned to the levels of the different attribu...

Most of the countries in Europe are experiencing a rapid aging of their populations and with this an increase in mental health challenges due to aging. Comparative research may help countries to assess the promotion of healthy aging in general, and mentally healthy aging in particular, and explore ways for adapting mental health policy measures. Ho...

Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) is a method to extract homogeneous clusters characterized by a common response profile. Previous works employing LPA to human value segmentation tend to select a small number of moderately homogeneous clusters based on model selection criteria such as Akaike information criterion, Bayesian information criterion and Ent...

The comparative study of perceived physical and mental health in general—and the comparative study of health between the native-born and immigrants, in particular—requires that the groups understand survey questions inquiring about their health in the same way and display similar response patterns. After all, observed differences in perceived healt...

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

In recent years, there has been greater scholarly enquiry into explaining variation in support for European Union membership. We theorise that one cause of such variation is likely to be non-political psychological predispositions, such as one’s personal values. We test this proposition by applying Schwartz’s theory of basic human values to predict...

Many key concepts in the social sciences (e.g., personality traits, values, beliefs, attitudes, cognitive competencies) are not directly observable but represent latent variables, measured by a set of observable variables called manifest indicators (Bollen, 2002). Furthermore, major contributions to longitudinal statistical modeling and the improve...

We investigate whether the attitudes of the Israeli majority towards migrants reflect the double standard embedded in Israel’s immigration regime, differentiating Jewish from non-Jewish migrants. We compare attitudes towards ethnic migrants (Jews), non-ethnic migrants (non-Jews), and asylum seekers, considering three explanations: values, collectiv...

We investigate whether the attitudes of the Israeli majority toward migrants reflect the double standard embedded in Israel’s immigration regime, differentiating Jewish from non-Jewish migrants. We compare attitudes toward ethnic migrants (Jews), non-ethnic migrants (non-Jews), and asylum seekers, considering three explanations: values, collective...

The paper focuses on economic disadvantage (loss) or economic advantage (gain) among first‐ and second‐generation immigrants in Switzerland in comparison to the Swiss majority group. We distinguish between economic and noneconomic (political, family reunion, and educational pursuit) immigrants. Utilising data from the 2007 Swiss Health Survey, we f...

For decades, social scientists have been interested in studying individual attitudes toward ethnic minorities or immigrants and their development over time. Whereas these attitudes have been commonly studied among adults, little is known about children’s and teenager’s attitudes toward immigrant minorities. This gap might have been a result of a la...

There has been a significant increase in cross-national and longitudinal data production in social science research in recent decades. Before drawing substantive conclusions based on cross-national and longitudinal survey data, researchers need to assess whether the constructs are measured in the same way across countries and time-points. If cross-...

Age is an important dimension that is used by people to categorize others. Age-based discrimination is directed toward specific age groups (young and old). In spite of their importance, attitudes toward the elderly have hardly been studied from a cross-country perspective. The fourth round of the European Social Survey (ESS) from 2008-2009 offers,...

This paper is a sequel to our previous paper with the same title (Kwansei Gakuin University School of Sociology Journal No.133). In the previous paper, we reported the descriptive results of student surveys in Germany and Japan focusing on frequency distributions for value question items. Based on those results, the current data analysis explores t...

We consider the role of values as determinants of voting in the UK's 2016 EU referendum. First, we consider and clarify ‘values’ conceptually, before proceeding to utilise Schwartz's basic human values as the most appropriate. Second, we theorise how these basic human values determine both voting in the referendum as well as three of the most consi...

Experience sampling is considered one of the best methods for measuring behavior (Furr, 2009, https://doi.org/10.1002/per.724). When used for this purpose, it requires a coding system to transform diversified reports on what people are doing, provided as responses to an open-ended question, into interpretable data. We present a categorization of ev...

Multi-group Bayesian structural equation modeling (MG-BSEM) gained considerable attention among substantive researchers investigating cross-group differences and methodologists exploring challenges in measurement invariance testing. MG-BSEM allows for greater flexibility by applying elastic rather than strict equality constraints on item parameters...

Immigration has been one of the most crucial global phenomena, changing the fabric of many societies, and a topic of substantial research. Much of this research has focused on how the host society views immigrants and immigration, or on the societal factors influencing the latter. The goal of this thematic issue is to present different studies focu...

