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The VIA Classification of Strengths and Virtues is the most commonly used model of positive personality. In this study, we used two methods of model modification to develop models for two measures of the character strengths, the VIA Inventory of Strengths-Revised and the Global Assessment of Character Strengths. The first method consisted of freeing residual covariances based on modification indices until good fit was achieved. The second was residual network modeling (RNM), which frees residual partial correlations while minimizing a function that penalizes more complex models. Models based on both strategies were developed for the two questionnaires. The resulting structural models were then applied to four other samples. Though both modification procedures achieved good fit in the sample used to develop the models, only RNM resulted in adequate model fit for both measures in all cross-validation samples. This finding suggests RNM is more robust against overfitting than traditional practices. Moreover, the result supports the validity of the three-factor model of character strengths with replicability., Author(s): Hyemin Han [sup.1] , Robert E. McGrath [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) https://ror.org/03xrrjk67, grid.411015.0, 0000 0001 0727 7545, Educational Psychology Program, University of Alabama, , Box 870231, 35487, Tuscaloosa, AL, [...]

This study represents a large meta-analytic investigation of character education studies. We identified 214 studies up until 2017 (N[subscript Total] = 307,512) with at least one computable effect size comparing a character education program to a control condition. Initial analyses indicated a small, significant average positive effect for character education (g = 0.24, 95% CI [0.19, 0.28]). Single-session interventions and mentoring programs were associated with larger effects. However, all treatment lengths were associated with significant treatment effects, and the number of single-session interventions was small. Three programs--Cognitive Problem-Solving, Kohlberg's Moral Dilemma Discussion and Strong Kids--were associated with above-average effects in multiple assessments. Evidence emerged suggesting selection bias in published literature. Correcting this bias indicated lower estimates of mean effects while remaining positive and significant. We consider heterogeneity in reporting standards and discuss how to address biases.

This article summarizes issues in defining character education (CE) that are relevant to program development and evaluation. No authoritative definition exists for CE, but several features seem prominent. These include a focus on enhancing civic, moral, self-regulatory, and/or intellectual virtues; and (at least implicitly) prioritizing the shaping of participant identity over teaching skills. Within these broad parameters, programs vary widely in their targets and interventions. They can also vary in terms of emphasizing the same or individualized elements of character across students. The discussion finishes with a summary of elements of a CE program, and a call for well-planned evaluations.

Having an agreed-upon definition of character education would be useful for both researchers and practitioners in the field. However, even experts in character education disagree on how they would define it. We attempted to achieve greater conceptual clarity on this issue through a prototype analysis in which the features perceived as most central to character education were identified. In Study 1 (N = 77), we asked character education experts to enumerate features of character education. Based on these lists, we identified 30 features. In Study 2 (N = 101), experts assessed which features were central to character education through a categorization task. In Study 3 (N = 166), we assessed the extent of centrality using scalar items. We conclude by offering practical advice for the development of future character education studies and programs rooted in what is deemed central to such programs.

The "What Works in Character Education" project (WWCE; Berkowitz & Bier, 2007) was a descriptive summary of significant findings in the empirical literature on character education for the period 1945 to 2004. It employed a broad definition of character education to include related positive youth development programs such as socioemotional learning. Drawing on studies carried out in K-12 education settings, it encompassed research on published character development curricula as well as research on particular instructional practices such as moral discussion and cooperative learning. The current meta-analysis revisits WWCE by applying meta-analytic techniques to the same set of studies collected as part of the WWCE review. While the current analysis did not include any studies not covered by WWCE, it did modify its approach to examining 5 systematic reviews for which Berkowitz and Bier (2007) looked to the overall conclusions. In contrast, the current analysis expanded these reviews to individually examine each of their respective studies. It complements the already substantial referencing and discussion of the WWCE that exists in the character education literature. Random effects meta-analysis of the original WWCE studies examined 836 comparisons across 64 studies involving 96,930 participants and yielded a small but statistically significant average effect size, g = 0.33, 95% CI = [0.21, 0.45]. This finding is consistent with prior evidence on the effect size associated with various educational interventions (Lipsey & Wilson, 1993) and reaffirms that character education, as conceptualized and analyzed in the original WWCE, is effective in positively influencing character outcomes. The meta-analytic techniques also yielded new evidence of substantial heterogeneity of effects across studies, suggesting the potential value of focusing more narrowly, in future meta-analyses, on the character education programs that appear most promising. In the meta-analysis reported here, there were also indications of possible bias in some studies' reporting of results, but overall conclusions regarding effectiveness remained valid even after correcting for possible bias.

