The Resilience Function of Character Strengths in the Face of War and Protracted Conflict

Frontiers in Psychology
Anat Shoshani, Michelle Slone

Abstract

This study investigated the role of character strengths and virtues in moderating relations between conflict exposure and psychiatric symptoms among 1078 adolescents aged 13-15 living in southern Israel, who were exposed to lengthy periods of war, terrorism and political conflict. Adolescents were assessed for character strengths and virtues, political violence exposure using the Political Life Events (PLE) scale, and psychiatric symptoms using the Brief Symptom Inventory and the UCLA PTSD Index. Results confirmed that political violence exposure was positively correlated with psychiatric symptoms. Interpersonal, temperance and transcendence strengths were negatively associated with psychiatric symptoms. Moderating effects of the interpersonal strengths on the relation between political violence exposure and the psychiatric and PTSD indices were confirmed. The findings extend existing knowledge about the resilience function of character strengths in exposure to protracted conflict and have important practical implications for applying strength-building practices for adolescents who grow up in war-affected environments.

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Citations

Apr 19, 2019·Perspectives on Psychological Science : a Journal of the Association for Psychological Science·Cory L CobbCharles R Martinez
May 27, 2020·Journal of Personality·William J ChopikMartin E P Seligman
Dec 3, 2017·Quality of Life Research : an International Journal of Quality of Life Aspects of Treatment, Care and Rehabilitation·Anat Shoshani, Yaniv Kanat-Maymon
Sep 26, 2020·Frontiers in Psychology·Neal H Mayerson
Apr 21, 2021·Applied Psychology. Health and Well-being·Tamar BlanchardEranda Jayawickreme
Jun 8, 2021·Frontiers in Psychology·Lea WatersGökmen Arslan

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