VIA character strengths among U.S. college students and their associations with happiness, well-being, resiliency, academic success and psychopathology

Abstract

This study was not supported or funded by any grants. No financial interest or benefit has arisen from the direct application of this research. All data for this study are stored at the University of Colorado at Boulder via hardcopies, SAS and Excel spreadsheets.Character strengths are central to Positive Psychology. Peterson and Seligman developed a classification of strengths identifying 24 character strengths assumed to be important to well-being. Yet, few studies have comprehensively investigated the implications of possessing the character strengths. In this study 759 college students completed the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths scale (VIA-IS) to test the relationship between character strengths and various measures of well-being. The well-being measures included: satisfaction with life, happiness, resiliency, positive and negative affect, physical health, GPA, SAT/ACT scores, physical health, depression, anxiety, eating problems, alcohol consumption, drug use, and risky behaviors. Character strengths were most strongly related to positive measures of well-being (e.g., zest/enthusiasm); the next highest relationship was with the four measures of academic achievement, but there was only moderate relationships to psychopathology and very low association to physical health. Implications of the major findings and recommendations for future research were discussed.

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