Kretzschmar André, Harzer Claudia, Ruch Willibald
Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Department of Psychology, MSH Medical School Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
J Pers Assess. 2023 Jan-Feb;105(1):34-47. doi: 10.1080/00223891.2022.2043879. Epub 2022 Mar 17.
Character strengths are assessed in adults and adolescents using different measurements. However, a comparison of character strengths across age groups requires the equivalence of these measurements. The present study examined the comparability of the two questionnaires most frequently used in research: The VIA Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS) for adults and the VIA Inventory of Strengths for Youth (VIA-Youth). A sample of = 170 high-school students in the age of about 18 years and up to two informants ( = 164 mostly parents; = 156 mostly friends and partners) completed both character strengths questionnaires and several well-being questionnaires. The psychometric characteristics and the correlations with well-being scales were examined once exclusively on the basis of self-rating and once on the basis of combined self- and informant-ratings. Substantial differences between the questionnaires were found in each of the criteria examined (e.g., identification of signature strengths, or largest associations with well-being). The results indicate that VIA-IS and VIA-Youth measure character strengths differently, so that a comparison across age groups may lead to biased conclusions. Therefore, differences in character strengths between adults and adolescents should not be exclusively interpreted in terms of differences on the trait level as these differences may be caused by nonequivalent questionnaires.
成人和青少年的性格优势是通过不同的测量方法来评估的。然而，跨年龄组比较性格优势需要这些测量方法具有等效性。本研究考察了研究中最常用的两份问卷的可比性：针对成人的《价值观与行动调查优势问卷》（VIA-IS）和针对青少年的《青少年价值观与行动调查优势问卷》（VIA-Youth）。一个由170名年龄在18岁左右的高中生组成的样本以及多达两名信息提供者（164名大多是父母；156名大多是朋友和伴侣）完成了两份性格优势问卷和几份幸福感问卷。心理测量特征以及与幸福感量表的相关性分别仅基于自评以及基于自评与信息提供者评价相结合的方式进行了一次考察。在所考察的每个标准中（例如，标志性优势的识别，或与幸福感的最大关联），问卷之间都发现了显著差异。结果表明，VIA-IS和VIA-Youth对性格优势的测量方式不同，因此跨年龄组比较可能会得出有偏差的结论。因此，成人和青少年之间性格优势的差异不应仅仅从特质水平的差异来解释，因为这些差异可能是由不等效的问卷导致的。
