Character strengths and life satisfaction

Seminar paper from the year 2017 in the subject Psychology - Developmental Psychology, grade: 2,0, University of Kassel, language: English, abstract: Character strengths are more or less stable personality traits and contribute to a fulfilling life. This web-based study aims to determine the factorial structure of character strengths and investigate the relationship between character strengths and life satisfaction regarding gender and age in an adult German sample (N = 423). Measures used are the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS) and the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). Four factors of character strengths were found through factor analysis: intellectual strengths, interpersonal strengths, emotional-spiritual strengths and strengths of restraint. All factors of character strengths correlated with life satisfaction with emotional-spiritual strengths being the highest. Women had higher scores on emotional-spiritual strengths whereas men had higher scores on intellectual strengths. Higher age was associated with higher scores on emotional-spiritual strengths and higher life satisfaction. Calculated separately for each age group the relation between character strengths and life satisfaction was mildly moderated by gender.