Background: Assessment of eating disorders (ED) in youth relies heavily on self-report, yet persistent lack of recognition of the presence and/or seriousness of symptoms can be intrinsic to ED. This study examines the psychometric properties of a semi-structured interview, the parent version of the Eating Disorder Examination (PEDE), developed to systematically assess caregiver report of symptoms. Methods: A multi-site, clinical sample of youth (N = 522; age range: 12 to 18 years) seeking treatment for anorexia nervosa (AN) and subsyndromal AN were assessed using the Eating Disorder Examination (EDE) for youth and the PEDE for collateral caregiver report. Results: Internal consistencies of the four PEDE subscales were on par with established ranges for the EDE. Significant medium-sized correlations and poor to moderate levels of agreement were found between the corresponding subscales on each measure. For the PEDE, confirmatory factor analysis of the EDE four-factor model provided a poor fit; an exploratory factor analysis indicated that a 3-factor model better fits the PEDE. Conclusions: Findings suggest that the PEDE has psychometric properties on par with the original EDE. The addition of the caregiver perspective may provide incremental information that can aid in the assessment of AN in youth. Future research is warranted to establish psychometric properties of the PEDE in broader transdiagnostic ED samples. Plain English summary: Assessments for eating disorders rely primarily on self-report; yet, the denial of symptoms or symptom severity among adolescents with anorexia nervosa can complicate assessment and delay treatment in this population. The Parent Eating Disorder Examination (PEDE) is the first semi-structured interview formally developed to improve childhood eating disorder assessment by including caregiver perspectives. In this study, a large sample of adolescents with anorexia nervosa completed a self-report interview (the Eating Disorder Examination or EDE) and their parents completed the PEDE. The PEDE appeared to measure parents' report of their child's eating disorder symptoms consistently. Results from both interviews were related to one another but did not completely agree. This suggests that in an eating disorder assessment, the PEDE can provide additional information from caregivers that might reduce diagnostic confusion and lead to earlier intervention for youth with anorexia nervosa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gentleness is a universally recognized, positive trait, yet has received minimal scientific investigation to date. To catalyze the study of gentleness, we reviewed existing literature and conducted four large-scale studies across 80,592 people. We evaluated how individuals conceptualize gentleness, developed a measurement tool, identified central correlates of gentleness, observed differences across cultures, and explored gentleness' relationships with other constructs. The resulting measure, the Gentleness Questionnaire, demonstrated good reliability, reasonable convergent and discriminant validity, and incremental validity over a large set of other dimensions reflecting positive interpersonal functioning including the 24 character strengths of the VIA Classification and Big 5 personality traits. Connections with prosociality, desire to please, anger, confrontation, and agreeableness were strong. This cumulative work suggests a definition of gentleness as a humanity-oriented, positive trait that involves being soft, tender, and supportive to facilitate a positive experience. Future directions to advance the science and practice of gentleness are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article builds on two previous ones describing revisions of the VIA-Youth. The new revised version consists of 98 items. The inventory is considered appropriate for ages 8–17. A unique aspect of the revision is that the two items on the spirituality scale differ for youth ages 8–12 (VIA-Y-1) and 13–17 (VIA-Y-2). Participants in this study consisted of 94,487 youth who completed the revised VIA-Youth online or through two school districts. Unidimensionality is established for all 24 character strength scales, though doing so required freeing a small set of error covariances. Configural and metric invariance for age and gender was achieved for all scales, and scalar invariance was supported by age for all scales except for spirituality. This series of three articles presents the most thoroughly vetted measure of positive personality in youth to date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The VIA-Youth (Park & Peterson, 2006) is perhaps the most commonly administered youth measure of the Peterson and Seligman (2004) character strengths. This article is the first in a series describing revision of the VIA-Youth, with the goals of making the development process more transparent, targeting scale unidimensionality, achieving measurement invariance, and extending the age range to 8–17. A sample of 286 youth in three countries completed 198 candidate items, from which a 98-item inventory was developed. Ratings of strengths were provided for 250 of the youth by 202 parents and 164 teachers. The relative size of relationships between informants was related to youth age, and to ratings of the observability and evaluativeness of the strengths, in the expected direction. The findings suggest youth self-report of character strengths and ratings by significant others are not highly related, but are consistent with prior studies of informant convergence in youth ratings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors sought to provide updated estimates of the proportion of psychotropic medications prescribed by different medical providers. This pooled cross-sectional study used data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (2016–2019). Nationally representative estimates of the percentages of all psychotropic medications prescribed by each provider type were calculated, and analyses stratified by medication type, insurance type, and age were conducted. Data from 58,547 psychotropic prescriptions reported by 7,693 unique individuals were analyzed. More than 60% of psychotropic medications were prescribed by providers other than psychiatrists (33.5%) or psychologists (2.2%), such as general practitioners, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. This distribution varied significantly by medication, insurance, and patient age. Most psychotropic medication prescribing occurs in primary care; however, notable differences by medication, insurance, and age were observed, suggesting areas for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study extends a previous one revising the VIA-Youth. Goals of the revision included reducing length and extending age range down to 8. After an initial revision, further discussion suggested the need for a more secular version of the spirituality scale. Based on evidence of changes in the understanding of spirituality during adolescence, separate sets of candidate items were generated for ages 8–12 and 13–17 with two overlapping items. The revised materials were administered to 94,487 youth online and through two school districts. Retaining the two overlapping items in both sets did not reduce fit. The result is two versions of the inventory for ages 8–12 (VIA-Y-1) and 13–17 (VIA-Y-2) that differ only on two items included in the spirituality scale. These offer a measure of spirituality in youth that is developmentally sensitive without relying on items referencing a religious framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Character education specialists seem to know it when they see it, but what it means to call something a character education program remains unclear. One possible source for this uncertainty is the manner in which character education has been defined. By identifying certain features as necessary, existing definitions fail to encompass the universe of programs that can reasonably be considered instances of character education. Using recent literature on definition via prototype as a starting point, this article suggests evaluating programs as character education based on consistency with a model for such programs comprised of 7 features. Two strategies for evaluating whether and to what extent a program can be considered an example of character education are discussed, called polythetic classification and prototype matching. The goal is to help researchers and practitioners more effectively distinguish character education from other sorts of programs intended for personal growth.

