Character Strengths as Complementary Predictors of Anxiety Symptoms
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Character Strengths as Complementary Predictors of Anxiety Symptoms Peter G. Mezo 1
& Jon
D. Elhai 1
Received: 27 May 2019 / Accepted: 9 September 2020/ # The International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS) and Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Introduction Character strengths, such as leadership or creativity, have been identified within positive psychology as a class of individual difference psychological and behavioral mechanisms that promote adaptiveness and well-being (Peterson and Seligman 2004; Park and Peterson 2009; Baer 2015). The identification and elaboration of putative character strengths have been primarily theory-driven and have been organized in a corresponding fashion with putative character virtues, or widely agreed upon salutary moral characteristics, as their source (Peterson and Seligman 2004). There is evidence for the validity of the character strengths and virtues typology (Ruch and Proyer 2015; McGrath 2015; for an alternative perspective on cross-cultural applicability, see Banicki 2014). Moreover, character strengths individually and in the aggregate have accumulated considerable empirical support for their value in decreasing distress and enhancing quality of life and coping (Park and Peterson 2009; Gustems-Carnicer and Calderón 2016; Höfer et al. 2019). However, the exact nature of the latent relationships amongst character strengths has been investigated less so, particularly in the context of related psychological variables. Moreover, many studies have used a specific operationalization of the various character strengths (i.e., the Values-in-Action Inventory of Strengths; VIA-IS; Peterson et al. 2005). Although this measurement consistency does not necessarily pose a threat to construct validity per se, given the presence of alternative validated measures of many of the character strengths, it may be beneficial to evaluate character strengths using diverse operationalizations. As such, there appears to be value in simultaneously examining alternative measures of specific character strengths and comparing and contrasting them with each other as well as with outcome variables. Thus, the goal of the present study is to consider the latent relationships between two aspects of character
* Peter G. Mezo [email protected]
1
Department of Psychology, University of Toledo, University Hall, 1064, Mail Stop 948, 2801 W. Bancroft St., Toledo, OH 43606-3390, USA
P. G. Mezo, J. D. Elhai
strengths, optimism and self-management, as they are related to each other and to the construct of anxiety. Within a positive psychology framework, optimism has been identified as a specific expression of the character strength of hope. In turn, the corresponding character virtue in the case of optimism and hope has been identified as transcendence (Peterson and Seligman 2004). Optimism may be defined as a personality characteristic that is expressed as a durable expectation that good things will occur in the future (Scheier and Carver 1985). Put another way, given the epistemological unpredictabi
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