Character Strengths and Specific Populations

Research Articles

• Activists: This study assessed character strengths among Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) in India, as part of a larger effort understand the intrinsic abilities of ASHAs and how these abilities can be effectively applied to reduce stress and burnout. A contextually validated version of the VIA survey called ‘Self-Perceived Strengths’ was administered to study participants and the results indicate, through an exploratory factor analysis, that the profile of strengths among ASHAs can be understood through a two-facture structure consisting of social pragmatism and spirituality (Khan et al., 2023). Khan, A., Sharma, L., Agrawal, S., Nayak, S. R., Shrivastava, R., Ahuja, R., ... & Bondre, A. P. (2023). Development of a character-strengths based coaching program for rural community health workers to address their work stress in Madhya Pradesh, India. Current Psychology, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-04673-3
• Aboriginal Australians: This conceptual paper advocates a paradigm shift in research on Aboriginal Australians, emphasizing the need to focus on understanding and promoting Aboriginal flourishing and well-being, instead of exacerbating Aboriginal disadvantage through a focus on 'fixing what is wrong' with Aboriginal Australians. It proposes integrating salutogenic and positive psychology concepts with complex systems theory, suggesting that combining Aboriginal and Western methodologies could effectively address persistent challenges and foster a strength-based, culturally aligned approach to Aboriginal well-being. Bullen, J., Hill-Wall, T., Anderson, K., Brown, A., Bracknell, C., Newnham, E. A., Garvey, G., & Waters, L. (2023). From deficit to strength-based Aboriginal health research—Moving toward flourishing. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(7), 5395. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20075395
• Art therapists: This survey study used the Global Assessment of Character Strengths, to analyze the key character strengths of creative arts therapists (CATs) in Canada, and found that kindness, curiosity, love of learning, and creativity are predominant among CATs, who use these strengths for cultivating adaptability, authenticity, and therapeutic rapport in their work. The study suggests these strengths help CATs in various roles to be more compassionate and effective, indicating a need for further research on how these strengths are utilized differently across roles (Braganza et al., 2023). Braganza, M. E., Darewych, O. H., Svendrovski, A., & Argyle, H. (2023). Examining character strengths of creative arts therapists in Canada: A survey study. Canadian Journal of Art Therapy, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1080/26907240.2023.2185300
• Refugees: This qualitative study explored how community college students' character strengths, conceptualized as reflective readiness, can enhance their structured reflection on refugee simulation experiences. Using the VIA Character Strengths Assessment and an adapted Guide for Reflective Practice, the study found that traits like curiosity, honesty, and perseverance aid students in effectively reflecting on these simulations, highlighting the importance of reflective readiness in understanding refugees' experiences, with recommendations for further research in this area (Anderson, Or, Greenberger et al., 2023). Anderson, A. M., Or, J., Greenberger, S. W., Maguire, K. R., & Martin, C. L. (2023). Reflective readiness: character strengths for effective reflection on refugee simulations. Reflective Practice, 1-15. DOI: 10.1080/14623943.2023.2183189
• Refugees: This convergent mixed-method study found significant increases in community college students’ character strengths of bravery, curiosity, fairness, judgment, kindness, love of learning, social intelligence, and zest after they participated in a refugee simulation that was designed to raise awareness about the rehoming process experienced by refugees. The transformative nature of these simulations, reflected through the study’s qualitative results, also suggests their effectiveness in enhancing character development and shifting perspectives towards refugees (Anderson, Or, Maguire, et al., 2023). Anderson, A. M., Or, J., Maguire, K. R., Greenberger, S. W., Martin, C. L., & Chavez, T. E. (2023). Transforming Character of Community College Students Through Refugee Simulations. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 1-14.
