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Brief Report: Character Strengths in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder Without Intellectual Impairment

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Abstract

In the current study, we assessed character strengths in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD, n = 32) and neurotypical controls (n = 32) using the Values in Action Inventory (VIA-IS, Peterson and Seligman 2004) and explored associations with levels of satisfaction with life (SWL). The most frequently endorsed signature strengths (i.e., five top-ranked strengths within an individual’s strength ranking) were emotional (humour, love) and interpersonal strengths (kindness, fairness) in the control group, the most frequently endorsed signature strengths in the ASD group were intellectual strengths (open-mindedness, creativity, love of learning). Interpersonal and emotional strengths had, however, the highest positive associations with SWL in the ASD group.

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Notes

  1. Controls in our and Samson and Antonellis study (2013) had comparable associations between character strengths and SWL with previous work (Peterson et al. 2007; Ruch et al. 2010), (i.e., hope, zest, persistence, perspective were among those character strengths with the strongest associations with SWL).

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Acknowledgments

Our thanks go to Claudia Harzer from the University of Zürich for helping with the data collection. Furthermore, I thank all individuals who participated in the study. This study is part of the dissertation of Jennifer Kirchner. Jennifer Kirchner received a PhD scholarship from Evangelisches Studienwerk Villigst.

Contribution of Authors

JK conceived of the study and its design, coordinated study with co-authors, performed statistical analysis, interpreted the data and drafted the manuscript. WR helped to conceive of the study, collected data, participated in statistical analysis and gave feedback on manuscript. ID helped to conceive of the study, participated in the interpretation of the data and helped to draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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  1. Jennifer Kirchner & Isabel Dziobek

    Present address: Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Luisenstraße 56, 10117, Berlin, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cluster of Excellence “Languages of Emotion”, Junior Research Group “Understanding Interaffectivity”, Freie Universität Berlin, Habelschwerdter Allee 45, 14195, Berlin, Germany

    Jennifer Kirchner & Isabel Dziobek

  2. Department of Psychology-Personality and Assessment, Universität Zürich, Binzmühlestrasse 14/7, 8050, Zurich, Switzerland

    Willibald Ruch

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  1. Jennifer Kirchner
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  2. Willibald Ruch
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Correspondence to Jennifer Kirchner.

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Kirchner, J., Ruch, W. & Dziobek, I. Brief Report: Character Strengths in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder Without Intellectual Impairment. J Autism Dev Disord 46, 3330–3337 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2865-7

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