The present research examines whether the ‘healthy immigrant effect’ thesis observed in the American context prevails also in the West European context. According to this thesis, immigrants are likely to be healthier than comparable nativeborn. Data for the analysis are obtained from the Generations and Gender Survey for the following countries: Au...

Values—the motivational goals that define what is important to us—guide our decisions and actions every day. Their importance is established in a long line of research investigating their universality across countries and their evolution from childhood to adulthood. In adolescence, value structures are subject to substantial change, as life becomes...

Objective: We examined patterns of change and stability in the whole set of ten Schwartz values over two years during early adolescence. Method: Participants completed the Portrait Values Questionnaire repeatedly throughout the junior high school years. The study involved six waves of data and a total of 382 respondents aged 10 years at the firs...

Comparisons of means or associations between theoretical constructs of interest in cross-national comparative research assume measurement invariance, that is, that the same constructs are measured in the same way across the various nations under study. While it is intuitive, this assumption needs to be statistically tested. An increasing number of...

Large-scale surveys such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), and the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competences (PIAAC) use advanced statistical models to estimate scores of latent traits from multiple observed responses. The comparison of such es...

The current study examines the following questions: (1) the extent to which individual basic human values are linked with attitudes towards immigration; (2) whether symbolic threat by immigration mediates this relation; and (3) whether cultural values moderate the relations between individual values, threat, and attitudes towards immigration. The e...

Explaining negative attitudes towards immigration in general and threat due to immigration, in particular, has been a major topic of study in recent decades. While intergroup contact has received considerable attention in explaining ethnic threat, group relative deprivation (GRD), that is, feelings that one’s group is unfairly deprived of desirable...

What factors explain majority members’ anti-Muslim prejudice? This is an increasingly important question to ask, but to date only relatively few studies have sought to provide answers from a cross-national comparative perspective. This study aims to help fill this gap. Using data from the seventh round of the European Social Survey (ESS) linked wit...

We identified behavioral signatures of the values distinguished in the Schwartz et al. refined value theory (2012). We examined behavioral signatures for two types of values, value states and value traits. We conducted two studies using innovative approaches. Study 1 used retrospective self-reports whereas Study 2 used self-reports in real time. In...

In der sozialwissenschaftlichen Literatur existiert keine einheitliche Definition, was unter Index oder Indexbildung subsumiert werden kann und ob und wie sich Indexbildung von Skalierungsverfahren abgrenzt. Diese fehlende definitorische Eindeutigkeit entspringt nicht zuletzt der Frage, ob Indizes auch als Instrumente zur Messung sozialwissenschaft...

Several structural equation modeling (SEM) strategies were developed for assessing measurement invariance (MI) across groups relaxing the assumptions of strict MI to partial, approximate, and partial approximate MI. Nonetheless, applied researchers still do not know if and under what conditions these strategies might provide results that allow for...

Comparisons of means or associations between theoretical constructs of interest in cross-national comparative research assume measurement invariance, that is, that the same constructs are measured in the same way across the various nations under study. While it is intuitive, this assumption needs to be statistically tested. An increasing number of...

Large-scale surveys such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), and the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competences (PIAAC) use advanced statistical models to estimate scores of latent traits from multiple observed responses. The comparison of such es...

This chapter focuses on a practical analysis of the Bayesian approximate measurement invariance model using standard software. It introduces the concept of approximate measurement invariance and illustrates the use of its most basic variant. The chapter discusses the use of measurement invariance testing in latent variable measurement models. In su...

The relevance of human values for the study of the motivational sources of interpersonal violent behavior was investigated in various fields of the social sciences. However, several past studies mixed up values with other dimensions like attitudes, norms, or beliefs, and only a few systematically assessed the effect of values on violent behavior re...

This research is the first to assess directly Schwartz’s claim that the circular structure of values derives from value compatibilities or conflicts experienced in real-time behaviors. We differentiate two types of values: value traits guide perception and behavior over time and situations and value states guide real-time behavioral acts. We measur...

The 7th round of the European Social Survey (ESS) from 2014–15 includes a partial repetition of the immigration module from the first ESS wave (2002–03) with information on individual attitudes toward immigration and immigrants in both old and new immigration societies. The goal of the present study is to test whether and to what extent questions i...

Multiple group confirmatory factor analysis has become the most common technique for assessing measurement invariance. However, higher-order factor modeling is less frequently discussed in this context. In particular, the literature provides only very general guidelines for testing measurement invariance of second-order factor models, which is a pr...

