Strengths use, self-concordance and well-being: Implications for Strengths Coaching and Coaching Psychologists

By Reena Govindji, P. Alex Linley. International Coaching Psychology Review, 2007

465 citations recorded by the source corpus.

An emphasis of the coaching psychology and positive psychology movements has been strengths and well-being. This study examined two generic aspects of strengths – strengths knowledge and strengths use, together with organismic valuing, and their relations with subjective well-being, psychological well-being, and subjective vitality. Theory suggests that people who know their strengths, use their strengths, and follow the directions that are right for them (i.e. organismically valuing) will be happier. Participants (N=214) completed measures of these variables, as well as measures of self-esteem and self-efficacy. Analyses showed that strengths knowledge, strengths use, and organismic valuing were all significantly associated with well-being and vitality. Regression analyses showed that self-esteem, organismic valuing, and strengths use all predicted unique variance in subjective well-being and psychological well-being, but only self-esteem significantly predicted unique variance in subjective vitality. The discussion locates the findings in relation to strengths coaching, and suggests directions for future research and coaching psychology applications.

Subfields: Applied Psychology, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/04e7f396d109b160c517e7e616006dcb03da0c3e

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Citations in the corpus

The job crafting questionnaire: A new scale to measure the extent to which employees engage in job crafting (2013, background): “Govindji and Linley (2007) found the items to load on a single 'strengths use' factor.”
A self-determination perspective of strengths use at work: Examining its determinant and performance implications (2016, background): “…pertain to positive traits and/or psychological capacities refined with knowledge and skills (Clifton & Anderson, 2002; Proctor, Maltby, & Linley, 2011), and are ‘natural capacities that we yearn to use, that enable authentic expression, and that energize us’ (Govindji & Linley, 2007, p. 144).”
Strengthening personal growth: The effects of a strengths intervention on personal growth initiative (2018, methodology): “Strengths awareness was measured with five items of the strengths knowledge scale (Govindji & Linley, 2007) (e.g., ‘I know when I am at my best’).”
Measuring happiness: The higher order factor structure of subjective and psychological well-being measures (2009, methodology): “…Affect Scales (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988; see, e.g., Govindji & Linley, 2007) and life satisfaction being measured by the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985; see e.g., Govindji & Linley, 2007) or single life satisfaction items (see Keyes et al., 2002).”
Using personal and psychological strengths leads to increases in well-being over time: A longitudinal study and the development of the strengths use questionnaire (2011, methodology): “Note: Items for the Strengths Use Scale (Govindji & Linley, 2007), with loadings from our exploratory factor analysis.”
Strengths Use as a Predictor of Well-Being and Health-Related Quality of Life (2011, methodology): “These results are in accordance with the findings of Govindji and Linley (2007) and add to the existing literature by demonstrating a link between strengths use, subjective well-being, and endorsement of signature strengths.”
How ‘other people matter’ in a classroom-based strengths intervention: Exploring interpersonal strategies and classroom outcomes (2015, methodology): “Research with adults has demonstrated that the Strengths Use scale scores are valid and reliable (Govindji & Linley, 2007; Proctor, Maltby, & Linley, 2011).”
Character Strengths Interventions: Building on What We Know for Improved Outcomes (2011, background): “The role that strengths use plays in a strengths intervention has been studied by Govindji and Linley (2007) who developed scales to assess strengths knowledge”
Promoting positive outcomes through strengths interventions: A literature review (2017, background): “Strengths deployment has often been found to lead to positive outcomes such as well-being (Govindji & Linley, 2007; Harzer & Ruch, 2015) and self-esteem (Wood, Linley, Maltby, Kashdan, & Hurling, 2011), in adults and students.”
Strengths use and work engagement: a weekly diary study (2016, background): “Moreover, whereas some authors see a state of excitement, invigoration (Peterson & Seligman, 2004), enjoyment (Govindji & Linley, 2007), or near perfect performance (Rath, 2007) as a defining characteristic of strengths use, in our study, we aim to disentangle strengths use from its possible…”
An applied framework for Positive Education (2013, background): “…their strengths have been found to report increased vitality www.internationaljournalofwellbeing.org 152 and subjective and psychological wellbeing (Govindji & Linley, 2007; Linley, Nielsen, Gillett, & Biswas-Diener, 2010), increased progress towards their goals (Linley et al., 2010), and enhanced…”
Using signature strengths in pursuit of goals: Effects on goal progress, need satisfaction, and well-being, and implications for coaching psychologists (2010, background): “…shown to be associated with both subjective and psychological well-being, even when controlling for the effects of self-efficacy and self-esteem (Govindji & Linley, 2007), and strengths coaching has been suggested as one applied link between strengths and coaching psychology (Linley &…”
Harmonious passion as an explanation of the relation between signature strengths’ use and well-being at work: Test of an intervention program (2012, methodology): “This claim is substantiated by research showing that using one’s signature strengths leads to higher functioning (Berman, 2008; Govindji and Linley, 2007; Park et al., 2004), higher performance (Buckingham and Clifton, 2001; Clifton and Harter, 2003; Harter et al.”
A dynamic approach to psychological strength development and intervention (2011, unknown): “In research on individuals, Govindji and Linley (2007) found that people who used strengths more frequently experienced greater subjective and psychological well-being.”