Development of Character Strengths (Wisdom and Knowledge) among Children and Adolescents
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Abstract
The present study aims to examine the strength of wisdom and knowledge as personality traits among children and adolescents according to two variables: a. Age (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17) years. b. Gender (male, female). To achieve the objectives of the study, the researcher adopted the Character Strengths Scale (Wisdom and Knowledge) developed by Park and Peterson (2017), which is grounded in Seligman’s (2002) theoretical framework. According to Seligman and Peterson, the character strengths of wisdom and knowledge are cognitive virtues that involve the acquisition and application of knowledge.
The scale comprised 24 items rated on a five-point Likert scale. A stratified random sample of 240 children and adolescents was drawn from six directorates of education. The validity of the scale was established through item discrimination and item–total correlations for both the main and subdomains, while reliability was confirmed using the test–retest method and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. The results indicated that the strengths of wisdom and knowledge were present among children and adolescents aged 10 to 17 years, following a developmental pattern across this age range. No significant gender differences were observed in these strengths. Based on these findings, several recommendations and suggestions for future research were presented.
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