Values in Action Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS)

The Values in Action Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS; Peterson, Park, median corrected item-total correlations = .45) and high stability across 9 months (median test-retest correlation = .73). The VIA-IS peer form also had high reliability (median α = .81). Self- and peer-ratings of strengths converged as expected (median correlation = .40), and on average ordered the strengths in the same way, correlating .88 across the 24 strengths. There were low to modest correlations of the VIA subscales with demographic variables. Neither the VIA-IS nor the VIA-IS Peer was strongly influenced by social desirability. Correlations with three different measures of subjective well-being replicated findings from earlier studies of the original English VIA-IS and supported the validity of the scale. Furthermore, relations to self-reported behavior and contentment with various aspects of life were modest but congruent with the meaning of the scales (e.g., higher endorsement of religion among spiritual participants, less cigarette smoking among participants with higher self-regulation). Overall, the German VIA-IS and VIA-IS Peer demonstrated good psychometric properties and promising validity evidence. These scales can be recommended for the assessment of strengths of character in the German-speaking world.