Abstract

Violence and character strengths: The role of gratitude and authenticity

Dr. Roger Tweed, Dr. Gira Bhatt, Stephen Dooley, Dr. Nathalie Gagnon, Dr. Kevin Douglas, and Dr. Jodi Viljoen

Violence and character strengths were examined among boys and girls aged twelve to fourteen (N=178).  The goal of this analysis was to highlight character traits that may protect youth against involvement in violence.  In this self-report study, gratitude and authenticity emerged as having significant negative relations with self-reports of fighting within the previous six months for both boys and for girls.  These same character strengths also had negative relations with attitudes supportive of violence.  The research suggests that violence researchers should examine gratitude and authenticity longitudinally and even experimentally to assess whether the relation is causal.  If these strengths reduce violence, then, anti-violence intervention specialists could seek to build both of these strengths.  This type of research helps fulfill the calls by some theorists for positive psychology to more frequently integrate positive and negative variables in empirical research and theory (e.g., Wong, 2009; Linley, Joseph, Harrington, & Wood, 2006).

Tweed, R., Bhatt, G., Dooley, S., Gagnon, N., Douglas, K., Viljoen, J. (2011, July). Violence and character strengths. Poster presentation at the meeting of the World Congress of Positive Psychology, Philadelphia, USA.