Resilience in the face of interpersonal loss: The role of character strengths.

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.