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Balance Among Character Strengths and Meaning in Life

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Abstract

Several scholars have suggested that character strengths are interdependent and should be in balance for a meaningful and fulfilling life, but this hypothesis has not been tested. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess if the degree of agreement between selected character strength pairs was positively related to meaning in life and if the level of difference between pairs was negatively associated with meaning in life. Using polynomial regression with response surface mapping, results indicated that honesty and kindness, love and social intelligence, and hope and gratitude had the strongest relations to meaning in life when both pairs were in agreement. When one character strength was higher than its pair, this predicted lower levels of meaning in life. The exception was bravery and fairness where the degree of discrepancy predicted meaning life when bravery was higher than fairness. These results suggest that balance among character strengths is important for meaning in life.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Florida, PO Box 112250, Gainesville, FL, 32611-2250, USA

    Blake A. Allan

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  1. Blake A. Allan
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Correspondence to Blake A. Allan.

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Allan, B.A. Balance Among Character Strengths and Meaning in Life. J Happiness Stud 16, 1247–1261 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-014-9557-9

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