While multiple-country repeated cross-sectional datasets are increasingly available, few cross-national studies fully exploit the richness of such data. This paper contributes to the practical knowledge on statistical analysis of cross-national time series data. For that purpose, we present a novel application of a societal growth curve model (Fair...

Since the first round of the ESS (European Social Survey) in 2002 numerous comparative studies on changing attitudes towards immigrants have been published based on ESS data. The availability of two batteries measuring attitudes towards immigrants in the core module of each biennial survey enabled analysis of stability and change of these attitudes...

Extreme response style (ERS) may bias responses and hamper the validity of conclusions in substantive research. ERS can be controlled for by using an additional (random) sample of response style indicators (i.e., a separate, random sample of survey items). There are two options to draw response style indicators to control for ERS: from only one ver...

In this study, we focus on attitudes towards asylum seekers in two countries: Denmark and Israel. Both serve as interesting cases through which to study public sentiment of host populations for people seeking refuge. We examine the role of three core dimensions that have been relatively overlooked in previous studies: social contact with asylum see...

Measurement invariance is a necessary precondition for meaningful cross-country comparisons, and three levels have been differentiated: configural, metric, and scalar. Unfortunately, establishing the most stringent form, that is, scalar measurement invariance, across groups is difficult. Recently, Muthén and Asparouhov proposed testing for approxim...

Theories on intergroup relations suggest that negative attitudes toward immigrants tend to rise when economic conditions deteriorate. However, these arguments were mostly tested during times of economic prosperity in Europe. We put this theoretical expectation to test by analyzing two rounds of the European Social Survey (ESS) with data from 14 Wes...

It is necessary to test for equivalence of measurements across groups to guarantee that comparisons of regression coefficients or mean scores of a latent factor are meaningful. Unfortunately, when tested, many scales display nonequivalence. Several researchers have suggested that nonequivalence may be used as a useful source of information as to wh...

Równoważność pomiaru konstruktów mierzonych online i offline jest warunkiem porównywalności zebranych danych. Umożliwia akumulację wiedzy uzyskanej na podstawie badań przeprowadzonych tymi dwiema różnymi metodami oraz łączenie danych zebranych tymi sposobami do dalszych analiz. Głównym celem artykułu jest prezentacja procedury testowania równoważno...

Despite beneficial effects of minority members’ contact with majority members, studies have repeatedly shown minorities’ tendency of having predominantly intraethnic social contacts, a phenomenon called ethnic homophily. This study aimed at examining ethnic homophily among mothers belonging to minority groups in Germany and Israel. Mothers from fou...

Findings from previous studies corroborate the hypothesis that universalism and conservation values are associated with negative attitudes toward immigration. In the current study we examine whether universalism and conservation values also play a critical role in the explanation of attitudes toward other minority groups. Drawing on previous resear...

Terminally ill cancer patients and their caregivers experience significant difficulties discussing illness and impending death (herein defined as mortality communication). The current study compares response levels as well as patterns of association between mortality communication and psychological distress among caregivers of home hospice and hosp...

Recent years have witnessed both a growing number of cross-cultural datasets but also a growing awareness of problems connected with cross-cultural comparisons. In particular, researchers have realized that measurement invariance is a necessary precondition for a meaningful comparison of data across cultures or countries. The literature on measurem...

Despite beneficial effects of minority members' contact with majority members, studies have repeatedly shown minorities' tendency of having predominantly intraethnic social contacts, a phenomenon called ethnic homophily. This study aimed at examining ethnic homophily among mothers belonging to minority groups in Germany and Israel. Mothers from fou...

Psychologists view values as an aspect of personality that underlies and motivates attitudes and behavior. We present overviews of Allport's motivational theory and Rokeach's cognitive theory, and elaborate on Schwartz's integration of earlier approaches. Schwartz defines values as transsituational goals, varying in importance, that serve as guidin...

Political scientists often need to evaluate whether samples are comparable, for example, when analysing different countries or time points or when comparing data collected using different methods. A necessary condition for conducting such meaningful cross-group comparisons is the establishment of measurement invariance. One of the most frequently u...

This longitudinal study explores the stability and change of values in childhood. Children's values were measured in Poland three times (with one-year intervals) using the Picture Based Values Survey (PBVS-C; Döring, Blauensteiner, Aryus, Drögekamp, & Bilsky, 2010), developed to measure values differentiated according to the circular model of Schwa...