Character Strengths as Moderators of the Relationship Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Negative Health Outcomes

Abstract

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) refer to negative events of childhood. Research has demonstrated relationships between ACEs and adult mental and physical difficulties. Fewer studies have examined potential moderators of these relationships. This study assessed the role of character strengths in the relationship between ACEs and negative physical and mental health outcomes in adulthood. An online sample of 1,491 adults completed questionnaires measuring character strengths, exposure to ACEs, and aspects of physical/mental health. Results replicated previous findings that ACEs and character strengths are each meaningfully related to health outcomes. Gratitude and self-regulation were generally indicative of better health outcomes, kindness and appreciation of beauty of poorer outcomes. Character strengths remained meaningful correlates of adult behavioral and emotional health even when controlling for ACEs. Character strengths did not moderate the relationship between ACEs and health, suggesting that character strengths do not mitigate the effects of ACEs, but do make an independent contribution to physical and mental health. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s41042-023-00097-3.

Character Strengths as Universal Predictors of Health? Using Machine Learning to Examine the Predictive Validity of Character Strengths Across Cultures

“….11) is also not particularly easy to detect when only considering variable importances (again, with the same exception as in the example above). Irrespective of culture, we could replicate the finding that not all character strengths have (normative) positive effects on the outcomes (e.g., Wallace et al, 2023), for example we found that (when controlled for all other strengths) higher values in Appreciation of Beauty, Kindness or Spirituality were associated with a higher number of days the participants felt worried, tense or anxious, sad, blue or depressed, or reported insufficient sleep.…”

“…First, most studies of the relationship between characters strengths and measures of well-being focused on individual correlations, all of which tend to be positive (Par et al, 2004). More recently, Weziak-Bialowolska et al (2023) and Wallace et al (2023) used multiple regression analyses that included all 24 character strengths as simultaneous predictors of health-related variables. In both studies, Zest, Self-Regulation, Hope, and Gratitude had the largest positive associations with health.…”

World beliefs, character strengths, and hope for the future

“…Future studies might want to include variables that more directly tap into mortality risk in participants such as personal misuse of drugs or suicidal ideation. That said, there is some research suggesting many visitors to the VIA Institute website are at risk for despair, in that prior studies administering depression questionnaires to research volunteers on the site report that the mean score is indicative of some depression [ 39 , 40 ]. Though it is a question for which the current data provide no answer, it is possible that individuals seeking self-knowledge are a reasonable source of data for studying some aspects of deaths of despair.…”