• Teachers: This quasi-experimental study investigated how strengths interventions can enhance the thriving and performance of teachers, particularly older ones, by helping them identify, use, and develop their strengths. Longitudinal survey data suggest that such interventions improve vitality and performance in teachers over 46 years old, with no significant effects observed for younger teachers, underscoring the potential benefits of tailored strengths-based approaches for older educators (Tobias et al., 2023). Tobias, V. Y., van Woerkom, M., Meyers, M. C., Runhaar, P., & Bakker, A. B. (2023). Thriving on Strengths: Effects of a Strengths Intervention for Younger and Older Teachers. Journal of Happiness Studies, 24(3), 1121-1144. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-023-00638-2
• Teachers: This study explored the generational differences in character strengths among 7,938 educators between the ages of 18 and 75, revealing variations across different age groups. in the strengths of love, spirituality, love of learning, gratitude, and humor. Key findings include a decline in curiosity among teachers born between 1970 and 1979 and reduced spirituality in the 1992–2002 generation, highlighting the importance of considering generational factors in developing strategies to enhance teachers' personal and professional potential (Rean, Stavtsev, & Shevchenko, 2022). Rean, A., Stavtsev, A., & Shevchenko, A. (2022). Personal strengths (VIA model) among teachers of different generations. Psychology, 12(4), 507–526. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu16.2022.408
• Tourists: Using a mixed-methods approach with data from 389 US adults, this study highlights how general tourism experiences can promote well-being through the cultivation of character strengths. The study’s results identify how tourism can serve as a unique strengths incubator that enhances specific character strengths, providing a new perspective on the eudaimonic benefits of tourism that can be used to guide the design of strengths-based tourism experiences (Zhang, 2022). Zhang, Y. (2022). Tourism: A unique character strengths incubator. Tourism Analysis, 28(2). DOI: 10.3727/108354222X16584499445996
• Tourists: Through in-depth interviews and theory triangulation from both positive psychology and serious leisure, this research illuminates the role of character strengths in personal transformation during leisure activities and proposes an integrative conceptual framework for enhancing memorable and meaningful leisure experiences (MMEs). Findings inform the development of a strengths-based personal informatics framework for leisure and tourism by highlighting the integral role of character strengths in facilitating MMEs at different stages of leisure activities and identifying three aspects of strengths usage: strengths well spent, reflection and introspection, and anticipation of the future self (Wan et al., 2022). Wan, C. K. B., de Bont, C. J., Hekkert, P., & Chow, K. K. (2022). Towards a Strengths-Based Personal Informatics Framework for Transformative Tourism Experiences: A Phenomenological Study on Serious Leisure Practitioners. In Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2022: Proceedings of the ENTER 2022 eTourism Conference, January 11–14, 2022 (pp. 331-342). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94751-4_30.
• Tourists: This study investigated how technology-mediated journaling can support memorable and meaningful tourism experiences (MMEs) by incorporating character strengths into the design of a digital journaling platform aimed at constructing meaningful narratives. The study, which involved ten participants who each created at least five MME narratives from their past journeys, found that reflecting on the character strengths drawn upon in MMEs promoted deepened self-awareness, allowed participants to connect their behaviors with their personality traits and implicit values, and facilitated the unearthing of new meanings (Wan et al., 2021). Wan, C. K. B., de Bont, C. J., Hekkert, P., & Chow, K. K. (2021). Finding meaning through travel journaling: a strength-based approach. In Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2021: Proceedings of the ENTER 2021 eTourism Conference, January 19–22, 2021 (pp. 137-149). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65785-7_12
• Public housing tenants: This study used interviews with open and closed-ended questions to examine the strengths and skills possessed by public housing tenants, as well as the opportunities offered by their environment to use them. Findings suggest that a diversity of strengths and skills exist within this population, but also indicate a need for interventions specifically tailored to low-income populations such as public housing tenants, since participants quantitatively evaluated the available opportunities to use their strengths and skills as only moderately satisfying (Radziszewski et al., 2022). Radziszewski, S., Giroux, A., Lapointe, I., Montiel, C., Coulombe, S., & Houle, J. (2022). Public housing tenants’ strengths and skills and available opportunities in their residential environment to put them in action. Journal of Poverty, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/10875549.2022.2128977
• Military: To identify the character strengths that are most conducive to effective leadership in the military, this study assessed which character strengths Czech Army cadets and professional soldiers perceived in the best officers they reported serving under, while also examining how these perceptions vary across soldiers at different stages of their careers, and how much they overlap with the same soldiers’ ratings of their own strengths. Findings indicate a strong overlap of best officers’ character profiles in all groups, with subordinates rating honesty, leadership, perspective, teamwork, fairness, creativity, love of learning, and zest highest in their chosen officers (Herman et al., 2022). Heřman, O., Mac Gillavry, D. W., Höschlová, E., & Ullrich, D. (2022). Character strengths of Czech army excellent officers as perceived by cadets and soldiers serving in reconnaissance units. Military Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1093/milmed/usac253
• LGBTQ+: This study explored how strength-based parenting (SBP) interventions can enhance the capacity of parents with children who identify as non-heterosexual/LGBTQ+ to develop psychological growth and a stronger parent-child bond. Results indicate that the SBP intervention facilitated identity exploration, empathy, and cognitive flexibility in parents, while also bolstering trust and appreciation in the parent-child relationship (Zavala & Waters, 2022). Zavala, C., & Waters, L. (2022). “It’s a family matter”: A strengths-based intervention for parents of sexual minority individuals. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health, 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/19359705.2022.2113948
• Abuse survivors: When comparing college students with and without history of childhood abuse, forgiveness, appreciation of beauty/excellence, and gratitude were significantly lower among those with an abuse history (Moore, 2011).
