School of Psychology and Counseling, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Teaneck, NJ, USA.
Department of Psychology, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.
Appl Psychol Health Well Being. 2021 Nov;13(4):817-834. doi: 10.1111/aphw.12273. Epub 2021 Apr 20.
The present study assessed whether seven specific character strengths may function to promote resilience or growth following interpersonal loss. A sample of 3710 adults, including 557 who experienced a recent interpersonal loss (defined as death of a first-degree relative or divorce in the previous six months), completed questionnaires at least once across three time points to evaluate the extent to which character strengths predicted the presence of or changes in depression and functional impairment over a six-month period. Exploratory analyses also assessed changes in character strengths over time after loss. Results indicated that depression generally decreased over time and was unrelated to loss. Further, higher scores on the examined strengths predicted resilience, in that they predicted consistently lower levels of depression and impairment over time, regardless of loss. Thus, the seven examined strengths appeared to protect against depression and impairment over time. The loss group demonstrated higher levels of hope and gratitude across time points. Consistent with the concept of post-traumatic growth, results suggest that these strengths may be particularly salient when confronted with loss. Contrary to predictions of post-traumatic growth theory, however, there was little change in strengths over time.
本研究评估了七种特定的性格优势是否可以促进人际损失后的适应或成长。样本包括 3710 名成年人，其中 557 人在过去六个月内经历了人际损失（定义为一级亲属死亡或离婚），他们至少在三个时间点完成了问卷，以评估性格优势在六个月内预测抑郁和功能障碍存在或变化的程度。探索性分析还评估了损失后性格优势随时间的变化。结果表明，抑郁通常随时间而减少，与损失无关。此外，研究中所考察的性格优势得分越高，预示着适应性越强，即无论是否有损失，它们都能持续预测较低水平的抑郁和障碍。因此，这七种被考察的性格优势似乎在一段时间内对抑郁和障碍有保护作用。在损失组中，希望和感恩这两种优势在各时间点的得分均较高。与创伤后成长的概念一致，研究结果表明，当面对损失时，这些优势可能特别重要。然而，与创伤后成长理论的预测相反，性格优势随时间的变化很小。
