Who Would You Most Like to Like? Adolescents' ideals at the beginning and the end of the century

Childrens' and adolescents' ideals were the subject of a number of developmental studies published between 1898 and 1918 in several Western countries. The article reports the results from two recent Norwegian samples, one of about 2500 16-17 year olds (10th graders) in western Norway, and the other on about 200 13-14 year olds (7th graders) in northern Norway. In both studies, participants were asked: 'Who would you most like to be like?' The results are compared to a similar Norwegian study performed in 1914, and show the following trends: (i) more boys mention public figures, and more girls personal acquaintances, as they did in 1914, especially in the older age group; (ii) the public figures mentioned are almost exclusively sports stars, movie stars and pop artists, in contrast to the historical heroes and writers of the early studies; (iii) 15-25% of respondents in both samples claimed they would most like to be themselves, an answer almost unknown in 1914. They were also asked which human qualities they valued most highly and who possessed these qualities. Despite the popularity of media figures, answers to these questions showed moral and social qualities to be valued more highly than achievement and appearance; in the older age group, parents were most often mentioned as persons with highly valued traits.