  Moore, W. (2011). An investigation of character strengths among college attendees with and without a history of child abuse. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering, 71(8-B), 5137.
• African Americans: Reviews a myriad of character strengths from the VIA Classification and highlighting what research studies have been conducted on each for African American populations. Some character strengths discussed include love, spirituality, self-regulation, teamwork, fairness, perseverance, hope, gratitude, creativity, and humor (Mattis et al., 2016).
  Mattis, J. S., Simpson, N. G., Powell, W., Anderson, R. E., Kimbro, L. R., & Mattis, J. H. (2016). Positive psychology in African Americans. In E. C. Chang, C. A. Downey, J. K. Hirsch, & N. J. Lin (Eds.), Cultural, racial, and ethnic psychology book series. Positive psychology in racial and ethnic groups: Theory, research, and practice (p. 83–107). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/14799-005
• Art therapists and students of art: curiosity, appreciation of beauty/excellence (Riddle & Riddle, 2007).
  Riddle, J. A., & Riddle, H. M. (2007). Men and art therapy: A connection through strengths. Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 24(1), 10-15.
• Athletes/soccer players: An 8-week, controlled intervention program containing 38 activities/themes based on the VIA Classification model, among soccer athletes in Spain, found positive benefits for seasonal performance, satisfaction, and time feeling happy (Tomé Lourido et al., 2021). Tomé Lourido, D., Flórez Domínguez, E. A., Fraga García, L., Salanova, M., Sors, F., & Murgia, M. (2021). DÉPORVIDA: A character strengths positive intervention among young soccer players. Sport Sciences for Health. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-021-00859-z
• College students: humor, love, kindness, honesty, and social intelligence were most endorsed (Karris & Craighead, 2012).
  Karris, M., A., & Craighead, W. E. (2012). Differences in character among U.S. college students. Individual Differences Research 10(2), 69-80.
• Diverse populations: Researchers introduced the strengths-based inclusive theory of work which integrates counseling psychology with vocational psychology, strengths-based perspectives, multiculturalism, and social justice (Owens, Allan, & Flores, 2019). A follow-up article discusses strengths, hope, and other positive psychology interventions and recommendations in career and work counseling contexts for diverse populations (Owens, Flores, Kopperson, & Allan, 2019).
  Owens, R. L., Flores, L. Y., Kopperson, C., & Allan, B. A. (2019). Infusing positive psychological interventions into career counseling for diverse populations. The Counseling Psychologist, 47(2), 291-314. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000019861608
  Owens, R. L., Allan, B. A., & Flores, L. Y. (2019). The strengths-based inclusive theory of work. The Counseling Psychologist, 47(2), 222-265. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000019859538
• Farmers: In a study of the character strengths of smallholder farmers (who produce a substantial amount of the food supply in many developing nations) in Senegal, the strengths of creativity and judgment/critical thinking were significant linked with drip irrigation adoption (Bukchin & Kerret, 2020).
  Bukchin, S., & Kerret, D. (2020). Character strengths and sustainable technology adoption by smallholder farmers. Heliyon, 6(8), e04694
• Geriatrics: Interventions involving gratitude, curiosity, courage, altruism, optimism, meaning, and other strength-based areas were delivered to 74 older adults in nursing homes and community centers. Reduced depression and increased happiness, gratitude, and life satisfaction were found (Ho, Yeung, & Kwok, 2014).
