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

ABSTRACT

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.

KEYWORDS:

• Character strengths
• internalising problems
• externalising problems
• adolescents
• moral development

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the VIA Institute on Character for their permission to use the Turkish version of the 96-item VIA Inventory of Strengths for Youth (VIA Youth Survey). We thank Kelly Aluise from the VIA Institute on Character for her help. We are grateful to the students who volunteered to participate in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval

All procedures complied with the ethical standards of the institutional or national research committee or both and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants and their parents.

Author declaration

The paper used the data set from the first author’s master dissertation.

Additional information

Funding

The study was not supported by any institution or organisation.

Notes on contributors

Semra Kiye

Semra Kiye is a PhD student and research assistant in Guidance and Counselling at Ankara University, Turkey. She worked as a school counsellor in the Ministry of National Education for nine years. Her fields of interest include positive psychology, school counselling, comprehensive developmental guidance programmes, and family counselling.

Murat Boysan

Murat Boysan is associate professor of psychology at Ankara Social Sciences University, Turkey. His areas of interest are cognitive predisposition for trauma and stress-related disorders, circadian rhythm and psychological problems.