The study was designed to explore the relationships among character strengths, strengths use, future self-continuity and subjective well-being. A total of 225 undergraduates completed paper-and-pencil questionnaires assessing character strengths, strengths use, future self-continuity and subjective well-being. Results suggested several character strengths were correlated with subjective well-being and the strongest correlations were found for hope, curiosity, zest, perseverance and love. All character strengths were significantly correlated with strengths use. Strengths use and future self-continuity were robustly correlated with subjective well-being. The mediation (...) analysis showed that strengths use mediates the relationship between character strengths and subjective well-being, and specifically, the indirect effects of strengths use varies from different character strengths. The moderated mediator suggested that future self-continuity moderated the mediation of strengths use because future self-continuity moderates the effect of strengths use on subjective well-being. Furthermore, the indirect effect of strengths use was stronger with high level of future self-continuity than those with low level of future self-continuity. The present findings make a contribution to understand the underlying mechanisms involving in character strengths are associated with higher level of well-being. Additionally, the findings expand knowledge about future self-continuity and its relation to strengths use and subjective well-being among undergraduates, having significant implications in the educational context. (shrink)

This study is embedded in the theoretical framework of the engine model of positive schooling. Accordingly, relations were investigated between students’ endogenous input variables, process variables, and school achievement as an outcome variable. A sample of 300 students completed web-based self-report measures for all key variables. Specific character strengths were substantially positively related to school satisfaction, enjoyment of learning, academic self-efficacy, and/or school achievement. Exploratory mediation analyses supported the basic assumption that processes mediate the relations between character strengths as input (...) variables and school achievement as an outcome variable. The findings underline the benefit of studying inputs, processes, and outcomes simultaneously to better understand the interplay among relevant variables in the context of positive schooling. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to explore a new framework for personality assessment that may function as sanity nosology of personality traits: the Positive Personality Model. The recent publication of DSM-5 created the opportunity to assess personality traits as dimensional constructs (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). In Section III, five maladaptive personality traits are proposed as the maladaptive versions of Five Factor Model (FFM) traits (Costa and McCrae, 1985). This approach draws on the existing idea of conceptualizing pathological and typical (...) personality traits as part of a continuum. It places DSM-5’s maladaptive traits in a sickness pole and FFM’s traits in a “typical” pole. This spectrum, however, does not include a positive perspective that represents healthy behavior: a sanity nosology. The Positive Traits Inventory-5 (PTI-5; de la Iglesia and Castro Solano, 2018) is a measure designed to assess the positive reverse of the Personality Inventory for DSM-5-Adult (PID-5; Krueger, Derringer, Markon, Watson and Skodol, 2013). The 220 positive personality criteria were studied psychometrically using a sample of 1902 Argentinean adults from the general population (Mage = 39.10, SD = 13.81, Min = 18, Max = 83; 50.1% females, 49.9% males). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses resulted in a five-factor solution. The dimensions were labeled Sprightliness, Integrity, Serenity, Moderation, and Humanity and subsumed under the denomination of Positive Personality Model (PPM). Analyses of convergent validity provided some grounds for interpreting the five positive traits as positive versions of the pathological traits and the typical traits. When tested for its predictive capability on mental health, the PPM outperformed the variance explained by the FFM. It is concluded that the PPM may constitute a positive pole in the continuum of personality traits –possibly functioning as a sanity nosology– and that it is somewhat more related to optimal functioning than to typical trait models. The PPM should be confirmed in other populations, its predictive capability ought to be tested with other relevant variables, and longitudinal studies should be done to analyze the stability of the traits over time. (shrink)

While the consumption of smart products is continuously increasing, it is essential to explore the trigger mechanism of consumer behavior in respect of smart product purchase. In this scenario, we aim to investigate the impact of consumers’ positive personality on the purchase behavior. We constructed a structural equation model based on the partial least square method and tested our hypotheses on the basis of data analysis. The data were collected by conducting a survey of 326 Chinese consumers. We found two (...) affecting paths from consumers’ positive personality to smart product purchase. First, consumer knowledge promoted by positive personality raises purchase intention and, in turn, stimulates purchase behavior. Second, consumers’ positive personality improves perceived income, which determines actual purchase behavior. This study deepens our understanding of the trigger mechanism of smart product purchase behavior and enriches the consumer behavior theory. (shrink)