Character strengths, social anxiety, and physiological stress reactivity

Do Virtues Influence Well-Being: The Role of Perceived Stress

The positive results of life satisfaction among university students have been well studied in the literature. However, the forecasters of the phenomenon have not been thoroughly investigated. In the current study, multiple models were tested to investigate the mediating role of perceived stress in the relationships between virtues and life satisfaction to fill this gap. When testing the model, the effect of demographic variables was controlled. Data were collected through an online survey from a sample of 235 undergraduates. The participants responded to measures of character strengths, perceived stress, and life satisfaction. The findings reveal that perceived stress partially mediates the relationship between leadership, wisdom and life satisfaction controlling for age and gender. The leadership skills of students can be improved, and age and gender should be considered when studying life satisfaction.

Life satisfaction and the mediating role of character strengths and gains in informal caregivers

WHAT IS KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT?: The role of informal caregiver can have both negative and positive consequences for a person's well-being. The main theoretical framework for explaining these consequences is the stress process model, which considers contextual variables, stressors and mediating/moderating factors. The latter are psychosocial factors such as coping strategies, personal mastery, social support or beliefs and values which may influence caregiver well-being. The perception of gains in caregiving has also been proposed as a mediating variable since it may act as a coping strategy. However, few studies have examined values and perceived gains as mediating variables with life satisfaction as the outcome. WHAT THE PAPER ADDS TO EXISTING KNOWLEDGE?: This study explores the role of character strengths and caregiver gains as mediators between stressors and life satisfaction in informal caregivers of persons with dementia. The results identify hope as a key character strength, its lack being one pathway through which stress may lead to low life satisfaction and low perceived gains from caregiving. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE?: Caregivers who experience a lack of hope may be less able to generate goals and be less motivated to achieve them. Our findings are relevant to gerontological nursing based on the Senses Framework as they confirm the importance of the senses of purpose and achievement. Nursing and care staff can play an active role in helping informal caregivers to meet their goals by promoting these two senses, thereby fostering a more positive caregiving experience. ABSTRACT: Introduction Being an informal caregiver can have both negative and positive consequences for well-being. Within the framework of the stress process model, few studies have examined values and perceived gains of caregiving as mediating variables of life satisfaction. Aim To explore the role of character strengths and perceived gains as mediators in the association between life satisfaction and primary and secondary stressors in informal caregivers of persons with dementia. Method Participants were 112 informal caregivers. Hierarchical regression, correlation and mediation analyses were performed. Results Lower life satisfaction was associated with being female, unmarried, caring for someone with greater cognitive impairment, a higher level of stress, having restricted leisure time and perceiving financial difficulties. Hope mediated the associations between perceived stress and both life satisfaction and perceived gains of caregiving. Discussion Hope is a key strength and its lack is one pathway through which stress may cause low satisfaction and low perceived gains from caregiving. Implications for practice Without hope, it is difficult for caregivers to generate goals and be motivated to achieve them. Nursing and care staff should aim to promote a sense of purpose and achievement among informal caregivers so as to foster a more positive caring experience.

Adaptation and Preliminary Validation of a Positive Psychology Assessment Tool: Character Strengths Semantic Differential Scale

Character strengths are a protective factor against psychological symptoms. However, there is a lack of research that has investigated the psychometric properties of abbreviated character strengths scales. The purpose of this study was to adapt and validate the Character Strengths Semantic Differential Scale (CS-SDS) with a sample of 235 college students. Using the back-translation method, the CS-SDS was translated from English into Turkish and then adapted. Next, exploratory factor analysis was conducted to determine the factorial structure of the Turkish version of CS-SDS (T-CS-SDS). The results indicated that the T-CS-SDS had a four-factor structure, namely, leadership, humanity, wisdom, and vitality. Significant moderate correlations were found for the character strengths factors with perceived stress, depression, and life satisfaction. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for the factors were above .70. This is the first study that supported the use of the T-CS-SDS as a positive psychology assessment tool to design and implement innovative interventions to increase the well-being of college students.

Contribution of Character Strengths to Psychology Stress, Sleep Quality, and Subjective Health Status in a Sample of Chinese Nurses

Objectives: The main objectives of this study were to describe the current state of character strengths (CSs) of nurses; explain how they affect stress, sleep quality, and subjective health status; and reveal the mediating role of stress for the subject matter on the association between CSs, sleep quality, and subjective health status.

Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted from September to October 2020 in China. A multistage stratified sampling method was used, and 1,221 valid questionnaires across 100 cities in 31 provinces were collected.

Results: For the participants in this survey, the three dimensions of CSs ranging from high to low were caring (4.20 ± 0.640), self-control (3.53 ± 0.763), and inquisitiveness (3.37 ± 0.787). There was difference in CSs scores across age (F = 8.171, P < 0.01), professional categories (F = 5.545, P < 0.01), and job tenure (F = 9.470, P < 0.01). The results showed that CSs significantly affected the psychological stress (β = −0.365, P< 0.01), sleep quality (β = 0.312, P< 0.01), and subjective health (β = 0.398, P< 0.01) of nurses. Moreover, psychological stress partially mediated the association between CSs and both types of health outcomes.

Conclusion: In China, the CSs of nurses are at high levels. We find that nurses with high-level CSs are likely to experience less psychological stress and exhibit healthy psycho–physiological responses, which contribute to positive health outcomes. Finally, our study argues that strength-based interventions of positive psychology in hospitals should be provided to minimize threats to the physical and psychological health of health professionals, which is a beneficial choice for future hospital reforms in the domain of occupational health management.

