Personality Strengths as Resilience: A One‐Year Multiwave Study

Abstract

We examined how personality strengths prospectively predict reactions to negative life events. Participants were 797 community adults from 42 countries. At five points over the course of 1 year, participants completed a series of questionnaires measuring seven personality strengths (hope, grit, meaning in life, curiosity, gratitude, control beliefs, and use of strengths), subjective well-being, and frequency and severity of negative life events. Using hierarchical linear modeling with assessment periods nested within participants, results from lagged analyses found that only hope emerged as a resilience factor. To illustrate the importance of using appropriate lagged analyses in resilience research, we ran nonlagged analyses; these results suggest that all seven personality strengths moderated the effect of negative life events on subjective well-being, with greater strengths associated with healthier outcomes. To provide evidence that personality strengths confer resilience, a prospective examination is needed with the inclusion of events and responses to them. The use of concurrent methodologies and analyses, which is the norm in psychology, often leads to erroneous conclusions. Hope, the ability to generate routes to reach goals and the motivation to use those routes, was shown to be particularly important in promoting resilience.

Toward a Positive Psychology of Immigrants

“…One criticism of strength-focused research is that strengths are often studied in isolation from one another, which has resulted in limited knowledge regarding how, and to what degree, such processes interact to affect well-being (Goodman, Disabato, Kashdan, & Machell, 2017). For instance, are immigrants with the strength of social intelligence more likely to form community networks and friendships?…”

The role of personality in posttraumatic stress disorder, trait resilience, and quality of life in people exposed to the Kiss nightclub fire

“…High positive affectivity and low negative affectivity were also related to posttraumatic growth in victims of violence [43]. The literature points out that some characteristics found in self-directed people are related to resilience, such as hope, hardiness, and optimism [25,44]. In longitudinal studies, positive emotion-focused coping (i.e., acceptance, positive reframing, and humor), having a purpose in life, active coping, and perceived social support were associated with better recovery from trauma [17,45,46].…”

Adolescent Versus Adult Explanations of Resilience Enablers

“…These include motivational factors (e.g., hopefulness, future orientation), cognitive competencies (e.g., executive function skills), emotional stability (e.g., positive emotions, emotional regulation), behavioral and social skill (e.g., agency, life skills, communication skills), and physical well-being (Masten, 2014; Tugade & Fredrickson, 2004). Subsequent resilience-focused work has clarified that hope is the only personality strength, which is a statistically significant predictor of adult resilience (Goodman, Disabato, Kashdan, & Machell, 2017).…”