Page No 175-186
Ravikesh Tripathi Humera Banu Seema Mehrotra
Narayana Health City, NIMHANS NIMHANS
Bangalore Bangalore Bangalore
i.
Positive psychology emphasizes the role of identification and applications of positive
traits that are seen as linked to positive adaptational outcomes. Strengths may have
different meanings and variations in manifestations in different cultures. The aim of the
present study was to examine the profile of character strengths in Indian youth. Nine
hundred thirty seven community-dwelling young adults (20 to 35 years) participated in the
present study. An indigenously developed measure, derived from the VIA classification
of strengths was used to capture self perceived character strengths. The results
indicated that ‘close loving relationships’ was the most commonly endorsed strength
followed by ‘gratitude and thankfulness’, ‘kindness’, ‘justice and fairness’ and ‘honesty
and genuineness’. Further the youngest group scored lower on social responsibility,
persistence, practical farsightedness as well as self discipline. The results pertaining
to gender differences on strengths subscales revealed that males scored higher on
social strengths whereas females were higher on relational strengths. The implications
for further research are discussed.