Differences in self-reported character strengths across adolescence

Although typically considered a stable trait, character strengths may be subject to temporal changes. Whereas research has investigated these changes across adulthood, the pivotal period of adolescence remains relatively understudied. To identify potential developmental differences in character stre...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of adolescence (London, England.) England.), 2020-02, Vol.79 (1), p.1-10
Main Authors: Brown, Mitch, Blanchard, Tamar, McGrath, Robert E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescence
Adolescents
Character strengths
Child development
Developmental differences
Personality
Self report
Teenagers
VIA-Youth
Youth
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Summary:Although typically considered a stable trait, character strengths may be subject to temporal changes. Whereas research has investigated these changes across adulthood, the pivotal period of adolescence remains relatively understudied. To identify potential developmental differences in character strengths, we conducted a cross-sectional exploratory analysis of 24 Character strengths, assessed by the VIA-Youth, across youth between ages 10 and 17 from four highly represented countries (N = 12,871). The general pattern was for older adolescents to generate lower scores in many traits compared to younger adolescents. When considering gender as a potential moderator, girls, on average, scored higher on most strengths, but also showed more consistently lower scores across ages. Findings provide a nuanced understanding of developmental differences in character across adolescence in a large-scale study. We frame these findings in the context of recent work investigating how character strengths develop throughout adolescence and offer suggestions for future research and interventions.
ISSN:0140-1971
1095-9254
DOI:10.1016/j.adolescence.2019.12.008