The Character Strengths of Adolescents of Multicultural Families in Korea

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to explore the Character Strengths (CS) of adolescents of multicultural families in Korea and to examine the relationship among CS, adjustment and attachment. Methods/Statistical Analysis: Self-report questionnaires assessing character strength, school adjustment and attachment were administrated to 43 multiculturaladolescents and 74 non-multicultural ones.The statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS (ver. 1.8). The top 5 CSs were selected by comparing the averages of all the twenty four CSs in the multicultural group. And independent sample t-test was conducted to compare CSs with non-multicultural group and compare CSs according to the adjustment level. Findings: The results showed that the top-five CSs multicultural adolescents ranked most high were love, optimism, gratitude, kindness and vitality. And most of the CS sub-factors were higher in the multicultural group than the non-multicultural group except for self-regulation, leadership and humor. The school adjustment was significantly correlated to overall CS, and the attachment with mother significantly predicted the top five CSs of multicultural adolescents. In this study, the representative character strengths of the multicultural adolescents in Korea were found out. And also the positive relationship between the character strengths and adjustment of the multicultural adolescents was proved. Improvements/Applications: These findings indicate that it could buffer the negative influences of risk factors on maladjustment to enhance the strengths of multicultural adolescents, not just to reduce negative aspects of them