Character strengths as protective factors against behavior problems in early adolescent

Qin, Cheng; Cheng, Xiaotong; Huang, Yuyan; Xu, Shuang; Liu, Kezhi; Tian, Mingyuan; Liao, Xiaoyuan; Zhou, Xinyi; Xiang, Bo; Lei, Wei; Chen, Jing

doi:10.1186/s41155-022-00217-z

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Research • Psicol. Reflex. Crit. 35 • 2022 • https://doi.org/10.1186/s41155-022-00217-z copy

Character strengths as protective factors against behavior problems in early adolescent

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract

Character strengths could effectively prevent negative psychological outcomes in adults. However, there was little research conducted among early adolescents. The present study aimed to explore character strengths that were independently related to fewer behavior problems in early adolescents. In total, 521 early adolescents (mean age 10.92 ± 0.04, range 10–12 years) were recruited from primary schools in Sichuan, China. Character strengths were measured using the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths for Youth (VIA-Youth). Behavior problems were measured using the Conners Parent Symptom Questionnaire (PSQ). The results showed that behavior problems were negatively correlated with character strengths ( r = −0.14 to −0.3, p < 0.05 Bonferroni corrected). Character strengths explained a significant proportion of additional variance (14–22%) in five types of behavior problems after controlling the effect of demographic factors (residence, left-behind experiences, maternal education level). Moreover, several specific character strengths showed an independent contribution ( β = −0.34 to −0.14 for self-regulation, perseverance, zest, humility, and leadership; β = 0.21 to 0.34, for hope; all p < 0.05) to behavior problems. Our study revealed that character strengths were protective factors against behavior problems in early adolescents.

Keywords:
Character strengths; Behavior problems; Positive psychology; Early adolescent

Variables	Options	n (%)	M±SD
Gender (boy vs. girl)	Boy	250 (48)
Age (years)	10	189 (36.3)
	11	185 (35.5)
	12	147 (28.2)
Grade	4	168 (32.2)
	5	150 (28.8)
	6	203 (39)
Residence (urban vs.	Urban	308 (59.8)
rural)
Only-child or not	Only-child	213 (41.4)
Left-behind experience	Yes	121 (39.8)
Family structure	Two-parent family	131 (43.1)
	Multigenerational	118 (38.8)
	family
	Others	55 (18.1)
Maternal education	Primary or lower	46 (15.1)
level	Junior middle school	126 (41.4)
	Senior middle school	71 (23.4)
	College or higher	61 (20.1)
Paternal education	Primary or lower	47 (15.5)
level	Junior middle school	134 (44.1)
	Senior middle school	73 (24)
	College or higher	50 (16.4)
Behavior problem	Conduct problems		0.43 ± 0.39
	Learning problems		0.73 ± 0.58
	Psychosomatic		0.18 ± 0.30
	Impulsivity-hyperac-		0.53 ± 0.54
	tivity
	Anxiety		0.48 ± 0.46
	Hyperactivity index		0.53 ± 0.45

	M±SD	Skewness	Kurtosis	α	Average interitem correlation	Conduce problem	Learning problem	Psychosomatic	Impulsive-hyperactive	Anxiety	Hyperactive index
Appreciation of beauty and excellence	15.38±3.97	−0.56	−0.65	0.76	0.45	−0.20 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.21 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.11	−0.11	−0.15 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.21 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)
Bravery	15.14±3.82	−0.51	−0.66	0.76	0.44	−0.15 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.16 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.03	−0.07	−0.15 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.12
Creativity	14.01 ±4.17	−0.23	−0.90	0.80	0.50	−0.13	−0.19 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.06	−0.01	−0.14 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.12
Curiosity	14.85±3.81	−0.42	−0.69	0.74	0.41	−0.09	−0.16 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.02	−0.03	−0.11	−0.09
Fairness	15.25±3.90	−0.51	−0.70	0.77	0.45	−0.22 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.17 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.10	−0.17 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.15 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.19 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)
Forgiveness	11,75±3.01	−0.57	−0.83	0.80	0.58	−0.19 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.13	−0.13	−0.11	−0.11	−0.13
Gratitude	16.73±3.13	−0.82	−0.08	0.62	0.30	−0.21 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.19 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.09	−0.13	−0.09	−0.18 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)
Flonesty	11.26±3.12	−0.45	−0.88	0.76	0.53	−0.27 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.20 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.10	−0.18 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.12	−0.21 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)
Flope	15.41 ±3.74	−0.63	−0.43	0.72	0.39	−0.14 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.14 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.01	−0.06	−0.11	−0.11
Humility	12.96±3.64	0.04	−0.61	0.52	0.21	−0.18 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.21 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.05	−0.18 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.08	−0.20 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)
Flumor	14.37±4.38	−0.36	−0.92	0.77	0.57	−0.13	−0.15 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.06	−0.07	−0.16 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.13
Judgment	14.21 ±4.18	−0.29	−0.79	0.82	0.53	−0.22 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.24 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.08	−0.11	−0.10	−0.19 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)
Kindness	14.41 ±4.53	−0.32	−0.58	0.66	0.34	−0.14 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.09	−0.02	−0.10	−0.07	−0.10
Leadership	12.17±4.34	0.13	−0.86	0.82	0.52	−0.21 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.25 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.07	−0.15 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.18 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.21 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)
Love	14.75±3.82	−0.48	−0.54	0.71	0.37	−0.24 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.21 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.16 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.16 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.17 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.21 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)
Love of learning	15.03±4.06	−0.48	−0.81	0.84	0.56	−0.13	−0.19 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.05	−0.05	−0.10	−0.12
Perseverance	14.68±3.81	−0.44	−0.51	0.78	0.47	−0.22 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.28 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.14 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.14 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.14 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.22 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)
Perspective	13.68±3.95	−0.13	−0.84	0.78	0.46	−0.19 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.24 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.14 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.12	−0.18 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.19 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)
Prudence	10.86±3.11	−0.36	−0.70	0.76	0.51	−0.20 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.23 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.08	−0.12	−0.11	−0.19 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)
Self-regulation	9.76±2.99	−0.12	−0.69	0.58	0.31	−0.30 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.27 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.10	−0.23 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.13	−0.28 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)
Social intelligence	14.03±3.63	−0.16	−0.79	0.67	0.34	−0.19 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.19 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.12	−0.14 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.16 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.18 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)
Spirituality	13.55±3.81	−0.15	−0.79	0.69	0.35	−0.13 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.18 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.07	−0.09	−0.13	−0.14 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)
Zest	15.1 ±3.75	−0.35	−0.89	0.75	0.42	−0.22 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.20 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.17 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.14 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.21 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.18 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)
Teamwork	15.83±3.66	−0.64	−0.48	0.79	0.47	−0.20 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.18 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)	−0.11	−0.12	−0.13	−0.17 ^* * p < 0.002 (0.05/24 Bonferroni corrected)

