IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/anname/v591y2004i1p40-54.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Character Strengths and Positive Youth Development

Author

Listed:
  • Nansook Park

Abstract

The goal of positive youth development is to build and strengthen assets that enable youth to grow and flourish throughout life. In this article, the definition, origins, and assessment of character strengths and ways of fostering them are discussed. Character strengths are here defined as a family of positive traits reflected in thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Character strengths are important in their own right, but they additionally promote well-being and buffer against psychological disorders among youth. Good parenting, close relationships with peer and family, positive role models, positive institutions, and various youth development programs play important roles in the development of character strengths. Character strengths exist in degrees, and they can be measured as individual differences. Future studies should approach character strengths as multidimensional constructs to understand better the structure and development of character, and how it contributes to positive youth development.

Suggested Citation

  • Nansook Park, 2004. "Character Strengths and Positive Youth Development," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 591(1), pages 40-54, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:591:y:2004:i:1:p:40-54
    DOI: 10.1177/0002716203260079
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0002716203260079
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0002716203260079?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jane Gillham & Karen Reivich, 2004. "Cultivating Optimism in Childhood and Adolescence," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 591(1), pages 146-163, January.
    2. Roger P. Weissberg & Mary Utne O’Brien, 2004. "What Works in School-Based Social and Emotional Learning Programs for Positive Youth Development," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 591(1), pages 86-97, January.
    3. Nansook Park, 2004. "The Role of Subjective Well-Being in Positive Youth Development," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 591(1), pages 25-39, January.
    4. Marvin W. Berkowitz & Melinda C. Bier, 2004. "Research-Based Character Education," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 591(1), pages 72-85, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Christopher Peterson, 2004. "Positive Social Science," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 591(1), pages 186-201, January.
    2. Christopher Peterson, 2004. "Preface," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 591(1), pages 6-12, January.
    3. Delia Ștefenel & Jose-Michael Gonzalez & Silviu Rogobete & Raluca Sassu, 2022. "Coping Strategies and Life Satisfaction among Romanian Emerging Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-12, February.
    4. Dimitra Vasileiou & Despina Moraitou & Vasileios Papaliagkas & Christos Pezirkianidis & Anastasios Stalikas & Georgia Papantoniou & Maria Sofologi, 2021. "The Relationships between Character Strengths and Subjective Wellbeing: Evidence from Greece under Lockdown during COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(20), pages 1-28, October.
    5. Sahar Amoury Naddaf & Shiri Lavy, 2023. "Character Strengths’ Change During COVID-19," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 185-210, January.
    6. Sen-Chi Yu & Chun-Wei Chang, 2022. "The Effect of Positive Intervention Dosing Frequency: Fixed Intervals May Decrease More Depression than Flexible Ones," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-10, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Christopher Peterson, 2004. "Positive Social Science," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 591(1), pages 186-201, January.
    2. Christopher Peterson, 2004. "Preface," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 591(1), pages 6-12, January.
    3. Torill Bogsnes Larsen & Helga Bjørnøy Urke & Sara Madeleine Kristensen & Frida Kathrine Sofie Mathisen, 2023. "Caring Climate and Support, Mental Health, and Academic Adjustment: Effects from a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial in Upper Secondary Schools in Norway," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(22), pages 1-16, November.
    4. Seon, Youngwoon & Smith-Adcock, Sondra, 2023. "Adolescents’ meaning in life as a resilience factor between bullying victimization and life satisfaction," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    5. Esther Ariyo & Dimitri Mortelmans & Linda Campbell & Edwin Wouters, 2022. "The Wellbeing of Armed Conflict-Affected Children in School: A Qualitative Study," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 15(5), pages 1673-1691, October.
    6. Min Fang & Li Zhang & Dachen Pan & Jiashu Xie, 2021. "Evaluating a Psychoeducation Program to Foster Chinese Primary School Students’ Covitality," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-14, August.
    7. Li-Jun Ji & Faizan Imtiaz & Yanjie Su & Zhiyong Zhang & Alexa C. Bowie & Baorui Chang, 2022. "Culture, Aging, Self-Continuity, and Life Satisfaction," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(8), pages 3843-3864, December.
    8. Robert Rudolf & Jieun Lee, 2023. "School climate, academic performance, and adolescent well-being in Korea: The roles of competition and cooperation," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 16(3), pages 917-940, June.
    9. Carmen Viejo & Mercedes Gómez-López & Rosario Ortega-Ruiz, 2018. "Adolescents’ Psychological Well-Being: A Multidimensional Measure," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-22, October.
    10. Paula Yépez-Tito & Marta Ferragut & Shally Cóndor-Guerrón & Maria J. Blanca, 2022. "Life Satisfaction and Character Strenghs in Ecuatorian Adolescents," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 15(2), pages 599-616, April.
    11. Khaleghi, Marjan & Kato, Hirokazu, 2023. "Children’s non-school trips, travel-related subjective well-being, and life satisfaction: Evidence from young adolescents in rural Japan," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    12. Daniel Fu Keung Wong & Yingli Chang & Xuesong He & Qiaobing Wu, 2010. "The Protective Functions of Relationships, Social Support and Self-Esteem in the Life Satisfaction of Children of Migrant Workers in Shanghai, China," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 56(2), pages 143-157, March.
    13. Kurudirek, Fatma & Arıkan, Duygu & Ekici, Sümeyye, 2022. "Relationship between adolescents’ perceptions of social support and their psychological well-being during COVID-19 Pandemic: A case study from Turkey," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    14. S. Brent Jackson & Kathryn T. Stevenson & Lincoln R. Larson & M. Nils Peterson & Erin Seekamp, 2021. "Outdoor Activity Participation Improves Adolescents’ Mental Health and Well-Being during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-18, March.
    15. Ricarda Steinmayr & Linda Wirthwein & Laura Modler & Margaret M. Barry, 2019. "Development of Subjective Well-Being in Adolescence," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-23, September.
    16. Eunho Cha & Joan P. Yoo, 2024. "Children’s Time Use Patterns and Subjective Well-being in Asian Countries," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 17(1), pages 445-481, February.
    17. Katharina Rathmann & Max Herke & Ludwig Bilz & Arja Rimpelä & Klaus Hurrelmann & Matthias Richter, 2018. "Class-Level School Performance and Life Satisfaction: Differential Sensitivity for Low- and High-Performing School-Aged Children," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-17, December.
    18. Robert Rudolf & Dirk Bethmann, 2023. "The Paradox of Wealthy Nations’ Low Adolescent Life Satisfaction," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 79-105, January.
    19. Janka Goldan & Lena Nusser & Michael Gebel, 2022. "School-related Subjective Well-being of Children with and without Special Educational Needs in Inclusive Classrooms," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 15(4), pages 1313-1337, August.
    20. Riki Tesler & Pnina Plaut & Ronit Endvelt, 2018. "The Effects of an Urban Forest Health Intervention Program on Physical Activity, Substance Abuse, Psychosomatic Symptoms, and Life Satisfaction among Adolescents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-12, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:591:y:2004:i:1:p:40-54. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.