Why do some people seem better equipped to handle life’s ups and downs? Research suggests that certain positive traits, known as character strengths, may play a key role in shaping both happiness and resilience.
These qualities—ranging from hope and curiosity to gratitude and perseverance—are often described as the building blocks of a fulfilling life. But until recently, no single study had pulled together the vast body of evidence on how they connect to mental health and well-being.
A new study by Nicole Casali and Tommaso Feraco published in the European Journal of Personality (2025), offers the most comprehensive look to date.
The researchers analyzed findings from 130 studies, spanning more than 275,000 participants worldwide, to explore how each of the 24 recognized character strengths relates to both psychological well-being and common mental health problems.
The analysis found that nearly all character strengths—except humility—were meaningfully associated with better mental health and higher well-being. Two in particular, hope and zest, stood out as the strongest predictors, each showing large correlations with healthy functioning.
Gratitude, love, and curiosity also emerged as consistent contributors to greater life satisfaction and lower distress.
Character strengths are defined as morally valued traits such as kindness, perseverance, honesty, and humor.
Psychologists first formalized the list two decades ago as part of the “Values in Action” framework, intended to highlight positive qualities alongside the traditional focus on mental illness.
These traits are thought to support both hedonic well-being, which emphasizes happiness and pleasure, and eudaimonic well-being, which emphasizes meaning and fulfillment.
To conduct the study, Casali and Feraco drew from a wide pool of research published since 2004, excluding severe psychiatric conditions but including both general population and clinical samples.
Participants ranged in age from early adolescence to late adulthood and came from a variety of cultural backgrounds.
By using a three-level meta-analytic approach, the authors were able to estimate reliable associations between individual strengths and outcomes like life satisfaction, positive emotions, depression, and stress.
The findings show clear patterns.
Hope and zest—the tendency to expect good things in the future and to approach life with energy and enthusiasm—were each linked to stronger well-being and fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Gratitude and love were also strongly tied to positive mental health, while perseverance and self-regulation were particularly relevant in buffering against stress and depression.
On the other end of the scale, humility showed little connection to well-being or mental health, echoing earlier findings that modesty may not always predict better psychological outcomes.
Importantly, the analysis revealed that character strengths are more closely tied to well-being than to mental health disorders.
In other words, while strengths like hope and gratitude may help reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, their strongest effects appear in promoting happiness, life satisfaction, and flourishing.
This distinction reflects a broader shift in psychology toward viewing mental health as more than just the absence of illness.
For the general public, the results underscore the value of cultivating positive traits alongside traditional approaches to mental health.
Programs that encourage hope, gratitude, or curiosity, for example, could support people in managing stress or building more meaningful lives.
The findings also align with a growing body of research suggesting that character strengths can be intentionally developed through practices such as journaling, mindfulness, or structured interventions.
The study does come with caveats.
Most of the data were based on self-reported surveys, which can be influenced by biases in how people perceive themselves.
The available evidence was also much stronger for well-being outcomes than for mental health disorders, meaning future research will need to expand into clinical populations and more specific conditions like anxiety or post-traumatic stress.
Additionally, cultural differences and age-related variations remain underexplored.
Still, Casali and Feraco’s work provides one of the clearest signals yet that the traits people bring to life’s challenges matter deeply.
Rather than focusing solely on what goes wrong in mental health, their study highlights what can go right—and how ordinary strengths such as hope, gratitude, and zest may serve as bridges over troubled waters.
Citation
Casali, N., & Feraco, T. (2025). Bridges over troubled water: A meta-analysis of the associations of character strengths with well-being and common mental health disorders. European Journal of Personality. https://doi.org/1366765
