Character Strength Endorsement and Well Being.....

Character Strength Endorsement and Well Being among North

Indian Adolescents

ABSTRACT
Present study aimed to explore the profile of character strengths and its relation to well-being
of adolescents. The sample comprised of 240 students of 11 th and 12th grade (120 males and
120 females) belonging to urban and rural backgrounds, falling within the age group of 15-19
years. For statistical analysis Mean, S.D., Frequency percentage and Pearson correlation was
used. Results show that judgement (critical thinking) is highest endorsed character strength
for the present sample. For male and female adolescents three out of five top signature
strengths-judgement, appreciation of beauty and bravery are common and for urban/rural
adolescents judgement, kindness and bravery are common. it has also been found that
perspective (wisdom), persistence, honesty, zest, love, social intelligence, hope and humor
are found more highly and positively correlated with well being (p< .01) in addition to
strengths of creativity, love of learning, fairness and prudence (p< .05).
Key-Words: Character strengths, Well being, Adolescents, Urban-Rural, Male-Female.

Dr. Shailja Sharma

Banwari Lal Jindal Suiwala College,
Tosham (Haryana)
Character Strength Endorsement and Well Being.....
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INTRODUCTION

Character strengths are the substratum of the human condition and that strength
congruent activity leads to the good psychological life. Positive psychology’s model of
character strengths is embodied by the Values in Action (VIA) classification, developed by
Peterson and Seligman (2004). This classification organizes 24 character strengths under six
rationally derived virtue classes. The term Signature Strengths refers to an individual’s five
most highly-ranked Character Strengths. Linley et al (2010) found that signature strength’s
use relates to progress on one’s goals and with satisfying one’s basic psychological needs for
autonomy, relatedness and competence.
Character strengths in adolescents have been associated with desirable outcomes such as
subjective well-being, life satisfaction, fewer symptoms of depression, suicidal ideation and
stress (Park, 2004; Park & Peterson, 2006; Ma et al, 2008; Lounsbury et al, 2009; Gillham, et
al, 2011; Liu and Li, 2016; Weber et al, 2016), leadership, tolerance, ability to delay
gratification, kindness, and altruism (Scales et.al, 2000), and a reduction of problems such as
substance use, alcohol abuse, smoking, school dropout, juvenile crime, alcohol and drug use,
and unwanted pregnancy and violence (Park, 2004 and Catalano et al, 1999) and the literature
consistently advocates cultivating specific strengths in youth to these ends, for example it has
been found that that curriculum incorporated character strengths exhibited significantly
greater physical health (and psychosocial health) (Leventhal et al., 2015, 2016).
Positive Psychology asserts that character strengths are positive qualities which may be
cultivated and developed and these are beneficial for those who possess them as well as for
society. Present is the time when we need to inculcate these morally valued strengths in our
youth as these dispositions also reflect in their emotions and behaviour as this may not only
lead to positivity in them but also good for their well-being. Being a nascent area, very few
studies pertaining character strengths of adolescents have been reported in India. Present
study is an attempt to explore the character strength pattern of Indian youngsters and its
relationship with their well being will also be assessed. Thus the objectives of the study could
be framed as:
 To assess the global profile of character strengths of the adolescents.
 To identify the signature strengths of male/female and urban/rural adolescents.
 To study the relationship between character strengths and well being of adolescents.

METHOD
Sample-
A purposive sample of, 240 participants (120 male and 120 female) in the age range
of 15-19 yrs was selected for the study from various Hindi medium schools belonging to rural
and urban area of Hisar and Bhiwani districts of Haryana state. It was made sure that they
belong to almost same socio-economic background and not suffering from incurable disease
or mental disorders.
Measures:
In the present study the following tools were used:
1. Hindi adaptation of Value in Action (VIA) Inventory of Strengths for Youth by
Shree and Singh (2013)-It is a self-report inventory for children and youth (ages 10
to 17). It measures 6 virtues embedded with 24 character strengths as per VIA
taxonomy. It consists of 198 questions to be answered on 5 point Likert scale. It is
fully reliable and valid instrument.
2. PGI General Well- Being Measure by Verma and Verma (2003)- It’s a 20 item
scale, which can be self administered or given orally to the subject. Responses are to
Character Strength Endorsement and Well Being.....
3

be given in yes or no, scoring is done by counting number of ticks (√ ) with scores
ranging from 0 to 20.

