Character Strengths in Young People (CSIYP)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring the identification of character strengths in autistic young people and their parents/carers (CSIYP)
IRAS ID
352371
Contact name
Jiedi Lei
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Oxford/Research Governance, Ethics & Assurance
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 2 months, 1 days
Research summary
This study will explore how 1) autistic adolescents (aged 12-15 years) and 2) their parent/carer identify their Character Strengths by using the Values-in-Action (VIA) Youth and Adult questionnaires. Character strengths stem from Positive Psychology literature and include a range of 24 different qualities that have been identified to indicate qualities or characteristics that are valued by different cultures across time (e.g., Love, Creativity, Curiosity, Humour etc). To date, there is literature suggesting that Character Strengths identification and development in young people can bolster self-esteem, and Character Strengths also can support Positive Parenting practice and help improve parental self-efficacy and reduce parenting stress. Given that many autistic young people and their families access mental health services when seeking autism diagnostic assessments and support with co-occurring mental health conditions, it remains to be explored whether supporting autistic young people and their parent/carers to explore individual Character Strengths might help:
1) Autistic young people to develop a better understanding of their strengths that they can relate to everyday experience and share with other people
2) Parents/carers of autistic young people to develop a better understanding of what their personal strengths are, how they might differ from their autistic young person’s character strengths, and ways of drawing on personal strengths to support their autistic young person in everyday life.In this study, we will invite autistic young people (aged 12-15 years) and their parent/carer to complete questionnaires and qualitative interviews to explore what their individual character strengths profile might look like and share reflections on what they learnt about themselves through exploring their strengths use in everyday life, and their experiences in talking about strengths post autism diagnosis or mental health intervention.
REC name
West of Scotland REC 5
REC reference
25/WS/0113
Date of REC Opinion
18 Jul 2025
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion