Finding character strengths through loss: an extension of Peterson and Seligman (2003)
People can experience positive changes even in the midst of adversity and loss. We investigated character strengths following three recent shooting tragedies. Using an Internet database of respondents to the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS), we compared responses from three groups of...
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| Format: | Article |
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Taylor & Francis
2014
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37059/ |
| _version_ | 1848795384151801856 |
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| author | Schueller, Stephen M. Jayawickreme, Eranda Blackie, Laura E.R. Forgeard, Marie, J.C. Roepke, Ann Marie |
| author_facet | Schueller, Stephen M. Jayawickreme, Eranda Blackie, Laura E.R. Forgeard, Marie, J.C. Roepke, Ann Marie |
| author_sort | Schueller, Stephen M. |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | People can experience positive changes even in the midst of adversity and loss. We investigated character strengths following three recent shooting tragedies. Using an Internet database of respondents to the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS), we compared responses from three groups of participants (N = 31,429) within close proximity of each event: those who completed it eight months prior to the event, and one month and two months after. Results suggested that for one of the events, participants who completed the VIA-IS after the event showed slightly different levels of self-reported character strengths compared to participants who completed the VIA-IS before the event, with some mean levels higher and others lower. The observed differences in character strengths were inconsistent across follow-up periods, and effect sizes were small (d values from –0.13 to 0.15). These findings raise questions about whether and how tragedies might catalyze differences in character strengths. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:31:14Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-37059 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:31:14Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-370592020-05-04T16:47:31Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37059/ Finding character strengths through loss: an extension of Peterson and Seligman (2003) Schueller, Stephen M. Jayawickreme, Eranda Blackie, Laura E.R. Forgeard, Marie, J.C. Roepke, Ann Marie People can experience positive changes even in the midst of adversity and loss. We investigated character strengths following three recent shooting tragedies. Using an Internet database of respondents to the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS), we compared responses from three groups of participants (N = 31,429) within close proximity of each event: those who completed it eight months prior to the event, and one month and two months after. Results suggested that for one of the events, participants who completed the VIA-IS after the event showed slightly different levels of self-reported character strengths compared to participants who completed the VIA-IS before the event, with some mean levels higher and others lower. The observed differences in character strengths were inconsistent across follow-up periods, and effect sizes were small (d values from –0.13 to 0.15). These findings raise questions about whether and how tragedies might catalyze differences in character strengths. Taylor & Francis 2014-05-29 Article PeerReviewed Schueller, Stephen M., Jayawickreme, Eranda, Blackie, Laura E.R., Forgeard, Marie, J.C. and Roepke, Ann Marie (2014) Finding character strengths through loss: an extension of Peterson and Seligman (2003). Journal of Positive Psychology, 10 (1). pp. 53-63. ISSN 1743-9779 Character strengths Posttraumatic growth VIA-IS Development Traumatic events http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17439760.2014.920405 doi:10.1080/17439760.2014.920405 doi:10.1080/17439760.2014.920405 |
| spellingShingle | Character strengths Posttraumatic growth VIA-IS Development Traumatic events Schueller, Stephen M. Jayawickreme, Eranda Blackie, Laura E.R. Forgeard, Marie, J.C. Roepke, Ann Marie Finding character strengths through loss: an extension of Peterson and Seligman (2003) |
| title | Finding character strengths through loss: an extension of Peterson and Seligman (2003) |
| title_full | Finding character strengths through loss: an extension of Peterson and Seligman (2003) |
| title_fullStr | Finding character strengths through loss: an extension of Peterson and Seligman (2003) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Finding character strengths through loss: an extension of Peterson and Seligman (2003) |
| title_short | Finding character strengths through loss: an extension of Peterson and Seligman (2003) |
| title_sort | finding character strengths through loss: an extension of peterson and seligman (2003) |
| topic | Character strengths Posttraumatic growth VIA-IS Development Traumatic events |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37059/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37059/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37059/ |