  Ho, H. C., Y., Yeung, D. Y., & Kwok, S. Y. C. L. (2014). Development and evaluaton of the positive psychology intervention for older adults. Journal of Positive Psychology, 9(3), 187-197. DOI: 10.1080/17439760.2014.888577.
• Graduate students: Curiosity, love, kindness, social intelligence, and honesty were most endorsed; the virtues of humanity, wisdom, and justice were the highest endorsed. A qualitative analysis revealed several core themes: the power of strengths; the value of a strengths-based approach; the complexity of strengths-based work; and strengths born from challenge and adversity (Fialkov & Haddad, 2012).
  Fialkov, C., & Haddad, D. (2012). Appreciative clinical training. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 6(4), 204-210.
• Homeless: social intelligence, kindness, perseverance, honesty, and humor were most endorsed, whereas curiosity, humility, appreciation of beauty/excellence, forgiveness, teamwork, and gratitude were infrequently or never mentioned (Tweed, Biswas-Diener, & Lehman, 2012)..
  Tweed, R. G., Biswas-Diener, R., & Lehman, D. R. (2012). Self-perceived strengths among people who are homeless. Journal of Positive Psychology, 7(6), 481-492.
• IT Professionals:In a study of Information Technology professionals, curiosity, kindness, judgment, and love of learning were the most prevalent strengths while appreciation of beauty, spirituality, forgiveness, social intelligence, and perspective were the least prevalent (Wolff et al., 2021).
  Wolff, L., Porto Noronha, A. P., & Andretta, I. (2021). IT Professionals: A study of character strengths. Aletheia, 54(1), 45-54. https://doi.org/10.29327/226091.54.1-5
• Law students: Displayed a similar profile as other highly educated groups – top strengths were judgment, curiosity, love of learning, and fairness. Character strengths related positively to undergraduate grades but negatively to LSAT scores and law school grades (Kern & Bowling, 2015).
  Kern, M. L., & Bowling, D. S. (2015). Character strengths and academic performance in law students. Journal of Research in Personality, 55, 25–29
• Leaders: Authentic leadership theory (self-awareness, relational transparency, balanced processing, internal moral perspective) was examined with character strengths among leaders in Boy Scouts of America, and some positive correlations were found. In addition, older leaders were significantly lower in hope, love, bravery, and zest, while longer-tenure leaders were lower in bravery, teamwork, honesty, perseverance, and judgment/critical thinking (Harvath, 2014).
  Harvath, A. R. (2014). Leader character strengths and authentic leadership: Seeking opportunities for authentic leadership development through character development. Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences, 75(3-A(E)), Np.
• Leisure: A study of character strengths and leisure (context of charity sport events) found that kindness, teamwork, hope, and zest were core, event-related strengths, offering support to the insight that leisure provides an important context for activating specific strengths and that particular strengths can be tapped into to increase well-being (Coghlan & Filo, 2016).
  Coghlan, A., & Filo, K. (2016). Bringing personal character strengths into the production of the leisure experience. Leisure Sciences, 38(2), 100-117. DOI:10.1080/01490400.2015.1087355
• Military:Article examines the link between character strengths and stoicism, examining how character strengths can lead to being a “reflective warrior” who is guided by wisdom and determined action (Stricker et al., 2017). Validated previous findings from studies in the Norwegian Military Academy as to the most important character strengths for military officers (Boe & Bang, 2017). One study looked at the Australian Army Special Forces operators and support personnel, finding that character strengths of integrity, teamwork, and judgment were ranked significantly above random assignment (Gayton et al 2016). Among the Australian Army Special Forces applicants, the highest character strengths were integrity/honesty, teamwork, perseverance, and love of learning, and the likelihood of passing the selection process was 2.6 times greater when teamwork was among the top strengths compared with teamwork not being listed. Interestingly, hardiness ratings revealed no significant differences (Gayton & Kehoe, 2015). Examined which character strengths were most important in developing cadets in the Norwegian Military Academy. The character strengths of leadership, honesty, perseverance, bravery, teamwork, judgment, social intelligence, self-regulation and creativity were selected by both military and expert groups; in addition, perspective, fairness, and love of learning were chosen by the military group (Boe, Bang, & Nilsen, 2015). Officers in the Indian army and civilian managers scored high in all 24 strengths but significant differences arose between the two groups on 14 strengths (Banth & Singh, 2011). Military students (in Argentina) reported higher character strengths scores than civilians; in addition, cadets with high academic or military performance in their final year had higher levels of perseverance than low-performing cadets in their final year (Cosentino & Castro Solano, 2012). Honesty, hope, bravery, perseverance, and teamwork in a sample of U.S. and Norwegian military samples (Matthews et al., 2006).
