The Blessings of Social-Oriented Virtues: Interpersonal Character Strengths Are Linked to Increased Life Satisfaction and Academic Success Among Filipino High School Students

Abstract

Some studies have shown that character strengths positively predicted optimal performance and well-being in Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) societies which may hold limited generalizability to individuals in non-WEIRD contexts. This prospective study examined the association of selected interpersonal character strengths (i.e., fairness, teamwork, leadership, forgiveness, and kindness) with life satisfaction, teacher-reported academic engagement, Mathematics achievement, English achievement, and overall academic achievement among Filipino high school students enrolled in a public high school in the Philippines (M _age = 14.33). There was a 2-month interval between Time 1 and Time 2 data collection. Results indicate that whereas fairness and kindness demonstrated stronger magnitudes of associations with subsequent life satisfaction, academic engagement, and achievement, teamwork and forgiveness had positive and moderate intensity of relationships to such outcomes. Compared to other interpersonal strengths, leadership showed weaker correlations with life satisfaction and achievement outcomes. Results allude to the benefits associated with interpersonal positive virtues in a non-WEIRD context.

Keywords

academic outcomes fairness forgiveness kindness leadership teamwork academic engagement achievement

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Banjanovic

E. S.

Osborne

J. W.

(2016). Confidence intervals for effect sizes: Applying bootstrap resampling. Practical Assessment, Research, & Evaluation. http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=21&n=5

Bernardo

A. B. I.

(2007). Language in Philippine education: Rethinking old fallacies, exploring new alternatives amidst globalization. In Tupas

T. R. F.

(Ed.), (Re)making society: The politics of language, discourse and identity in the Philippines (pp. 1–26). University of the Philippines Press.

Bernardo

A. B. I.

(2008). Individual and social dimensions of Filipino students’ achievement goals. International Journal of Psychology, 43, 886–891.

Bernardo

A. B. I.

(2015). Hope in early adolescence: Measuring internal and external locus-of-hope. Child Indicators Research, 8, 699–715.

Bernardo

A. B. I.

(2019). Sociocultural dimensions of student motivation: Research approaches and insights from the Philippines. In Liem

G. A. D.

Tan

S. H.

(Eds.), Asian education miracles: In search of sociocultural and psychological explanations (pp. 139–154). Routledge.

Bernardo

A. B. I.

Clemente

J. A. R.

Liem

G. A. D.

(2014). Describing values of Filipino adolescents: A comparison with pan-cultural norms. Journal of Tropical Psychology, 4, e2.

Bernardo

A. B. I.

Ganotice

F. A.

King

R. B.

(2015). Motivation gap and achievement gap between public and private high schools in the Philippines. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 24(4), 657–667.

Bernardo

A. B. I.

Salanga

M. G. C.

Aguas

K. M. C.

(2008). Filipino adolescent students’ conceptions of learning goals. In Tan

O. S.

McInerney

D. M.

Liem

A. D.

Tan

A. G.

(Eds.), What the West can learn from the East: Asian perspectives on the psychology of learning and motivation (pp. 169–190). Information Age Publishing.

Bernardo

A. B. I.

Salanga

M. G. C.

Khan

Yeung

S. S.

(2016). Internal and external loci-of-hope predict use of individual and collaborative learning strategies: Evidence from university learners in four Asian cities. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 25, 367–376.

10.

Brdar

Kashdan

T. B.

(2010). Character strengths and well-being in Croatia: An empirical investigation of structure and correlates. Journal of Research in Personality, 44, 151–154.

11.

Chan

D. W.

(2009). The hierarchy of strengths: Their relationships with subjective well-being among Chinese teachers in Hong Kong. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25, 867–875.

12.

Datu

J. A. D.

(2014). Forgiveness, gratitude, and subjective well-being among Filipino adolescents. International Journal for the Advancement of Counseling, 36, 262–273.

13.

Datu

J. A. D.

King

R. B.

Valdez

J. P. M.

(2018). Psychological capital bolsters motivation, engagement, and achievement: Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. Journal of Positive Psychology, 13, 260–270.

14.

Datu

J. A. D.

Mateo

N. J.

(2015). Gratitude and life satisfaction among Filipino adolescents: The mediating role of meaning in life. International Journal for the Advancement of Counseling, 37, 198–206.

15.

Datu

J. A. D.

Park

(2019). Perceived school kindness and academic engagement: The mediational roles of achievement goal orientations. School Psychology International, 40, 456–473.

16.

Datu

J. A. D.

Valdez

J. P. M.

(2019). Psychological capital is associated with higher levels of life satisfaction and school belongingness. School Psychology International. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/0143034319838011

17.

Duckworth

A. L.

Yeager

D. S.

(2015). Measurement matters: Assessing personal qualities other than cognitive ability for educational purposes. Educational Researcher, 44, 237–251.

18.

Dumfart

Neubauer

A. C.

(2016). Conscientiousness is the most powerful noncognitive predictor of school achievement in adolescents. Journal of Individual Differences, 37, 8–15.

19.

Gale

C. R.

Booth

Mõttus

Kuh

Deary

I. J.

(2013). Neuroticism and extraversion in youth predict mental wellbeing and life satisfaction 40 years later. Journal of Research in Personality, 47, 687–697

20.