This study simulated the impact of granting prescriptive authority to licensed psychologists on shortages of mental health providers with prescriptive authority. We used national and state-level secondary data to construct a policy simulation. Mental health prescribing need and the number of mental health prescribers were estimated at the national and state levels, and the provider shortage was calculated as the difference between these two values. The simulated policy intervention added 10% of psychologists to the prescriber group to estimate the associated reduction in prescriber shortages. Probabilistic uncertainty and sensitivity analyses were conducted using 10,000 Markov trials in which all model parameters varied randomly based on their associated uncertainty. The simulated policy value was allowed to vary between 5% and 15%. The prescriber shortage was predicted to fall by 4.34% (95% CI [0.75%, 16.58%]) nationally, though this varied widely by state, ranging from 1.10% [0.20%, 3.82%] in North Dakota to 26.44% [2.89%, 570.29%] in Washington, DC. Uncertainty and sensitivity analyses demonstrated that variability in the provider shortage reduction was primarily driven by the percentage of psychologists becoming licensed to prescribe. Our results suggest that granting prescriptive authority to licensed psychologists would reduce the shortage of mental health professionals with prescriptive authority. Further work is needed to examine the potential implications for other mental health providers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior literature on the use of character strengths suggests that both deficiencies and excesses in the use of strengths can be problematic. While most school-based training in character strengths tends to focus on the former issue, an example is provided of a school-based program offered by the Mayerson Academy in partnership with the VIA Institute on Character that does not focus on deficiency but rather celebrates enhancing one's own personal key strengths. This program, entitled Thriving Learning Communities, will be implemented in 42 Cincinnati public schools this year. It aims to motivate students, as well as educators, to perform at their highest levels through encouraging increased use of character strengths. We provide an overview of the program and discuss how it may be modified by the teacher to offer a more nuanced perspective on character strengths within a gifted student population. Specifically, within a gifted classroom setting, we discuss ways in which educators can encourage gifted students to understand the importance of balancing their strengths and effectively matching their use of strengths to the situation. In addition to focusing on the use of signature or top strengths, we suggest a program that would aid gifted students in deciphering when it is most and least appropriate to use top strengths, through a dial-up/dial-down framework for targeted strength use.

Larry Nucci, in his article "Character: A Multifaceted Developmental System," has outlined a model of character that focuses on 4 domains of the moral system. This response focuses on 2 issues. The first is Nucci's equation of character with moral functioning. My research has led me to propose that 3 elements are essential to any adequate theory of character, called caring, inquisitiveness, and self-control. These emerge across a number of virtue theories, as well as models of essential skills and even literary references. In particular, I suggest that inquisitiveness and self-control are indicators of character even when not used to support moral ends, so long as they are not used to support immoral ones. Second, I think the model Nucci proposes for moral character is incomplete, as it fails to outline the competing considerations that enter into moral decision-making. Character education programs should acknowledge and even emphasize how these competing considerations can lead to nonmoral decision-making when environmental factors encourage poor choices.

Traditional factor analyses used to analyze the structure of psychological strengths have yielded different solutions, not always confirming the original structure of 24 strengths corresponding to six virtues as proposed by Peterson and Seligman in their initial model. In contrast with previous factorial approaches, this study used network analysis to explore the map of strengths, assessed with the VIA Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS), in a large sample of individuals (N = 1,255,248) from the general population in the United States, Australia, Canada, and UK. The network analysis revealed four different communities (i.e., groups of strengths): Discernment, Interpersonal, Responsibility, and Energy. The strength most connected to other strengths was Gratitude, whereas Love of Learning was the least connected node. These results open a new way to conceptualize psychological strengths as a complex network of mutually interconnected strengths. These findings complement results from factor analyses that future research should replicate and validate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The VIA Classification of Strengths and Virtues attempts to provide a comprehensive model of character based on 24 character strengths. The present study is the largest study to date exploring the structure of the 24 strengths in youth. One sample (N = 23,850) completed the VIA-Youth, a teen measure of the VIA Classification. Based on a random subsample, it was determined the data were best modeled using four factors. The remainder of the sample was used to demonstrate measurement invariance for the four-factor model across ages 10-17 and country. Comparison with 471 English academy school students who completed two alternate measures of the VIA Classification also demonstrated measurement invariance. The results suggest a four-factor model that includes two primarily interpersonal factors, one reflecting general engagement, the second other-directedness. Other factors involved intellectual and self-control strengths. Implications for the understanding of character strengths in youth versus adults are discussed.