Procedure-
For data collection, first of all investigators sought the permission to work on
adolescents from the concerned authorities of various schools. All the subjects were
approached personally in their school set up and rapport was established with each
participant. Relevant instructions related to inventories were given and they filled the
profoma accordingly. Scoring was done as per norms and a feedback about their strengths
was provided to them.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

-Table 1-
The descriptive analysis of the character strength scores are presented in Table 1.
Means of 24 character strengths range from 3.31 (modesty) to 3.93 (judgment and love of
learning). Ranking on the basis of mean scores of character strengths shows that judgment
and love of learning have been emerged as most endorsed and modesty as least endorsed
character strengths character strengths for the present sample. The results lead to the
conclusion that today’s youth is open minded, does not jump on the conclusions abruptly,
rather look for evidence. Same time they are also eager to mastering new skills and want to
improve their knowledge. The results of the preliminary analyses show that three out of the
top five character strengths of adolescents- judgment, love of learning and creativity are
embedded in wisdom and knowledge, making it highest endorsed virtue. It reveals that during
this phase of life cognitive growth appears to be at the peak, hence overpowering other
virtues such as courage, humanity, justice, temperance and transcendence. A close look of the
table 1 give the idea that three (modesty, prudence and self regulation) out of last four
strengths fall in same virtue category, making temperance least endorsed virtue. Lack of
modesty in the youngsters is somewhere a symbol of failure of our ethics, values and moral
system. In partial consonance of the results Tripathi et al (2015) in his study of young adults
in India found that love, gratitude, kindness, fairness, and honesty were the highest self-
perceived character strengths while the lowest were social responsibility (teamwork),
perseverance, prudence, and self-regulation.

-Table 2--

In order to identify most endorsed character strengths for different groups frequency
analysis was opted. Frequency percentage of each of character strength rated as signature
strength (top five) is presented in Table 2.
On the basis of maximum endorsement character strengths were sorted out and have
been presented in table 3 and 4.

-Table 3-
Results reveal that male and female adolescents share almost similar pattern of signature
strengths. Both the genders endorsed judgment/critical thinking as their top signature
strength. Appreciation of beauty and bravery are also among top endorsed strengths by them.
Results are in partial accordance with the earlier studies where kindness and judgment/critical
thinking (Shree and Singh, 2013; Rani et al 2017) have been found as signature strength
common among male and female adolescents. Bhatt et al (2012) also observed similarity in
Character Strength Endorsement and Well Being.....
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choices of top seven strengths of boys and girls. Among others male adolescents endorsed
curiosity and gratitude as their signature strengths while for females kindness and fairness
have been emerged as other most preferred character strengths. Similarly in a study of gender
differences and character strengths, women scored highest on the strengths of honesty,
kindness, love, gratitude, and fairness, while men scored highest on honesty, hope, humor,
gratitude, and curiosity (Brdar et al, 2011). In another studies girls showed more prominent
strengths relating to prosocial behavior and peer relationships (Ferragut, 2014) and exceed
boys in the strength of kindness (Ngai, 2015). In a study on Indian youth the gender
comparisons on strengths subscales revealed that males scored higher on social subscale
whereas females were higher on relational subscale (Tripathi et al, 2015).

