Characteristics of Each of the 24 VIA Scales Developed
through Rasch Modeling (du Plessis & de Bruin, 2015)

 

 

Calibration Sample

Replication Sample

Number of Items

Number of Response Categories

Alpha

Alpha, Polychoric Transform

Alpha

Alpha, Polychoric Transform

Appreciation of Beauty

11

4

.79

.83

.78

.83

Capacity for Love

11

4

.73

.83

.77

.84

Citizenship/Teamwork

13

5

.65

.66

.72

.75

Curiosity

11

4

.75

.80

.74

.79

Equity/Fairness

14

4

.74

.82

.75

.82

Forgiveness/Mercy

11

4

.84

.86

.83

.87

Gratitude

12

4

.78

.85

.79

.85

Hope/Optimism

10

4

.79

.85

.82

.87

Humor/Playfulness

14

4

.88

.91

.87

.91

Industry/Perseverance/Persistence

13

4

.88

.91

.87

.90

Integrity/Honesty/Authenticity

14

4

.71

.78

.71

.77

Judgment/Open-mindedness

11

4

.78

.83

.76

.81

Kindness/Generosity

11

4

.79

.85

.81

.86

Leadership

12

4

.79

.84

.74

.80

Love of Learning

10

4

.77

.84

.77

.84

Modesty/Humility

9

4

.62

.68

.64

.69

Originality/Creativity

10

4

.85

.89

.83

.88

Perspective/Wisdom

11

4

.83

.87

.81

.86

Prudence

9

4

.78

.83

.78

.83

Self-regulation/Self-control

11

5

.75

.80

.73

.78

Social/Personal/Emotional Intelligence

12

4

.84

.89

.82

.87

Spirituality/Religiousness

7

4

.89

.93

.88

.93

Valor/Bravery/Courage

10

4

.75

.81

.74

.80

Zest/Enthusiasm/Vitality

12

4

.84

.88

.83

.87

 

Mean

.80

.84

.80

.84

Standard Deviation

.06

.05

.06

.05

 
IPIP representations of the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS), are based on a preliminary version of the VIA-IS provided by Christopher Peterson in June 2001 and described in Peterson and Seligman (2003). The 240 items in the VIA-IS, plus 102 of Peterson’s items that were not included in the VIA-IS, were revised to give them the standard format of IPIP items (short phrases with no leading pronoun).  Since the 2001 version, the VIA Institute on Character has revised the VIA-IS several times; the Institute provides the more recent versions of the VIA-IS to researchers upon request. The Institute's current VIA-IS assessment suite is available at:  https://www.viacharacter.org/researchers/assessments/ .
 
du Plessis, G. A., & de Bruin, G. P. (2015). Using Rasch modelling to examine the international personality item pool (IPIP) values in action (VIA) measure of character strengths. Journal of Psychology in Africa, 25, 512-521.

Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. (2003). Character strengths before and after September 11. Psychological Science, 14, 381-384.

 

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