Gignac

G. E.

Szodorai

E.T.

(2016). Effect size guidelines for individual differences researchers. Personality and Individual Differences, 102, 74–78.

21.

Gillham

Adams-Deutsch

Werner

Reivich

Coulter-Heindl

Linkins

Winder

Peterson

Park

Abenavoli

Contero

Seligman

M. E. P.

(2011). Character strengths predict subjective well-being during adolescence. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 6, 31–44.

22.

Hausler

Strecker

Huber

Brenner

Höge

Höfer

(2017). Distinguishing relational aspects of character strengths with subjective and psychological well-being. Frontiers in Psychology , 8, 1159. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01159

23.

Henrich

Heine

S. J.

Norenzayan

(2010). Most people are not WEIRD. Nature, 466(7302), 29.

24.

Jayawickreme

Forgeard

Seligman

M. E. P

(2012). The engine of well-being. Review of General Psychology, 16, 327–342.

25.

Kern

M. L.

Bowling

D. S.

(2015). Character strengths and academic performance in law students. Journal of Research in Personality, 55, 25–29.

26.

Kern

M. L.

Della Porta

S. S.

Friedman

H. S.

(2013). Lifelong pathways to longevity: Personality, relationships, flourishing, and health. Journal of Personality, 82, 472–484.

27.

King

R. B.

Datu

J. A. D.

(2018). Grateful students are motivated, engaged, and successful in school: Cross-sectional, longitudinal, and experimental evidence. Journal of School Psychology, 70, 105–122.

28.

Liem

A. D.

Nie

(2008). Values, achievement goals, and individually-oriented and social-oriented achievement motivations among Chinese and Indonesian secondary school students. International Journal of Psychology, 45, 898–903.

29.

Littman-Ovadia

Lavy

(2012). Character strengths in Israel: Hebrew adaptation of the VIA inventory of strengths. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 28, 41–50.

30.

Lounsbury

J. W.

Fisher

L. A.

Levy

J. J.

Welsh

D. P.

(2009). Investigation of character strengths in relation to the academic success of college students. Individual Differences Research, 7, 52–69.

31.

Margolis

Schwitzgebel

Ozer

D. J.

Lyubomirsky

(2018). A new measure of life satisfaction: The riverside life satisfaction scale. Journal of Personality Assessment. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2018.1464457

32.

McGrath

R. E.

(2014). Scale-and item-level factor analyses of the VIA inventory of strengths. Assessment, 21, 4–14.

33.

Park

Peterson

(2006). Moral competence and character strengths among adolescents: The development and validation of the values in action inventory of strengths for youth. Journal of Adolescence, 29, 891–909.

34.

Park

Peterson

Seligman

M. E. P.

(2006). Character strengths in fifty-four nations and the fifty US states. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 1, 118–129.

35.

Peterson

Seligman

M. E. P.

(2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. Oxford University Press.

36.

Peugh

J. L.

(2010). A practical guide to multilevel modeling. Journal of School Psychology, 48, 85–112.

37.

Raudenbush

S. W.

Bryk

A. S.

(2002). Hierarchical linear models: Applications and data analysis methods (2nd ed.). Sage.

38.

Ruch

Proyer

R. T.

Harzer

Park

Peterson

Seligman

M. E .P.

(2010). Values in action inventory of strengths (VIA-IS): Adaptation and validation of the German version and the development of a peer-rating form. Journal of Individual Differences, 31, 138–149.

39.

Schwartz

S. H.

(1994). Are there universal aspects in the content and structure of values? Journal of Social Issues, 50, 19–45.

40.

Shoshani

Aviv

(2012). The pillars of strength for first-grade adjustment—Parental and children’s character strengths and the transition to elementary school. Journal of Positive Psychology, 7, 315–326.

41.

Shryack

Steger

M. F.

Krueger

R. F.

Kallie

C. S.

(2010). The structure of virtue: An empirical investigation of the dimensionality of the virtues in action inventory of strengths. Personality and Individual Differences, 48, 714–719.

42.

Stankov

Lee

Luo

Hogan

D. J.

(2012). Confidence: A better predictor of academic achievement than self-efficacy, self-concept and anxiety? Learning and Individual Differences, 22, 747–758.

43.

Tabachnick

B. G.

Fidell

L. S.

(2007). Using multivariate statistics. Pearson.

44.

Toner

Haslam

Robinson

Williams

(2012). Character strengths and wellbeing in adolescence: Structure and correlates of the values in action inventory of strengths for children. Personality and Individual Differences, 52, 637–642.

45.

Trautwein

Lüdtke

Roberts

B. W.

Schnyder

Niggli

(2009). Different forces, same consequence: Conscientiousness and competence beliefs are independent predictors of academic effort and achievement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97, 1115–1128.

46.

Valdez

J. P. M.

Chu

S. K. W.

(2019). Examining the psychometric validity of the five-item gratitude questionnaire: An item response theory approach. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734282918816542

47.

Valdez

J. P. M.

Yang

Datu

J. A. D.

(2017). Validation of the gratitude questionnaire in Filipino secondary school students. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 20(e45), 1–7.

48.

Wagner

Ruch

(2015). Good character at school: Positive classroom behavior mediates the link between character strengths and school achievement. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 610. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00610

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.02 MB