Teenagers in Estonia: Values and Behaviour

Students valued academic success, politeness, and honesty but not so much health and tolerance. Teenagers gave high ranks to knowledge, friends, and honesty and lower ranks to a high position in society and wealth. The students’ self-evaluations were in good correlation with PISA 2006 results. Positive experiences of upbringing were related to a lower risk of using intoxicants in Estonia, Finland and Russia. Teenagers’ behaviour was assessed as relatively wilder but also more honest than adults’ behaviour. A review of bullying revealed the relationship between educational practice and science. The analysis of early sexual initiation showed some factors of, for example, greater tolerance of commercial sex in society. A study of Estonian teenagers’ time usage indicated differences by gender, grade and region. Students reported positive academic emotions, such as enjoyment, hope, pride, etc. more often in lower grades.