Dependent variable		Independent variable	Adjusted R ²	β	Std. error	t	p
Conduct problem			4%
		Residence		−0.14	0.05	−2.97	0.003
		Left-behind experiences		−0.10	0.05	−2.10	0.037
	F		6.56				0.002
Learning problem			2%
		Residence		−0.16	0.07	−2.46	0.015
	F		6.04				0.015
Psychosomatic			2%
		Left-behind experiences		−0.08	0.04	−2.39	0.018
	F		5.70				0.018
Impulsive-hyperactive			1%
		Residence		−0.15	0.07	−2.31	0.021
	F		5.38				0.021
Anxiety			4%
		Left-behind experiences		−0.15	0.06	−2.73	0.007
		Maternal education level		−0.08	0.03	−2.70	0.007
	F	7.91					< 0.001
Hyperactive index			2%
		Left-behind experiences		−0.12	0.06	−2.16	0.032
		Residence		−0.12	0.06	−2.15	0.033
	F		4.58				0.011

			Δ R ²	β	t	p	VIF
Conduct problem	Step1: Demographic factors		0.04 ^* * p < 0.05,
	Step2: Character strengths		0.22 ^* ***** p < 0.001 in F change statistics. Only variables that showed independent contributions were presented, p < 0.05
		Leadership		−0.20	−2.14	0.033	3.00
		Self-regulation		−0.31	−3.86	< 0.001	2.38
	Summary
		R ²	0.27
		Adjust R ²	0.19
Learning problem	Step1: Demographic factors		0.03 ^* * p < 0.05,
	Step2: Character strengths		0.19 ^* ***** p < 0.001 in F change statistics. Only variables that showed independent contributions were presented, p < 0.05
		Perseverance		−0.28	−2.40	0.017	4.86
		Self-regulation		−0.21	−2.52	0.012	2.38
	Summary
		R ²	0.23
		Adjust R ²	0.15
Psychosomatic	Step1: Demographic factors		0.02
	Step2: Character strengths		0.14 ^* * p < 0.05,
		Hope		0.34	3.30	0.001	3.55
		Zest		−0.23	−2.20	0.029	3.63
	Summary
		R ²	0.16
		Adjust R ²	0.08
Impulsive-hyperactive	Step1: Demographic factors		0.03 ^* * p < 0.05,
	Step2: Character strengths		0.18 ^* ***** p < 0.001 in F change statistics. Only variables that showed independent contributions were presented, p < 0.05
		Hope		0.21	2.04	0.042	3.55
		Humility		−0.14	−2.00	0.045	1.70
		Leadership		−0.19	−2.07	0.039	3.00
		Self-regulation		−0.33	−4.03	< 0.001	2.38
	Summary
		R ²	0.21
		Adjust R ²	0.13
Hyperactive index	Step1: Demographic factors		0.04 ^* * p < 0.05,
	Step2: Character strengths		0.19 ^* ***** p < 0.001 in F change statistics. Only variables that showed independent contributions were presented, p < 0.05
		Hope		0.22	2.24	0.026	3.55
		Self-regulation		−0.34	−4.11	< 0.001	2.38
	Summary
		R ²	0.22
		Adjust R ²	0.15

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[1] * Correspondence: leiwei_fy@swmu.edu.cn; , chenjingazaz@163.com