  Banth, S., & Singh, P. (2011). Positive character strengths in middle-rung army officers and managers in civilian sector. Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology, 37(2), 320-324.
  Boe, O., & Bang, H. (2017). The big 12: The most important character strengths for military officers. Athens Journal of Social Sciences, 4(2), 161-173.
  Boe, O., Bang, H., & Nilson, F. A. (2015). Selecting the most relevant character strengths for Norwegian Army officers: An educational tool.  Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 197, 801-809. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.07.188
  Consentino, A. C., & Castro, A. (2012). Character strengths: A study of Argentinean soldiers. Spanish Journal of Psychology, 15(1), 199-215.
  Gayton, S.D., Kehoe, E. J. (2016). The character strengths of special forces personnel: insights for civilian health care practitioners. Military Medicine, 181(9), 996–1001. https://doi.org/10.7205/MILMED-D-15-00440  
  Gayton, S. D., & Kehoe, E. J. (2015). Character strengths and hardiness of Australian army special forces applicants. Military Medicine, 180(8), 857-862. DOI: 10.7205/MILMED-D-14-00527
  Matthews, M. D., Eid, J., Kelly, D., Bailey, J. K. S., & Peterson, C. (2006). Character strengths and virtues of developing military leaders: An international comparison. Military Psychology, 18(Suppl.), S57–S68.
  Stricker, A. G., Arenas, F. J., Westhauser, T. C., & Hawkins-Scribner, T. (2017). Positive education of stoic warriors as reflective practitioners in the profession of arms. Reflective Practice, 18(1), 133-146 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2016.1251415
• Musicians: Musicians scored significantly higher than non-musicians on self-regulation and appreciation of beauty/excellence and lower than amateurs and lower than non-musicians on teamwork, fairness, and leadership (Güsewell & Ruch, 2015).
  Güsewell, A., & Ruch, W. (2015). Character strength profiles of musicians and non-musicians. Journal of Arts and Humanities, 4(6), 1-17.
• Older Adults: In a semi-structured interview study of older adults, one of three core themes that emerged related to the use of character strengths to facilitate coping strategies and enable thriving (Russo-Netzer & Littman-Ovadia, 2019). Study using semi-structured interviewing of older adults in New Zealand and found a wide range of character strengths were identified. The researchers found it was challenging for older adults to talk about their strengths, and that storytelling was an important avenue for uncovering strengths. This study highlights the value of formal character strengths measurement with the VIA Survey (Waterworth et al., 2019).
  Russo-Netzer, P., & Littman-Ovadia, H. (2019). "Something to live for": Experiences, resources and personal strengths in late adulthood. Frontiers in Psychology, 10. http://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02452
  Waterworth, S., Raphael, D., Gott, M., Arroll, B., & Jarden, A. (2019). Uncovering strengths within community dwelling older adults: What does it mean for health care practice? Health & Social Care in the Community. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.12924
• Pilots: The highest strengths among 177 Israeli airline pilots were honesty, judgment/critical thinking, prudence, love, fairness, creativity, and perseverance, with bottom strengths of spirituality, zest, bravery, love of learning, and appreciation of beauty/excellence (Littman-Ovadia & Raas-Rothschild, 2018). Littman-Ovadia, H., & Raas-Rothschild, E. (2018). Character strengths of airline pilots: Explaining life and job satisfaction and predicting CRM performance. Psychology, 9, 2083-2102. https://doi.org/10.4236/psych.2018.98119
• Practitioners in human performance improvement: Study of human performance improvement (HPI) practitioners who endorsed 19 of the 24 character strengths significantly higher than a sample of working adults. The HPI group identified 14 character strengths as applicable to HPI practice, where the most-applicable strengths were leadership, honesty, love of learning, perspective, social intelligence, creativity, and judgment (Wise, 2018).