-Table 4-
It is evident from the table 4 that for urban and rural adolescents, judgment, kindness
and bravery are common signature strengths. Except these, urban adolescents endorsed
appreciation of beauty, creativity and gratitude as their signature strengths. While persistence,
love and fairness are among top character strengths endorsed by rural adolescents. Thus
wisdom and knowledge and transcendence virtues are found equally preferred by urban
students whereas orientation of rural adolescents is more towards humanity and courage
virtues with two signature strengths in each category. It may be stated that leadership is just a
“missed strength” in almost all the adolescents. Cultivation of both self-oriented (e.g. truth,
austerity, detachment) and other oriented values (compassion, and non-violence) are
advocated in Indian tradition (Srivastava and Misra, 2011).Thus kindness, bravery, love,
fairness in rural adolescents can be explained as imbibed traits of Indian culture as real India
lives in its villages. Though Singh (2010) has reported that most village girls in India value
strengths that are different from the via strengths, such as being dutiful, empathetic,
respecting elders, belief in god and patriotism.

-Table 5-
Table 5 shows Pearson correlation between the scores of character strength and well
being. In this sample, the strengths numerically most related to well being are wisdom
(perspective), persistence, honesty, zest, love, social intelligence, hope and humour
(correlation significant at .01 level). On the lower end are creativity, love of learning,
fairness and prudence (correlation significant at .05 level). Correlation with other strengths is
found non- significant for the present sample. It is evident from earlier studies that
Individuals who use their character strengths experienced greater well-being, which was
related to both physical and mental health. Strengths use was a unique predictor of subjective
well-being after self-esteem and self-efficacy (Proctor et al, 2009; Park & Peterson, 2006;
Dahlsgaard, 2005 as cited in Gillham et al, 2011).
Implications and suggestions for future research-
As character strengths are considered basic building blocks of the personality, a better
understanding of these may be utmost importance for youth development programmes,
eradicating psychological problems of youth and their overall flourishing. Discovery of
strengths can be important for psychological well being. Encouraging adolescents for getting
insight of their character strength maybe helpful for its use in day to day life and it may also
lead for expanding their range of activities and behaviours related to their strengths.
Present investigation is based on VIA taxonomy, though proposed as a universally applicable
system, there is a pretty chance that all the strengths relevant to the Indian culture were not
Character Strength Endorsement and Well Being.....
5

assessed. Therefore uses of measures based on other value based systems are recommended.
For future research inclusion of subjects from diversified areas (e.g. age groups, educational
level, cultural/religious groups) is suggested, so that results can be generalized to the wider
population.

Conclusion-
It can be concluded on the basis of present study that there is difference between
pattern of character strength profiles of male/female and urban/rural adolescents and
character strengths have noticeable relationship with well being. On the whole differences
found may be a by-product of socialization practices, social roles, values embedded in
different cultures, exposure to demand and situations that facilitate development of character
strengths.

Acknowledgements-
This study is a part of the project which has been supported by research grants from
the University Grants Commission, New Delhi. The author is grateful to UGC for its
financial assistance. The author appreciates all those who participated in this study and
helped to facilitate the research process.

Result tables

Table 1: Mean and Standard Deviation of scores of Virtue-wise Character Strengths

S. No. Character Strength Mean S.D. Ranking
Wisdom and Knowledge
1 Creativity 3.755342 0.488163 5
2 Curiosity 3.701923 0.570146 12
3 Judgment / Critical thinking 3.934829 0.52027 1
4 Love of learning 3.934829 0.545539 2
5 Perspective 3.668269 0.492361 14
Courage
6 Bravery 3.800748 0.483113 4
7 Persistence 3.706553 0.494973 10
8 Authenticity/Honesty 3.573184 0.648888 19
9 Zest 3.649038 0.516256 16
Humanity
10 Love 3.731719 0.480356 8
11 Kindness 3.823362 0.508634 3
12 Social intelligence 3.603098 0.484318 17
Justice
13 Citizenship 3.702457 0.463903 11
14 Fairness 3.735518 0.555467 6
15 Leadership 3.325855 0.538351 23
Temperance
16 Forgiveness 3.65873 0.711128 15
17 Modesty 3.31339 0.479896 24
18 Prudence 3.444979 0.608178 22
19 Self regulation 3.450142 0.491187 21
Transcendence
20 Appreciation of beauty 3.732372 0.570555 7
21 Gratitude 3.72062 0.496911 9
22 Hope 3.677885 0.483854 13
23 Humor 3.595442 0.566644 18
24 Spirituality 3.53953 0.564068 20
Character Strength Endorsement and Well Being.....
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Table 2: Percentage of Endorsement of each of the Character Strength rated as Signature Strength
(Top five character strengths) by Male/female and Urban/Rural Adolescents

