Measures of Character Strengths of the Gifted Students Using Values in Action (VIA) Survey Items

Overview

The study aimed to gauge the affective development of gifted students in Hong Kong using ‘Values in Action (VIA)’ survey items and to compare gifted students’ character strengths with that of Hong Kong general students and youths of other countries. From the empirical data, the gifted students got relatively higher scores in ‘Justice’ (e.g., Fairness and Teamwork) and ‘Wisdom’ (e.g., Judgement and Love of Learning). Overall, youths from all other concerned countries and Hong Kong students scored relatively low in ‘Self-regulation’, ‘Honesty’ and ‘Spirituality’. Furthermore, we explored the association of students’ six broad virtues with their life satisfaction. Multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to quantify the impacts of gifted students’ six general virtues on their life satisfaction. It was found that the ‘Courage’ (such as ‘Honesty’, ‘Zest’ and ‘Perseverance’) positively impacted students’ satisfaction with the aspect of ‘Feel Myself’. Besides, ‘Courage’ and ‘Humanity’ (such as ‘Love’ and ‘Kindness’) positively impacted students’ overall life satisfaction. In sum, the study’s results could let the participating educators understand the personality characteristics of gifted and general students in Hong Kong. This will be helpful for them to plan and develop affective programmes for gifted students in future to improve their weaknesses.