Table 2.
Results from studies of the structure of character strengths interpreted using Peterson and Seligman's (2004) classification obtained from an exploratory factor analysis.
| Study | Macdonald et al., 2008 | Peterson et al., 2008 | Brdar and Kashdan, 2010 | Ruch et al., 2010 | Singh and Choubisa, 2010 | Shryack et al., 2010 | Littman-Ovadia and Lavy, 2012 | McGrath, 2014 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country | Australia | Online study | Croatia | Germany | India | USA | Israel | Online study |
| Factor | Interpersonal strengths (Positivity) | Interpersonal | Interpersonal | Interpersonal strengths | Interpersonal strengths | Interpersonal strengths (Sociability) | Interpersonal strengths | Interpersonal |
| Content | Teamwork | Humor | Fairness | Fairness | Humor | Kindness | Modesty | Fairness |
| Love | Kindness | Teamwork | Teamwork | Social intelligence | Teamwork | Fairness | Kindness | |
| Hope | Leadership | Kindness | Forgiveness | Bravery | Love | Forgiveness | Teamwork | |
| Humor | Love | Forgiveness | Modesty | Kindness | Gratitude | Modesty | ||
| Zest | Social intelligence | Love | Kindness | Fairness | Leadership | |||
| Leadership | Teamwork | Modesty | Leadership | Leadership | Forgiveness | |||
| Leadership | Forgiveness | |||||||
| Gratitude | Humor | |||||||
| Beauty | ||||||||
| Factor | Emotional/Theological strengths (Niceness) | Emotional strengths/Strengths of restraint (Fortitude) | Emotional strengths (Vitality) | Emotional strengths | ? (Civic strengths) | Intellectual/Interpersonal/ Emotional strengths (Agency/Self-assuredness) | Emotional strengths | Emotional |
| Content | Modesty | Bravery | Zest | Humor | Fairness | Creativity | Love | Social intelligence |
| Fairness | Honesty | Hope | Zest | Teamwork | Perspective | Kindness | Humor | |
| Kindness | Judgment | Curiosity | Love | Modesty | Social intelligence | Social intelligence | Bravery | |
| Forgiveness | Persistence | Humor | Hope | Leadership | Bravery | Humor | Creativity | |
| Spirituality | Perspective | Bravery | Honesty | Curiosity | Teamwork | Perspective | ||
| Gratitude | Self-regulation | Social intelligence | Prudence | Hope | Leadership | |||
| Love of learning | ||||||||
| Zest | ||||||||
| Judgment | ||||||||
| Beauty | ||||||||
| Factor | Intellectual strengths (Intellect) | Intellectual strengths (Cognitive) | Intellectual strengths (Fortitude) | Intellectual strengths | Intellectual strengths | Intellectual strengths (Conscientiousness) | Intellectual strengths | Intellectual |
| Content | Creativity | Beauty | Perspective | Love of learning | Creativity | Prudence | Love of learning | Love of learning |
| Beauty | Creativity | Judgment | Creativity | Judgment | Self-regulation | Curiosity | Beauty | |
| Curiosity | Curiosity | Creativity | Curiosity | Love of learning | Persistence | Creativity | Curiosity | |
| Love of learning | Love of learning | Social intelligence | Judgment | Curiosity | Honesty | Zest | ||
| Social intelligence | Bravery | Perspective | Modesty | |||||
| Perspective | Love of learning | |||||||
| Bravery | ||||||||
| Factor | Strengths of restraint (Conscientiousness) | Strengths of restraint (Temperance) | Strengths of restraint (Cautiousness) | Strengths of restraint | Strengths of restraint/Emotional strengths (Self-assurance strengths) | Strengths of restraint | Restraint | |
| Content | Self-regulation | Fairness | Prudence | Self-regulation | Persistence | Persistence | Prudence | |
| Persistence | Forgiveness | Self-regulation | Persistence | Self-regulation | Self-regulation | Persistence | ||
| Judgment | Modesty | Persistence | Prudence | Hope | Honesty | Self-regulation | ||
| Honesty | Prudence | Spirituality | Perspective | Spirituality | Judgment | Judgment | ||
| Prudence | Honesty | Honesty | Zest | Prudence | Honesty | |||
| Perspective | ||||||||
| Bravery | ||||||||
| Factor | Theological strengths (Transcendence) | Theological strengths | Theological strengths | Theological strengths | Theological | |||
| Content | Gratitude | Spirituality | Gratitude | Spirituality | Zest | |||
| Hope | Gratitude | Love | Gratitude | Hope | ||||
| Spirituality | Beauty | Beauty | Beauty | Gratitude | ||||
| Zest | Forgiveness | Hope | Spirituality | |||||
| Love |
When the names that were originally provided by the researchers differ from those proposed by Peterson and Seligman (2004), they are reported in parentheses.