S.No. Character strengths Male Female Urban Rural

adolescents adolescents adolescents adolescents
1 Creativity 26.92 21.15 32.40 17.46
2 Curiosity 30.76 17.30 25.92 23.01
3 Judgment /Critical thinking 41.53 51.92 50.92 45.23
4 Love of learning 16.15 22.11 14.81 22.22
5 Perspective 20.76 20.19 19.44 21.42
6 Bravery 29.23 34.61 32.40 30.95
7 Persistence 23.07 22.11 14.81 29.36
8 Authenticity/Honesty 16.92 23.07 13.88 24.60
9 Zest 26.92 8.653 19.44 18.25
10 Love 26.92 23.07 24.07 27.77
11 Kindness 28.46 44.23 37.96 33.33
12 Social intelligence 14.61 18.26 12.03 19.84
13 Citizenship 20 25 24.07 19.04
14 Fairness 20.76 37.5 28.70 27.77
15 Leadership 6.92 0.96 2.77 5.55
16 Forgiveness 11.53 20.19 19.44 11.90
17 Modesty 10 6.73 10.18 7.14
18 Prudence 11.53 9.61 9.25 11.90
19 Self regulation 8.46 8.65 5.55 11.11
20 Appreciation of beauty 31.53 27.88 36.11 23.80
21 Gratitude 30 24.03 29.62 24.60
22 Hope
20.76 17.30 20.37 18.25
23 Humor 17.69 24.03 23.14 18.25
24 Spirituality 18.46 16.34 20.37 15.07

Table 3 : Signature Strengths (Top 5 virtue-wise Character Strengths) of Male- Female Adolescents
Ranking Male adolescents Female adolescents
1 Judgment Judgment
(Wisdom and Knowledge) (Wisdom and Knowledge)
2 Appreciation of beauty Kindness
(Transcendence) (Humanity)
3 Curiosity Fairness
(Wisdom and Knowledge) (Justice)
4 Gratitude Bravery
(Transcendence) (Courage)
5 Bravery Appreciation of beauty
(Courage) (Transcendence)

Table 4: Signature Strengths (Top 5 virtue-wise Character Strengths) of Urban-Rural

Adolescents
Rankin Urban adolescents Rural adolescents
g
1 Judgment Judgment
(Wisdom and Knowledge) (Wisdom and Knowledge)
2 Kindness Kindness
(Humanity) (Humanity)
3 Appreciation of beauty Bravery
(Transcendence) (Courage)
4 Bravery (Courage) Persistence
Creativity (Wisdom and Knowledge) (Courage)
5 Gratitude Love (Humanity)
Character Strength Endorsement and Well Being.....
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(Transcendence) Fairness (Justice)

Table 5: Relationship between Character Strengths and Well-Being

S. No. Character Strength Correlation Significance
Wisdom and Knowledge
1 Creativity .142* 0.029
2 Curiosity .48 0.462
3 Judgment / Critical thinking .125 0.055
4 Love of learning .153* 0.019
5 Perspective .265** 0.000
Courage
6 Bravery .117 0.075
7 Persistence .249** 0.000
8 Authenticity/Honesty .314** 0.000
9 Zest .336** 0.000
Humanity
10 Love .184** 0.005
11 Kindness .093 0.155
12 Social intelligence .202** 0.002
Justice
13 Citizenship .181** 0.005
14 Fairness .133* 0.043
15 Leadership .109 0.095
Temperance
16 Forgiveness .127 0.052
17 Modesty -.049 0.460
18 Prudence .152* 0.020
19 Self regulation .218** 0.001
Transcendence
20 Appreciation of beauty .005 0.936
21 Gratitude .104 0.112
22 Hope .283** 0.000
23 Humor .208** 0.001
24 Spirituality .048 0.461
* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed), ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed )

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