Abstract
Four hundred and fiftynine students from 20 different high school classrooms in Michigan participated in focus group discussions about the character strengths included in the Values in Action Classification. Students were interested in the subject of good character and able to discuss with candor and sophistication instances of each strength. They were especially drawn to the positive traits of leadership, practical intelligence, wisdom, social intelligence, love of learning, spirituality, and the capacity to love and be loved. Students believed that strengths were largely acquired rather than innate and that these strengths developed through ongoing life experience as opposed to formal instruction. They cited an almost complete lack of contemporary role models exemplifying different strengths of character. Implications of these findings for the quantitative assessment of positive traits were discussed, as were implications for designing character education programs for adolescents. We suggest that peers can be an especially important force in encouraging the development and display of good character among youth.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
American Psychiatric Association (1994). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th edn.). American Psychiatric Association, Washington, DC.
Benson, P. L., Leffert, N., Scales, P. C., and Blyth, D. A. (1998). Beyond the & "Village" Rhetoric: Creating Health Communities for Children and Adolescents. Appl. Dev. Sci. 2: 138–159.
Catalano, R. F., Berglund, M. L., Ryan, J. A. M., Lonczak, H. S., and Hawkins, J. D. (1999). Positive Youth Development in the United States: Research Findings on Evaluations of Positive Youth Development Programs. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC.
Cawley, M. J., Martin, J. E., and Johnson, J. A. (2000). A virtues approach to personality. Pers. Ind. Differ. 28: 997–1013.
Crowne, D. P., and Marlowe, D. (1964). The Approval Motive: Studies in Evaluative Dependence. Wiley, New York.
Dahlsgaard, K., Peterson, C., and Seligman, M. E. P. (2001). Toward a classification of strengths and virtues: Lessons from history. Unpublished manuscript, University of Pennsylvania.
Desetta, A., and Wolin, S. (eds.) (2000). The Struggle to be Strong: True Stories by Teens About Overcoming Tough Times. Free Spirit, Minneapolis, MN.
Easterbrook, G. (2001). I'm OK, you're OK. The New Republic, March 5, pp. 20–23.
Greenberg, M., Domitrovich, C., and Bumbarger, B. (1999). Preventing Mental Disorders in School-Age Children. Center for Mental Health Services, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC.
Greenberger, E., Josselson, R., Knerr, C., and Knerr, B. (1975). The measurement and structure of psychosocial maturity. J. Youth Adolesc. 4: 127–143.
Jahoda, M. (1958). Current Concepts of Positive Mental Health. Basic Books, New York.
Kirby, D. (1997). No Easy Answers: Research and Findings on Programs to Reduce Teen Pregnancy. National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, Washington, DC.
Larson, R. W. (2000). Toward a psychology of positive youth development. Am. Psychol. 55: 150–183.
Leffert, N., Benson, P. L., Scales, P. C., Sharma, A. R., Drake, D. R., and Blyth, D. A. (1998). Developmental assets: Measurement and prediction of risk behaviors among adolescents. Appl. Dev. Sci. 2: 209–230.
Nathan, P. E., and Gorman, J. M. (1998). A Guide to Treatments That Work. Oxford University Press, New York.
Nisbett, R. E., and Wilson, T. D. (1977). Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes. Psychol. Rev. 84: 231–259.
Otten, E. H. (2000). Character education (Report No. EDO-SO-2000-7). ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies/Social Science Education, Bloomington, IN. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED-99-CO-0016).
Peterson, C., and Seligman, M. E. P., (manuscript in preparation). The VIA Classification of Strengths. Values in Action Institute, Cincinnati, OH.
Pittman, K. J. (1991), Promoting Youth Development: Strengthening the Role of Youth-serving and Community Organizations. U. S. Department of Agriculture Extension Services, Washington, DC.
Pittman, K. J. (2000, May 2). What youth need: Services, supports, and opportunities, the ingredients for youth. Paper presented at the White House Conference on Teenagers, Washington, DC, May 2, 2000.
Ryff, C. D., and Singer, B. (1996). Psychological well-being: Meaning, measurement, and implications for psychotherapy research. Psychother. Psychosom. 65: 14–23.
Scales, P. C., Benson, P. L., Leffert, N., and Blyth, D. A. (2000). Contributions of developmental assets to the prediction of thriving among adolescents. Appl. Dev. Sci. 4: 27–46.
Seligman, M. E. P. (1994). What You Can Change and What You Can't. Knopf, New York.
Seligman, M. E. P. (2002). Authentic Happiness. Free Press, New York.
World Health Organization (1990). International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (10th Rev.). World Health Organization, Geneva.
Yearley, L. H. (1990). Mencius and Aquinas: Theories of Virtue and Conceptions of Courage. University of New York Press, Albany, NY State.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Steen, T.A., Kachorek, L.V. & Peterson, C. Character Strengths Among Youth. Journal of Youth and Adolescence 32, 5–16 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021024205483
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021024205483