AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
answered within the scale 1-4 (1 - not important at all; 4 - very
important), and they expressed their subjective perception of 15
chosen values` importance. The average score moved from
M=2,73 (Sd=0,960) to M=3,96 (Sd=0,214). The lowest score
(M<2 points) achieved the variables Travelling and Art, whereas
the highest scored variables (M>3,9) were Freedom, Family and
Health. Despite this fact, most values achieved a relatively high
score (above M<3,5), specifically up to five values out of fifteen
variables. Subsequently, we tried to determine whether there is a
statistically significant relationship between the assessed values
and respondents` age. Using Spearman's rho coefficient`s
statistical analysis, we found out that a statistically significant
relationship is between the age and two values: Belief in God
(rs=-0,173*) and Family (rs=-0,202*). Between these two
variables and respondents` age was a weak negative relationship.
It means that older respondents perceived the Belief in God and
Family as less important values. We mentioned the obtained
results in Table 1.
Table 1: Descriptive statistics of research variables (values) and
their correlation with respondents` age
Variables
N
M
M
I
N
M
A
X
SD
SEM
SK
KU
r
s
(age)
Health
171
3,96
2
4
0,214
0,016
-6,780
50,276
-,064
Family
174
3,95
1
4
0,354
0,027
-7,803
60,817
-
,202*
Freedom
171
3,94
1
4
0,328
0,025
-6,311
45,847
,027
Children
168
3,89
1
4
0,438
0,034
-4,859
25,699
-,037
Work
167
3,81
1
4
0,545
0,042
-3,491
13,121
-,086
Justice
171
3,81
1
4
0,477
0,036
-2,824
9,272
-,079
Dignity
166
3,73
1
4
0,605
0,047
-2,633
7,336
,133
Tolerance
164
3,68
1
4
0,624
0,049
-2,103
4,305
,058
Money
166
3,65
1
4
0,592
0,046
-1,849
4,030
,067
Education
160
3,56
1
4
0,689
0,054
-1,723
3,156
,064
Partner
relation-
ship
158
3,45
1
4
0,885
0,070
-1,517
1,258
-,028
Friends
160
3,33
1
4
0,781
0,062
-1,043
0,660
-,070
Belief in
God
167
3,10
1
4
1,019
0,079
-0,850
-0,456
-
,173*
Art
154
2,86
1
4
0,886
0,071
-0,299
-0,718
,053
Travell-
ing
150
2,73
1
4
0,960
0,078
-0,179
-0,957
,063
Note: N- number; M- mean; Min- minimum; Max- maximum;
Sd- standard deviation; SK- skewers; KU-kurtosis; r
s
-
correlation coefficient; *- correlation is significant on level
p<0,05.
Another research objective was to find out differences in the
respondents` value level in relation to their achieved level of
education. We found out significant differences in eight
variables, out of them, four variables were at the statistical
significance level p<0,05. The greatest differences in relation to
the achieved level of education were observed in these variables:
Education (x2=10,158; p=0,006), Freedom (x2=7,389; p=0,025),
Children (x2=8,617; p=0,013) and Work (x2=6,568; p=0,037).
The level of responses in the mentioned variables does not have
the same tendency. In the variables Family, Education and
Work, respondents with secondary education (without a school-
leaving exam) achieved the highest average score. In contrast,
other groups achieved a significantly lower score, specifically
the respondents with secondary education with a school-leaving
exam and academic education. The difference in other variables
was significant at the level p<0,1, specifically: Money
(x2=5,666; p=0,059), Family (x2=5,260; p=0,072), Justice
(x2=4,983; p=0,083) and Dignity (x2=4,780; p=0,092). In the
variables Justice and Dignity, respondents with secondary
education (without a school-leaving exam) again had the highest
average score. In the variable Family, respondents with primary
and secondary education (without a final school-leaving exam)
obtained a comparable score, whereas respondents with
secondary education with a school-leaving exam and academic
education had a significantly lower average score. We observed
a difference in a tendency only in the variable Money. Even
though respondents with primary education and secondary
education (without a school-leaving exam) had a comparable
average score in this variable, respondents with primary
education achieved here their highest average score. We did not
find any significant difference in the variables Travelling, Art,
Belief in God, Friends, Partner relationship, Tolerance and
Health in relation to respondents` age. We mentioned and
depicted the obtained results in Table 2 and Figure 1.
Table 2: Differences in values` level in relation to respondents`
achieved level of education (H test)
Variables
Level code of
ISCED
N
M
Mr
df
x
p
2
Money
2A
82
3,71
89,70
2
5,666
0,059
3C
53
3,66
81,33
3A; 3B; 6; 7
31
3,48
70,82
Education
2A
80
3,43
73,35
2
10,158
0,006
3C
49
3,82
95,22
3A; 3B; 6; 7
31
3,48
75,68
Freedom
2A
88
3,95
86,16
2
7,389
0,025
3C
52
4,00
90,00
3A; 3B; 6; 7
31
3,77
78,84
Family
2A
90
3,98
88,04
2
5,260
0,072
3C
53
4,00
89,00
3A; 3B; 6; 7
31
3,81
83,35
Children
2A
83
3,96
87,54
2
8,617
0,013
3C
54
3,87
85,69
3A; 3B; 6; 7
31
3,74
74,31
Work
2A
86
3,80
87,70
2
6,568
0,037
3C
54
3,89
90,72
3A; 3B; 6; 7
31
3,68
73,06
Justice
2A
83
3,82
85,74
2
4,983
0,083
3C
53
3,89
87,23
3A; 3B; 6; 7
31
3,68
73,82
Dignity
2A
84
3,65
79,08
2
4,780
0,092
3C
51
3,86
91,88
3A; 3B; 6; 7
31
3,74
81,68
Note.: N- number; Min- minimum; Max- maximum; M- mean;
Mr- Mean rank; df- defrees of freedom; x
2
- Chi statistics for
Kruskal-Wallis H test; p- level of statistical significance.
Figure 2: Differences in values` importance level in relation to
respondents` achieved level of education – depiction of groups
with a significant difference
4 Discussion and conclusion
The highest scored variables by adult convicted women were
traditional (conservative) values Health, Family and Freedom,
that is consistent with the Czech research results from 2002. The
preference of the value Health as the most significant scored
value copies the majority society's preference. The second most
significant scored value is the value Family. We can attribute
this result to the fact that, in many cases, convicted women are
also wives and mothers (the value Children achieved the fourth
place in the importance level scale). Obtained data from the
demographic items verify this preference – up to 81,2% of
respondents are mothers. In average, every convicted woman has
3,5 children (min 1, max 13). In the marital status item, almost
every third convicted woman (30,64%) stated that she is married
or a mate, which means that she has a stable partner relationship.
Although the value Partner relationship achieved a relatively
high score, this value occupied the eleventh position out of
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