Abstract: Character strengths are a family of positive dispositions reflected through one’s thoughts, feelings and actions. Research on character strengths is one central theme of positive psychology. Researches have shown that the Values in Action Classification of Strengths (VIA-CS) are ubiquitously recognized across different cultures and that certain character strengths are significantly correlated with peoples’ psychological health such as children’s problem behavior and desired developmental outcomes, subjective well-being and the process of posttraumatic growth. Recent research documented that hereditary, age, gender and one’s religiosity are the main factors that influence the presence and development of character strengths. Direction for future research and the application of character strengths in children and adolescents development and education are also discussed.

Key words: character strengths, heritability, subjective well-being, posttraumatic growth, positive psychology