Is good character all that counts? A comparison between the predictive role of specific strengths and a general factor of “good character” using a bifactor model.

Abstract

Character strengths have been found to consistently predict many positive psychological outcomes, such as well-being, life satisfaction, and mental health, but research on the topic is still at its infancy and some methodological limitations must be overcome to better understand what character strengths are and what is their role. Two main issues concern the structure of character strengths and the widespread use of sum scores, which may undermine the credibility and replicability of previous findings. Using two different samples (with 14364 and 944 participants), we confirm that character strengths can be well described by a bifactor model reflecting the simultaneous existence of a general factor of ‘good character’ and the 24 specific character strengths. In addition, we newly show that the specific character strengths (with a few exceptions) have no predictive power when a general factor is included in the analysis. In fact, only the general factor consistently related to participants’ life satisfaction, mental health, and distress symptoms. These results highlight the need to better understand what this general factor really represents to finally capture the mechanisms linking character strengths between each other and with external outcomes. Implications for the measurement and interpretation of character strengths and for strength-based interventions are discussed.