  Wise, G. M. (2018). The role of character strengths in expert HPI practice: A quantitative examination. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering, 78(9-B(E)).
• Religious people: Those who practice their religion score higher on kindness, love, hope, forgiveness, and spirituality, in addition to a more meaningful life, compared with those who have a religion but don’t practice it and the non-religious (Berthold & Ruch, 2014).
  Berthold, A., & Ruch, W. (2014). Satisfaction with life and character strengths of non-religious and religious people: It’s practicing one’s religion that makes the difference. Frontiers in Psychology. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00876
• Same-sex couples: Examines strengths that could be ascribed to the LGBT experience, especially in the context of training and practice (Lytle et al., 2014; Phillips, 2014).
  Lytle, M. C., Vaughan, M. D., Rodriguez, E. M., & Shmerler, D. L. (2014). Working with LGBT individuals: Incorporating positive psychology into training and practice. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 1(4), 335-347. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000064
  Phillips, J. C. (2014). Research ideas for the three-pillar model as applied to LGBT issues in graduate training. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 1(4), 353-355. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000071
• Service leadership/Student leadership: A university course in Hong Kong examined the integration of character strengths within the service leader (Shek, Sun, & Liu, 2015), arguing character strengths provide the most inherent power for fulfilling particular tasks and for ongoing self-development (Shek & Yu, 2015). A pilot study found that service leaders improved in behavioral and moral competence, character strengths, positive youth development qualities, and overall service leadership qualities (Shek, Yu, & Ma, 2014).
  Shek, D. T. L., Sun, R. C. F., & Liu, T. T. (2015). Character strengths in Chinese philosophies: Relevance to service leadership. International Journal on Disability and Human Development, 14(4), 309-318
  Shek, D. T. L., & Yu, L. (2015). Character strengths and service leadership. International Journal on Disability and Human Development, 14(4), 299-307
  Shek, D. T. L., Yu, L., & Ma, C. M. S. (2014). The students were happy, but did they change positively? International Journal on Disability and Human Development, 13(4), 505-511. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/ijdhd-2014-0348
• South African "Born Fee" generation: Hospitality industry trainees were examined and found to rank highest in honesty, love, and fairness, with love of learning and self-regulation as the lowest strengths; females ranked honesty highest while males ranked hope as highest (Geyser & Geldenhuys, 2019).
  Geyser, I., & Geldenhuys, M. (2019). Profiling work-related signature strengths of “Born Free” South Africans: A gender perspective, Journal of Psychology in Africa, 29(4), 366-374, http://doi.org/10.1080/14330237.2019.1647495
• Sport: A study of VIA Survey score changes before, during, and after a European football tournament to assess the effects of character strengths in a society (host country). The study found preliminary hints that character strengths might be malleable on a national level, as a consequence of both positive and negative events (Proyer et al., 2014). Another study in the context of sport identified 10 central strategies for sport psychology consultants to deploy with athletes, one of which was to develop an athlete’s signature strengths (Beaumont, Maynard, & Butt, 2015).
  Proyer, R. T., Gander, F, Wellenzohn, S., & Ruch, W. (2014). The European football championship as a positive festivity: Changes in strengths of character before, during, and after the Euro 2008 in Switzerland. In H. A. Marujo & L. M. Neto (Eds.). Positive nations and communities: Collective, qualitative and cultural-sensitive processes in positive psychology (pp. 119-134). New York, NY: Springer Science + Business Media. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6869-7_7
  Beaumont, C., Maynard, I. W., & Butt, J. (2015). Effective ways to develop and maintain robust sport-confidence: Strategies advocated by sport psychology consultants. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 7(3), 301-318. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10413200.2014.996302
• Teachers: The highest strengths among teachers in Slovenia were fairness, kindness, honesty, and love while the lowest strengths were creativity, humor, and love of learning (Gradisek, 2012).
  Gradisek, P. (2012). Character strengths and life satisfaction of Slovenian in-service and pre-service teachers. CEPS Journal, 2(3), 167-180.

Updated December 2023