We hypothesized that the amount of positive experiences at work (job satis-faction, pleasure, engagement, meaning) is a function of the extent to which the situational circumstances at the workplace allow for the application of an individual's signature character strengths. For the description of the individual a reliable and valid instrument already exists, but not for the environment. Hence, the newly developed Applicability of Character Strengths Rating Scales (ACS-RS) with information on its reliability and validity were also presented. A sample of 1,111 adults filled in the ACS-RS and measures for possession of character strengths and positive experiences at work. The ACS-RS was reliable by means of internal consistency and inter-rater reliability. It proved to be valid in several ways being sensitive to: (a) the differences in the applicability of trait-relevant behavior in formal versus informal situations by showing higher applicability of the character strengths in the latter; (b) the differences between traits regarding their appli-cability across situations; (c) people's disposition to choose situations fitting their dispo-sitions by showing positive relationships between the degree of possession and applicability. Moreover, correlations between applicability of strengths and positive experiences increased with the individual centrality of the strengths. The more signature strengths were applied at the workplace, the higher the positive experiences at work. This study showed that character strengths matter in vocational environments irrespective of their content. Strengths-congruent activities at the workplace are important for positive experiences at work like job satisfaction and experiencing pleasure, engagement, and meaning fostered by one's job. Abstract We hypothesized that the amount of positive experiences at work (job satisfaction, pleasure, engagement, meaning) is a function of the extent to which the situational circumstances at the workplace allow for the application of an individual's signature character strengths. For the description of the individual a reliable and valid instrument already exists, but not for the environment. Hence, the newly developed Applicability of Character Strengths Rating Scales (ACS-RS) with information on its reliability and validity were also presented. A sample of 1,111 adults filled in the ACS-RS and measures for possession of character strengths and positive experiences at work. The ACS-RS was reliable by means of internal consistency and inter-rater reliability. It proved to be valid in several ways being sensitive to: (a) the differences in the applicability of trait-relevant behavior in formal versus informal situations by showing higher applicability of the character strengths in the latter; (b) the differences between traits regarding their applicability across situations; (c) people's disposition to choose situations fitting their dispositions by showing positive relationships between the degree of possession and applicability. Moreover, cor...

The Values in Action Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS; Peterson, Park, & Seligman, 2005a ) is an English-language self-report questionnaire that measures 24 widely-valued character strengths. The present paper describes the creation and adaptation of the German version of the VIA-IS and its peer-rating form using a sample of 1,674 adults. The 24 subscales had high reliability (median α = .77; median corrected item-total correlations = .45) and high stability across 9 months (median test-retest correlation = .73). The VIA-IS peer form also had high reliability (median α = .81). Self- and peer-ratings of strengths converged as expected (median correlation = .40), and on average ordered the strengths in the same way, correlating .88 across the 24 strengths. There were low to modest correlations of the VIA subscales with demographic variables. Neither the VIA-IS nor the VIA-IS Peer was strongly influenced by social desirability. Correlations with three different measures of subjective well-being replicated findings from earlier studies of the original English VIA-IS and supported the validity of the scale. Furthermore, relations to self-reported behavior and contentment with various aspects of life were modest but congruent with the meaning of the scales (e.g., higher endorsement of religion among spiritual participants, less cigarette smoking among participants with higher self-regulation). Overall, the German VIA-IS and VIA-IS Peer demonstrated good psychometric properties and promising validity evidence. These scales can be recommended for the assessment of strengths of character in the German-speaking world.

Familial aggregation and the effect of parenting styles on three dispositions toward ridicule and being laughed at were tested. Nearly 100 families (parents, their adult children, and their siblings) completed subjective questionnaires to assess the presence of gelotophobia (the fear of being laughed at), gelotophilia (the joy of being laughed at), and katagelasticism (the joy of laughing at others). A positive relationship between fear of being laughed at in children and their parents was found. Results for gelotophilia were similar but numerically lower; if split by gender of the adult child, correlations to the mother's gelotophilia exceeded those of the father. Katagelasticism arose independently from the scores in the parents but was robustly related to greater katagelasticism in the children's siblings. Gelotophobes remembered punishment (espe-cially from the mother), lower warmth and higher control from their parents (this was also found in the parents' recollections of their parenting style). The incidence of gelotophilia was unrelated to specific parenting styles, and katagelasticism exhibited only weak relations with pun-ishment. The study suggests a specific pattern in the rela-tion of the three dispositions within families and argues for a strong impact of parenting styles on gelotophobia but less so for gelotophilia and katagelasticism. Strengths at WorkThe present study investigates the role of applying the individual signature strengths at work for positive experiences at work (i.e., job satisfaction, pleasure, engagement, meaning) and calling. A sample of 111 employees from various occupations completed measures on character strengths, positive experiences at work, and calling. Co-workers (N = 111) rated the applicability of character strengths at work. Correlations between applicability of character strengths and positive experiences at work decreased with intra-individual centrality of strengths (ranked strengths from the highest to the lowest). Level of positive experiences and calling were higher when four to seven signature strengths were applied at work compared to less than four. Positive experiences partially mediated the effect of the number of applied signature strengths on calling.Implications for further research and practice will be discussed.

Personality traits have often been highlighted to relate to how people cope with stressful events. The present paper focuses on character strengths as positive personality traits and examines two basic assumptions that were derived from a core characteristic of character strengths (i.e., to determine how individuals deal with adversities): (1) character strengths correlate with coping and (2) buffer the effects of work-related stress on job satisfaction. Two different samples (i.e., a mixed sample representing various occupations [N = 214] and a nurses sample [N = 175]) filled in measures for character strengths, coping, work-related stress, and job satisfaction. As expected, intellectual, emotional, and interpersonal strengths were related to coping. Interpersonal strengths played a greater role for coping among nurses, as interactions with others are an essential part of their workday. Furthermore, intellectual strengths partially mediated the negative effect of work-related stress on job satisfaction. These findings open a new field for research on the role of personality in coping with work-related stress. Character strengths are trainable personal characteristics, and therefore valuable resources to improve coping with work-related stress and to decrease the negative effects of stress. Further research is needed to investigate this assumed causality.