Strengths of Character and Well-Being: A Closer Look at Hope and Modesty

We took a closer look at the link between character strengths and well-being by following up on suggestions by Snyder (this issue) and Harvey and Pauwels (this issue). We explored the simultaneous association between 24 strengths of character and life satisfaction and found that a number of different strengths independently predicted life satisfaction. Hope was among the important predictors, as Snyder proposed, but it was no more robust a predictor than the character strengths of gratitude, love, and zest. We also found that trauma moderated the association between modesty and well-being, as Harvey and Pauwels hypothesized. With increasing trauma, the correlation between modesty and enthusiasm about life increased in magnitude. These new analyses further our comparative investigation of character strengths and imply that there are different routes to a satisfied life.