(PS10-71) Differences in Character Strengths, Well-being, and Emotional Symptoms Across the Lifespan

Background: Character strengths are positively and morally valued traits that are stable, cognitively, emotionally or behaviorally manifested and felt as authentic by the person who owns them. These traits not only correlate with enhanced well-being, but also show a negative association with psychopathological symptoms. Peterson and Seligman (2004) proposed a classification of 24 character strengths grouped into 6 virtues (wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence). Despite the established link between character strengths and mental health, variations in their relevance and utility at different life stages suggest a dynamic relationship across the lifespan. In particular, while evidence has shown that older people show higher well-being and lower psychopathology, evidence on the differences in character strengths is still limited.



Aim: To analyze the differences in character strengths, well-being, and anxiety-depression in four age periods: “twenties” young adulthood (18-24 years old), “thirties” young adulthood (25-35 years old), middle adulthood (35-50 years old), and late adulthood (50-65 years old).



Methods: 247 individuals (174 women; Age: M = 36.47; SD = 15.9) filled the VIA Inventory Strengths-Positive (VIA-IS-P, McGrath et al., 2019) and questionnaires related to well-being (MHC-SF, Keyes, 2008), anxiety (OASIS, Norman et al., 2006), and depression (ODSIS, Bentley et al., 2014) via an online survey.



Results: Three MANCOVAs were conducted to analyze the effect of the age periods on character strengths, well-being, as well as anxiety-depression symptoms, including the sex as covariate. Results revealed that there was a significant age group effect on character strengths (V = .569, F(72, 663) = 2.153, p < .001, η²_p = .190), well-being (V = .161, F(9, 726) = 4.568, p < .001, η²_p = .054) and anxiety-depression symptoms (V = 358, F(6, 484) = 17.587, p < .001, η²_p = .179). Significant differences were found in the strengths of Integrity, Perseverance and Zest (virtue of courage), Self-regulation and Forgiveness (virtue of temperance), Gratitude and Hope (virtue of transcendence), and Love of Learning (virtue wisdom and knowledge). Moreover, there were differences in well-being and anxiety-depressive symptoms. Overall, the “twenties” young adults showed the lowest levels in the strengths and well-being, while they scored the highest in depression-anxiety compared to the rest of the age groups -specially, in comparison to the individuals in the late adulthood-.

Discussion: The findings underscore the vulnerability of younger adults, who exhibit diminished character strengths, reduced well-being, and increased depression and anxiety symptoms compared to older adults. These findings call for the development of research and clinical interventions that are tailored to promote well-being and mitigate psychopathology, with an emphasis on fostering specific character strengths at different life stages.