Prevalence and Determinants of Psychological Distress in Adolescent and Young Adult Patients with Cancer: A Multicenter Survey

Objective

This study aimed to investigate the current prevalence and determinants of psychological distress and the association of distress with general information, character strengths, medical coping, and social support in Chinese adolescents and young adults (AYAs) aged 15-39 years with cancer.

Methods

A multicenter survey was carried out. Eight hundred and nine patients completed the Chinese version of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network distress thermometer (DT), the three-dimensional inventory of character strengths, the medical coping modes questionnaire, and the Social Support Rating Scale.

Results

The current prevalence of psychological distress in Chinese AYAs with cancer was 83.4%. Binary logistic regression analysis showed that gender, age, educational level, marriage, monthly income, exercise intensity, cancer classifications, treatments, self-control, confrontation, avoidance, and subjective support were all associated with distress. AYA cancer patients who were female, younger, or divorced or had a lower monthly income, education level, or exercise intensity were more likely to have higher level of distress. Compared to AYAs with other cancer classifications, patients with digestive system malignancies, breast cancers, and head and neck malignancies had a higher prevalence of distress. Patients receiving chemotherapy or radiotherapy were more likely to be distressed. The higher the self-control, confrontation, avoidance, and subjective support scores were, the lower the prevalence of distress was among AYA cancer patients.

Conclusions

The prevalence of psychological distress in AYA cancer patients was relatively high. Potential interventions targeting exercise intensity, character strengths, medical coping, and social support may decrease the prevalence of psychological distress in this patient population.

The Buffering Effect of Character Strengths on Depression

Abstract. The transition from high school to college can be very stressful for Turkish students because they may experience value conflicts and adjustment issues, which can trigger the development of mental health problems. Character strengths can serve as a buffer against psychopathology. The aim of the study was to examine perceived stress and negative attributional style as mediating factors between character strengths and depression among Turkish college students. Bootstrap testing approach was implemented to compute direct and indirect effects and total effect in the mediation analysis. Altogether 235 students from two Turkish universities participated in the study. The results showed that character strengths were associated with lower levels of depression and it was negatively associated with perceived stress and negative attributional style. The results also indicated that perceived stress and negative attribution style completely mediated the relationship between character strengths and depression among Turkish college students. These findings suggested the need to develop empirically supported interventions that can promote character strengths toward reducing stress, negative attributions, and depression in this population.

Latent profile analysis of the three-dimensional model of character strengths to distinguish at-strengths and at-risk populations

PURPOSE

Studies that focus on the development of the typology of individual strength profiles are limited. Thus, this study aimed to determine strength profiles with different health outcomes based on the Three-Dimensional Inventory of Character Strengths (TICS).

METHODS

The TICS was used to measure three-dimensional strengths: caring, inquisitiveness, and self-control. A total of 3536 community participants (1322 males and 2214 females with ages ranging from 17 to 50, M = 23.96, SD = 5.13) completed the TICS. A subsample (n = 853; female = 68.2%, male = 31.8%) was further required to complete the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale and Flourishing Scale. A latent profile analysis (LPA) was conducted in the total sample to identify the latent strength profiles. Then, a three-step method was implemented to compare the mental health outcomes between strength profiles in the subsample.

RESULTS

The LPA helped determine two subgroups based on the entire sample: the at-strengths group (high scores on all dimensions) and the at-risk group (low scores on all dimensions). As expected, the at-strengths group had less significant negative emotional symptoms (at-strengths group = 0.57, at-risk group = 0.83, χ² = 33.54, p < .001) and had better psychological well-being (at-strengths group = 5.81, at-risk group = 4.64, χ² = 276.64, p < .001).

CONCLUSIONS

This study identified two character strength profiles with different health outcomes. Specifically, populations with low-character strengths (caring, inquisitiveness, and self-control) were more likely to demonstrate poor mental health outcomes. Our findings also showed that a particular trait subtype can be considered in identifying high-risk populations and further implementing targeted strength-based interventions.

Validation of a Chinese version of the stress overload scale-short and its use as a screening tool for mental health status

PURPOSE

Although stress emerges when environmental demands exceed personal resources, existing measurement methods for stress focus only on one aspect. The newly-developed Short Stress Overload Scale (SOS-S) assesses the extent of stress by assessing both event load (i.e., environmental demands) and personal vulnerability (i.e., personal resources). The present study was designed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of Stress Overload Scale-Short (SOS-SC), and further examine its roles in screening mental health status.

METHODS

A total of 1364 participants were recruited from communities and colleges for scale validation.

RESULTS

Reliabilities were good throughout the subsamples (ω > 0.80). Confirmatory factor analysis indicated the acceptable goodness-of-fit for the two-factor correlated model (Sample 1: 560 community residents). Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis confirmed measurement invariance across community residents (Sample 1) and college students (Sample 2 and Sample 3). Criterion validity and convergent validity were established (Sample 2: 554 college students). Latent moderated structural equations demonstrated that the relationship between SOS-SC and depression is moderated by social support (Sample 2), further validating the SOS-SC. In addition, the SOS-SC effectively screened individuals in a population at different levels of mental health status (i.e., "at risk" vs. "at low risk" for depression symptoms and/or wellbeing).

CONCLUSION

The SOS-SC exhibits acceptable psychometric properties in the Chinese context. That said, the two aspects of stress can be differentiated by the Chinese context, therefore, the SOS-SC can be used to measure stress and screen mental health status among the Chinese population, and monitor and evaluate health-promoting interventions.