Finding character strengths through loss: an extension of Peterson and Seligman (2003)

Schueller, Stephen M.; Jayawickreme, Eranda; Blackie, Laura E.R.; Forgeard, Marie, J.C.; Roepke, Ann Marie

Abstract

People can experience positive changes even in the midst of adversity and loss. We investigated character strengths following three recent shooting tragedies. Using an Internet database of respondents to the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS), we compared responses from three groups of participants (N = 31,429) within close proximity of each event: those who completed it eight months prior to the event, and one month and two months after. Results suggested that for one of the events, participants who completed the VIA-IS after the event showed slightly different levels of self-reported character strengths compared to participants who completed the VIA-IS before the event, with some mean levels higher and others lower. The observed differences in character strengths were inconsistent across follow-up periods, and effect sizes were small (d values from –0.13 to 0.15). These findings raise questions about whether and how tragedies might catalyze differences in character strengths.

Citation

Schueller, S. M., Jayawickreme, E., Blackie, L. E., Forgeard, M. J., & Roepke, A. M. (2014). Finding character strengths through loss: an extension of Peterson and Seligman (2003). Journal of Positive Psychology, 10(1), https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2014.920405

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 8, 2014
• Publication Date: May 29, 2014
• Deposit Date: Sep 22, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 22, 2016
• Journal: Journal of Positive Psychology
• Print ISSN: 1743-9760
• Electronic ISSN: 1743-9779
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 1
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2014.920405
• Keywords: Character strengths, Posttraumatic growth, VIA-IS, Development, Traumatic events
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/728086
• Publisher URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17439760.2014.920405
• Additional Information: The Version of; Record of this manuscript has been published and is available in Journal of Positive Psychology 2014 http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/17439760.2014.920405
• Contract Date: Sep 22, 2016