Attributes and person types admired by Greek emerging adults: Relative prevalence, differences by gender and socio-economic status

Abstract

Admiration is a social emotion that has implications for behavior, such as leading to a desire to emulate the admired person. This study extends previous findings about admired attributes among emerging adults, by investigating the same topic in Greece and also exploring the relationship between admired person types and admired qualities, gender, and socio-economic status. A total of 198 participants aged 18 to 25 (mean age = 19.46 years; 50% women) provided written descriptions of five attributes that they admire in a non-fictional person. A hybrid coding scheme was used. The most prevalent categories were Drive and Determination, Care and Generativity, and Resilience and Positivity. Some prevalence differences were found by person type, gender and socio-economic status. The findings extend the understanding of admiration in new directions by supporting a high level of cross-cultural consistency in admired attributes, but also some features that are unique to the Greek context. © 2022 Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood and SAGE Publishing.