Assessment of character strengths in Argentine adolescents: validation of a short version of VIA-Youth
Abstract
The objective of the present work was, based on the version adapted by Raimundi et al. (2015) of VIA-Youth (Park & Peterson, 2006) re-elaborate the strengths that did not present a satisfactory psychometric adjustment, select the best items and validate a short scale to assess the strengths of character in adolescents. Two studies were carried out. In the first, the items of the dimensions that required it and the psychometric properties of each strength (discriminative power of the items, internal structure and internal consistency) were reviewed. Based on the results, the best items that would make up the short preliminary version of the scale were selected. In the second study, the psychometric properties of this scale were evaluated, analyzing internal consistency and collecting evidence of validity of the concurrent and factorial construct validity (AFE and AFC). The sample was non-probabilistic and consisted of 963 Argentine adolescents between 12 and 19 years old (M = 14.66; SD = 1.8). It was randomly subdivided into two sub-samples of 50% each to perform the exploratory and confirmatory factor analyzes. All items were discriminatory, and both strengths and virtues and the full scale showed relatively adequate internal consistency. The EFA indicated the existence of 6 factors, called virtues according to the theoretical model (courage, transcendence, ancestry, justice and humanity, temperance, knowledge) that explain 61.8% of the variance. The second-order CFA, without the openness strength (belonging to the justice and humanity dimension), showed the most satisfactory adjustment rates. The scale was finally made up of 66 items (22 strengths, 6 virtues). It is concluded that the short definitive version of the VIA-Youth presents adequate psychometric properties and makes it possible to assess the strengths of character in Argentine adolescents in a practical way, being especially useful in research contexts.
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