Relationships between character strengths, internalising and externalising problems among adolescents: a latent class analysis.

The main objective of this study was to explore the associations between character strengths and internalising and externalising problems. One thousand, one hundred thirty-eight adolescents, completed the 96-item VIA Inventory of Strengths for Youth, Youth Self Report, and Brief Symptom Inventory. Using latent class analysis, we extracted six latent groups: (1) Externalising and Internalising Problems (EIP; 11.1%), (2) Internalising Problems (IP; 15.6%), (3) Externalising Problems (EP; 12.5%), (4) At-risk for Externalising Problems (R-EP; 16.1%), (5) At-risk for Internalising Problems (R-IP; 27.3%) and (6) Healthy Subjects (H-S; 17.5%). General linear models on the BSI scores showed that those in EIP reported the most severe symptoms on all the BSI scales and those in H-S had the lowest scores. We concluded that character strengths take part in the etiology of externalising and internalising disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]