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

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, Braz...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Neves Couto, Ricardo, Nunes da Fonsêca, Patrícia, Nascimento da Silva, Paulo Gregório, Cavalcante Bezerra de Medeiros, Paloma
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:Uruguay
Institución:Universidad Católica del Uruguay
Repositorio:LIBERI
Idioma:portugués
inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:liberi.ucu.edu.uy:10895/5533
Acceso en línea:https://revistas.ucu.edu.uy/index.php/cienciaspsicologicas/article/view/2357
https://hdl.handle.net/10895/5533
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:character strengths
virtues
psychological tests
positive psychology
social psychology
fuerzas de carácter
virtudes
pruebas psicológicas
psicología positiva
psicología social
forças de caráter
testes psicológicos
psicologia positiva
psicologia social
Descripción
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.