Background
Many empirical studies show that character strengths positively affect well-being among adolescents and adults. Investigating whether character strengths contribute to well-being in later life across the entire lifespan is vital. However, few studies have specifically examined the relationship between character strengths and well-being among retired older adults. If this relationship among the older adults is verified, we could say character strengths play an important role throughout life. Additionally, it is crucial to consider the potential cultural differences in how character strengths relate to well-being (Littman-Ovadia & Lavy, 2012). Considering the similarities or differences in various cultural contexts, we collected data from China (Study 2) to make a comparison with Japan (Study 1).
Aims
This study examined the relationship between character strengths and well-being among older adults in China.
Method
Respondents living in China was targeted and same method in Study1 was utilized here. We measured character strengths and well-being among older adults using the Character Strengths Rating Form (Ruch et al.,2014), translated into Chinese (Aoki, Li, & Cao, 2022). Well-being was measured using the PERMA-Profiler (Butler & Kern, 2016), wherein PERMA, negative emotion, loneliness, and overall happiness questions were used. We administered the measures online to older adults who registered on the website. The data was screened for validity using trap questions, resulting in a final sample of 54 men and 104 women aged 61–79 years in China.
Results and Conclusion
Overall happiness was used as a representative measure of general well-being here. Our findings indicate that 24 strengths of older adults positively relate to well-being in China. Strength of religiousness & spirituality is correlated with well-being among older adults in China but not in Japan. The results revealed that honesty, capacity to love and be loved, kindness, forgiveness & mercy, modesty & humility, and hope had high correlations with overall happiness (r≥0.5, *p<.05). We will provide the other results of PERMA-Profiler during the presentation.