Strengths of character: evidence from a scale and prevalence in the Brazilian Northeast

Fuerzas de carácter: evidencias de una escala y prevalencia en el nordeste brasileño

Forças de caráter: evidências de uma escala e prevalência no Nordeste brasileiro

Neves Couto, Ricardo - Nunes da Fonsêca, Patrícia - Nascimento da Silva, Paulo Gregório - Cavalcante Bezerra de Medeiros, Paloma
Detalles Bibliográficos
2021
character strengths
virtues
psychological tests
positive psychology
social psychology
fuerzas de carácter
virtudes
pruebas psicológicas
psicología positiva
psicología social
forças de caráter
virtudes
testes psicológicos
psicologia positiva
psicologia social
Portugués
Universidad Católica del Uruguay
LIBERI
https://revistas.ucu.edu.uy/index.php/cienciaspsicologicas/article/view/2357
https://hdl.handle.net/10895/3145
Acceso abierto
Resumen:
Sumario:This study assesses the prevalence of character strengths among Northeastern Brazilians to, more specifically, gather new psychometric evidence by applying the Character Strengths Scale (CSS) to a sample of 383 people (Mage = 27.81; SD = 10.83), mostly single (73.1%) women (65.4%) from Paraíba, Brazil (24.3%), who completed the CSS and answered demographic questions. Exploratory factor analysis indicated the unidimensionality of the scale, with the 24 strengths of character loading on the factor with an eigenvalue of 9.69, explaining 43% of the variance, and with factor loadings ranging from 0.41 (forgiveness) to 0.72 (zest). Cronbach’s alpha (0.94) and McDonald’s omega (0.95) indicated satisfactory scale reliability. Furthermore, descriptive statistics were calculated to identify the most prevalent strengths in the Brazilian Northeast, namely, gratitude, kindness, curiosity, fairness, love of learning and hope, in decreasing order. Evidence is presented for the use of the CSS as well as the influence of culture and region on the prevalence of character strengths.