Character Strengths And Physical And Psychological Health In Older Adults:the Mediating Role Of Rumination

Character strengths are a set of positive personality traits reflected in the cognitive,emotional,and behavioral aspects of an individual’s life.The discovery and application of character strengths can maximize an individual’s sense of well-being and promote physical and psychological health.On the other hand,rumination can reduce the positive effects of character strengths on physical and psychological health and is a maladaptive emotion regulation strategy.Therefore,it is necessary to study the effects of character strengths on physical and psychological health in older adults and reveal the role of rumination in these links.Based on the theory of character strengths,this study focuses on exploring the latent classes of character strengths that exist in older adults,comparing the physical and psychological health differences among different classes of older adults,examining the mediating effects of rumination on the ways from character strengths to physical and psychological health,and providing empirical support for some interventions and services aimed at promoting the physical and psychological health of older adults.In this study,a questionnaire survey method was used to collect data.Participants were from 522 retired older adults aged 50-94 years.In study one,latent classes of older adults’ character strengths were explored using latent profile analysis,and the effects of demographic variables on latent categories of older adults’ character strengths were examined.The results found that older adults’ character strengths could be divided into three latent categories: Dominant,Average and Risky,and the Dominant older adults had the highest scores on character strengths across all dimensions(willpower,affinity and vitality);compared to the Dominant groups,men tended to belong to the average category,and rural older adults tended to belong to the Average and Risky groups.In study 2,descriptive statistics were conducted for character strengths,physical and psychological health(depression,life satisfaction,and general health status),and rumination,followed by using a univariate ANOVA to analyze and compare the differences in each variable between the three latent groups.Finally,structural equation models were applied to test the mediating role of rumination between the sub-dimensions of character strengths and the indicators of physical and psychological health.The results showed that(1)there were basically significant correlations between character strengths(willpower,affinity and vitality),depression,life satisfaction,general health status,and rumination except for the link between affinity and rumination;(2)the differences in variables(depression,life satisfaction,general health status,and rumination)of different latent character strengths classes were significant,with dominant older adults having fewer depressive symptoms,higher life satisfaction,and better general health status,while at-risk older adults were more likely to choose rumination as a poor emotion regulation strategy;(3)willpower strength directly and positively predicted the depression,life satisfaction,and general health of older adults;(4)vitality strength negatively predicted depression and positively predicted life satisfaction,in which ruminant plays a fully mediating role.Vitality strength also indirectly and positively predicted general health status through rumination.In summary,older adults have group heterogeneity in character strengths,which can be divided into different groups.Character strengths are related to the physical and psychological health of older adults,and there are differences in the physical and psychological health levels of older adults with different character strength groups.Character strengths can both directly influence the physical and psychological health of older adults and indirectly influence them through rumination.